In the early 1900s editor Maxwell Perkins told anyone who would listen that Chicago sports columnist Ring Lardner was the most talented writer he knew – high praise, given that Perkins’s stable included Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe. Sports writing can reach a very high level indeed.
The Sports Illustrated list of 100 best sports books shows this. In recommending Roger Kahn’s 1971 book about the Brooklyn Dodgers, “The Boys of Summer”, the reviewer explains why this book isn’t just about men in funny clothes running around a field:
“A baseball book the same way Moby Dick is a fishing book, this account of the early-’50s Brooklyn Dodgers is, by turns, a novelistic tale of conflict and change, a tribute, a civic history, a piece of nostalgia and, finally, a tragedy, as the franchise’s 1958 move to Los Angeles takes the soul of Brooklyn with it.”
The audiobook version of “The Boys of Summer” is available here at Audiobooks Now – listen for yourself and see why it’s so highly praised!
Likewise, Ken Dryden’s ‘The Game’ isn’t just about ice hockey. It’s “a well-crafted account of his career combined with a meditation on hockey’s special place in Canadian culture.” Anyone who has spent time in Canada knows that hockey isn’t just a sport.
All this week we’ll be looking at sports books – factual and fiction, men and women, those who want to play and those who are happy just to watch.
The art of traveling with the whole family largely consists of A) Not going completely insane, and B) Not letting on to everyone that you have, in fact, gone completely insane.
Audiobooks can help.
You just have to pick the right one. Otherwise you might just as well sing about the Wheels on the **^%$#@ bus for seven hours – this still being better than the complete recorded works of Justin Bieber that your pre-teen daughter can and will inflict on you.
What’s it going to be? It can’t be too long – check the length, because you want it to cover most of the trip, but still reach a conclusion. It has to be something that every member of the family can – at the very least – tolerate. This includes mom and dad, who are as entitled to a vacation as anyone else. It has to be read well.
Goodreads is a review site by ordinary readers for ordinary readers. Here’s a discussion about audiobooks for car trips with kids:
Here’s my own suggestion – a classic pirate adventure, not too long, with chances for your best pirate voices afterward – Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. At seven hours it’s fine for either one long trip or a there-and-back–again. It combines blood and thunder adventure for the kids (and dad) while being educational and classic literature – mom may like that part.
With Father’s day approaching, let’s look at audiobooks that would make great gifts for dad! We’ve chosen twenty books – mostly fiction, some non-fiction – from the Audiobooks Now catalog that might fit the bill for the dad you’re buying for. Whether it’s for your own dad or you’re buying on behalf of the kids, we’ve got something suitable.
We’ve been very deliberate in our choices. We’ve avoided the most obvious bestsellers, focusing instead on great books and fantastic writers that maybe aren’t on this week’s top ten list. Popularity and quality don’t always have much to do with one another, and very often the reader will overlook a book or author simply because the name is unfamiliar.
We’ve avoided politics, because dad doesn’t need a coronary on his special day (and you don’t want to hear him griping) and the sort of self-help books that may make him feel unhappy with life on a day where he should be able to revel in just who he is!
On with the list.
Fiction
Crime & Suspense
Crime and suspense usually goes down well, and here are some favorites chosen by a long term fan of the genre:
In a toughSouth Bostonneighborhood a child goes missing. Her mother is an alcoholic. Other family members are concerned, and bring in Private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Bad cops, bad luck and some surprisingly good motives appear in this thoughtful novel about parents and children.
So, Keller has one name, collects stamps, lives a quiet life inNew York City. He doesn’t work often, but when he does, he’s very good. – and is paid well for it. When you want somebody killed efficiently, he’s the man. Entertaining, bitingly funny stuff from a master of crime fiction.
Humor
Everyone’s taste varies when it comes to what they think is funny. Here we have two ‘opposites’ that are top of the heap in their respective piles – the gently madcap world-gone-by of P.G. Wodehouse and the sharp, urban style of the great Richard Pryor.
An American composer of musical comedy, is inEnglandto attend the performance of a new production. When the Lady Patricia Maud Marsh slips into his taxi, he is drawn into the frivolous intrigues ofBelpherCastle. The king of light, fast prose gives us misunderstandings, impersonations and a lot of fun.
Widely seen as one of the greatest stand-up comics ever to take the stage, Richard Pryor was known for sharp observations on race, politics and life in general .This collection includes three ‘bits’ – Are You Serious?,Rev. Du Rite, and Insane.
Historical Adventure
Very often, the word ‘historical’ in the context of fiction means period romances. We aren’t going to offer those to dads. Instead, lets look at a couple of crime-in-time stories by masters of the genre.
Rome, 56 BC. Set in the last, chaotic decades before theRomanRepubliccollapsed into civil war, this is one in Saylor’s series concerning Gordianus ‘the Finder’, who is, essentially a private eye working for the rich and famous of the city. Murder and intrigue in a toga? This is a great place to start.
