New Books

Apologies for the lack of writing. My distractions include two excellent books. The first is a reprint of David Nemec’s Early Dreams. It's historical fiction, about the 1884 American Association's season, as seen through the eyes of four lesser known players and written by the fictional character Earl “Ducker’ Draves.

Andy McCue says this book is “one of the most thoroughly researched baseball novels ever!” That is saying a lot but Nemec delivers the goods. I mean, I’m not a 19th Century expert by any means but it has been fun and educational to do internet searches on the subjects and items Nemec puts forth.

One is Pete Browning. I got to talking about him with my friend Bill who is a 19th Century baseball fan. I usually don’t agree with those who say "so and so player deserves to be in the Hall of Fame," but Browning might just be the first in line.

Further looking around included Browning’s bio at sabr.org. Fans of this player will be interested to know that one of the sources for this well-written bio is Closed Minds, Closed Doors: Cooperstown, Pete Browning And The A.A. It's not yet unpublished.

The other work keeping me up at night is Neil Peart’s third book Traveling Music. Rush fans are devouring this autobiography by the legendary drummer. Music lovers will like this one, especially if your tastes are as eclectic as Peart’s.

Enjoy your summer and don’t grind your teeth too hard on our favorite team.

Comments

[Jefferson Krogh]

I finished Travelling Music about a week ago. Neil's books always put me in the mood for a road trip. I really liked this one because it was really about music. It's about time he wrote a book that was heavily about music, and his thoughts on it. Never woulda figured him for a Sinatra fan...or a Linkin Park fan!

[Jay]

Jefferson,

I know what you mean. I'd love to retrace some of the legs of his trips. It would make a great blog for someone.

For his next book, Neil is thinking about writing on the tour process. Rush certainly has a lot of road experience and with Neil's detailed memory (and lots of notes no doubt), well, I'll be buying it!

Jay