I can’t remember where I first saw an article about nightstand books, but it made me stop and think.
At any one time, I am juggling my reading. Ninety percent is baseball, but you have to mix in other things just to spice it up.
This is what’s currently on my nightstand. I always try to read a little something before bed. Since new books are coming in all the time, some older titles get shunted off to the bottom or “worse,” off the nightstand altogether. Blame it on my short attention span.
Just a few observations:
- I was supposed to have delivered a paper on the collection of The Sporting News’ Daguerreotypes books at this year’s Cooperstown Symposium but unfortunately because I had to take off from work to recover from Covid, I couldn’t spare the time.
- Stefan Fatsis, who most recently published Unabridged: The Thrill of (and Threat to) the Modern Dictionary, (my review here at Bookreporter.com), is the author of Wild and Outside: How a Renegade Minor League Revived the Spirit of Baseball in America’s Heartland, which came out 30 years ago! Still trying to nail him down for a Bookshelf Conversation.
- Steve Gietschier released Baseball: The Turbulent Midcentury Years in 2023. That won him SABR’s coveted Seymour Medal. I wouldn’t be surprised if his latest — Warm Summers and Cold Winters: How Baseball Survived the Korean War — receives similar accolades. He will definitely be a future BC guest.
- The Finest in the Field: A History of Baseball through 50 Iconic Gloves, the latest addition to the nightstand, would make a great Fathers Day present. Sorry, but I find the registered trademark symbol on the book jacket a bit pretentious, legalities aside, and can’t be bothered to include it here.