The most recent in Max Allan Collin’s superb Nathan Heller books – meticulously researched tales of actual events from the thirties onwards – takes the now-middle aged PI to his home city ofChicagoto deal with a case involving mobsters, communists and rogue cops in a plot to kill Kennedy a few weeks before the President was gunned down inDallas. It’s terrific.
Science Fiction & Fantasy
A lot of guys like SF and fantasy. Here are some suggestions that aren’t your typical galactic heroes and wizards ‘n’ dwarves adventures.
Gaiman deals in dark places, and this is the story of an ordinary young man whose act of kindness towards a young girl takes him into a strange, sinister world that exists benath and alongside modernLondon. “A fantastic story that is both the stuff of dreams and nightmares”,
Poul Anderson, a legend in SF and fantasy circles, began his career with a novel that delves into Norse mythology, with the broken sword of Thor at the bottom of it all. Darker and more deeply rooted in legend than most mainstream fantasy tales, we follow Skafloc, a boy kidnapped and raised by (sinister, non Christmassy) elves who has to mend the sword and face the changeling put into his own crib.
Resnick is a renaissance man of the genre, with forty or so Hugo and Nebula nominations and awards. This is his first novel from 1982, a sweeping epic about expansion through space over thousands of years.
Westerns
The western genre ain’t what it used to be. Fifty years ago the western novel, like theHollywoodhorse-opera, was a staple of mainstream culture. But older guys, especially, love westerns, and we’ve chosen one from the golden age, and one about archaeology and crime in the modern day southwest.
Best known for his crime novels, Elmore Leonard launched his career with Three-Ten toYuma, made into a movie in 1957 and remade fifty years later. A classic lawman-versus-outlaws tale using a town as the setting for gunplay.
A blind sculptor and his half-Hopi girlfriend get mixed up in relic theft and murder at a scientific research facility in the wilds ofArizona’s Mogollon Rim country. Weird and off-beat, this is the second of Page’s series involving Mo Bowdre, whose blindness doesn’t stop him solving crimes.
Non Fiction
Health
Dad doesn’t really want a book that tells him to diet and work out more – trust me on this! More appealing is –
Did you know that twenty minutes of cardio at a time is enough to obtain maximum health benefits? Gretchen Reynolds writes a Phys Ed column for the New York Times. In this books she debunks myths, and questions widely held beliefs about exercise. Consulting experts in physiology, biology, psychology, neurology, and sports, she tells us how often to exercise, how long workouts should be and – for us oldsters – how to avoid injury!
Environmentalism without preachiness! From farmer Joel Salatin’s point of view, life in the 21st century just ain’t normal. He discusses how far removed we are from the simple, sustainable joy that comes from living close to the land and the people we love. Salatin tellus what normal is and shares practical ideas for changing our lives in small ways that have big impact, from child-rearing, to creating quality family time. Funny but revealing.
Current Events
We love mobsters. Not actual criminals, of course, but the idea of organized crime and how law enforcement fights it:
A handpicked squad of FBI agents takes on John Gotti, the seemingly invincible head of the richest and most powerfulNew Yorkcrime family. This was the FBI’s Organized Crime squad, who finally ended the ‘Dapper Don’s’ criminal career.
History
For many men, history is about battles. This much-lauded study covers one of the most crucial military actions of the last century:
There are many books about D-Day and theNormandycampaign. The late John Keegan here tells of the 1944 invasion, from D-Day to the liberation ofParis. He focuses on all the fighting forces involved – from the American airborne troops in their night drop on the eve of the invasion, the Canadians at Juno Beach, the British advancing inland, the Free French liberating their homeland, the Poles at Falaise and – the much outnumbered Germans.
The former head of exhibitions at theNationalMaritimeMuseuminLondonhas combed the archives to give us a new picture of the golden age of piracy, exploding myths and bringing new light on old legends.
Mary Roach may be – together with the hilarious Bill Bryson – the funniest science writer working today. The author of Stiff (a study of death) and Bonk (a history of sex research) tells us about long distance space exploration, and answers the question we’ve all wanted to ask – “What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a spacewalk?”
Sports
There are a million books about sports careers. Dad isn’t a pro, and he’s not going to be. Help him lower his stress level after a disastrous round of golf with this —
Sports books tend to be all about winning. Bios of athletes and coaches all focus on being the best in the world. But most of us don’t play sports at anything like that level. We play for fun, for fitness and to show youngsters how to do it. So, as Brian Kilmeade writes, “Winning or losing has little to do with who you will become. Instead, it’s how you prepared for the game that determines whether you’ll be a winner or loser in life.”
Music
Dad may be old and grey – at least according to the kids – but inside him there’s a rocker. Here’s a bio of one of the legendary rock bands of the ‘60s, selected partly in honor of the passing of the band’s great keyboardist, Ray Manzarek, in May 2013.
Respected rock critic Greil Marcus takes us through the tumultuous history of the Doors, front by the brilliant, self-destructive Jim Morrison – one of rock’s many casualties. A fan since the band’s first album in 1967, Marcus takes the reader through Morrison’s tragic death to the decades beyond.
