On What to Pleasure Read

Slowly but surely, I have been reading novels for pleasure. Despite my tight schedule (work, school, marathon training), reading for pleasure is a necessity. The hammock in my apartment is intended for balling up into with a book. Lately, I am so computered-out by the time I get home in the evening, a book is the only thing that will help me unwind and get to sleep. 

That said, I just finished a very, very good book.  The Art of Fielding. Baseball is a backdrop for the story, but you don't need to love baseball to love the story. I just happen to love both.  It is the story of an athlete that chokes.  It is everyone's story.  It is about failing. It is not redemptive and triumphant, but too many sports stories are, it is about the disappointment that follows the downfall of greatness.  It is about giving up on yourself.  It is written so that you witness the narrative in the characters' heads.  It makes you think of your own mind-narrative.  The thoughts that your mind constantly tumbles around.  Not only about baseball, the novel touches upon where our minds take us and what our minds keep us from doing.