Travel
Whether we are driving across thePainted Desertor picking up milk at the Stop ‘n’ Shop, the allure of travel is with us. Charles Kuralt is one of the great popular chroniclers ofAmerica’s roads.
After retiring from CBS News in 1994, Kuralt set out to spend a perfect year inAmerica, traveling to his twelve favorite American places. He goes fromMontanain September andAlaskain June to winter in Cajun country and theNorth Carolinamountains in spring, bringing gentle humor to the whole trip.
So, that’s twenty audiobooks chosen not for mass popularity but for quality. Pick one you think the man of the hour would appreciate!
I once drove from Atlanta to Toronto with a pile of books-on-tape (it was a long time ago). Somewhere around Toledo I put in Shelby Foote’s account of the Battle of Shiloh. On the fourth tape, somewhere outside London, Ontario, the tape screwed up. That’s why we don’t use tapes anymore. I am still unsure how the battle came out — maybe your library has a copy:
Now, you are on your own, and can sing along with the entire recorded works of Black Sabbath if you like – but once your throat hurts badly enough, you may want to listen to something different.
The Awl has a piece where contributors make their own, um, contributions.
It’s maybe not surprising that many people say they like to listen to audiobooks when they cook. These days, dad is as likely to be cooking as mom – that was the way in my own family, showing advanced thinking for the 1960s (and possibly a recognition that my dad was the better cook).
The skills required to prepare food aren’t the same as those needed to listen to a story, so you can really listen to anything you like. But, since culinary matters are what the kitchen is all about, here’s a collection of audiobooks relating to food.
Men want their special manly places. They understand that they can’t have tree-houses anymore, what with the weight and the aging knees etc, but if they can have a garage, shed or basement to ourselves, they are happy.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, take a look here:
What to listen to while sawing, drilling, assembling and cursing? Why, a how-to book, of course. And, since someone else is telling you about it, it doesn’t have to be practical. How about a tin canoe?
“Robb White knows everything there is to know about getting on the water and staying there as long as you possibly can. While still a young boy, he built his first boat, hewn from the tin roof of an abandoned chicken coop.”
Exercising at the gym mostly consists of doing repetitive motions for periods that are longer than we’d like, right? And usually in a place where the décor is industrial. Walking on a treadmill or riding an elliptical bike involve pretending to be on a journey, except that the view doesn’t change – and it wasn’t much of a view to begin with!
Audiobooks are great for two things. First of all, a good workout book helps with motivation, and motivation isn’t always strong for many of us. Secondly, a well-read story transports us from our actual, mundane situation to somewhere in our mind. Seattle PI discusses the value of a good narrator, with a wide variety of suggestions (not all, it should be said, manly in taste):
Julia Sweeney (who I shall assume is not anyone’s dad) has a fine piece in the Guardian about audiobooks and the treadmill:
“I own a treadmill. My treadmill goal is simple: burn 500 calories. To do this, I need to be on the treadmill for one hour; 60 eternity-long minutes. And then I have to do it again and again, four or five times a week, every week.”
Her recommendation is audiobooks – in her case, about Keith Richards!
Kids don’t just read fiction. Indeed, older boys often abandon stories completely in favor of fact-based reading. Non fiction covers most of the subjects that adults are interested in – history, biography, even self-help.
Again, many excellent non-fiction books aren’t available as audiobooks. In some cases, the reason for this is obvious – as in Canadian author/illustrator Bill Slavin’s marvelous “How Things are made” book Transformed.
This time we’ve selected an audiobook about Habitat for Humanity, the charitable group that builds houses for needy people, with the future owners taking part in the building process – David Rubel’s “If I had a Hammer”
Pete Seeger says of this book, “This is an inspiring book, telling how ideas starting on a little farm in Georgia have grown to a worldwide movement bringing people together.”
In the early 1900s editor Maxwell Perkins told anyone who would listen that Chicago sports columnist Ring Lardner was the most talented writer he knew – high praise, given that Perkins’s stable included Hemingway, Fitzgerald and Thomas Wolfe. Sports writing can reach a very high level indeed.
With Father’s day approaching, let’s look at audiobooks that would make great gifts for dad! We’ve chosen twenty books – mostly fiction, some non-fiction – from the Audiobooks Now catalog that might fit the bill for the dad you’re buying for. Whether it’s for your own dad or you’re buying on behalf of the kids, we’ve got something suitable.
In a toughSouth Bostonneighborhood a child goes missing. Her mother is an alcoholic. Other family members are concerned, and bring in Private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro. Bad cops, bad luck and some surprisingly good motives appear in this thoughtful novel about parents and children.
So, Keller has one name, collects stamps, lives a quiet life inNew York City. He doesn’t work often, but when he does, he’s very good. – and is paid well for it. When you want somebody killed efficiently, he’s the man. Entertaining, bitingly funny stuff from a master of crime fiction.
An American composer of musical comedy, is inEnglandto attend the performance of a new production. When the Lady Patricia Maud Marsh slips into his taxi, he is drawn into the frivolous intrigues ofBelpherCastle. The king of light, fast prose gives us misunderstandings, impersonations and a lot of fun.
