Editorial Content for Playing Days
Book
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Stuart Shiffman
While reading PLAYING DAYS by Benjamin Markovits, I mentally compared this basketball-themed title to other favorite sports novels. There aren’t that many. I thought of THE NATURAL by Bernard Malamud, BANG THE DRUM SLOWLY by Mark Harris, THE ART OF FIELDING by Chad Harbach and NORTH DALLAS FORTY by Peter Gent. Why is sports such a barren topic for fiction writers? Perhaps real-life sports, with countless examples of extraordinary achievements and overcoming great odds, make the fictional counterpart tricky to capture on the pages of a novel. Read More
Teaser
In print for the first time in the United States, acclaimed novelist Benjamin Markovits’ PLAYING DAYS is a mostly autobiographical narrative concerning the author’s season playing minor league professional basketball in Germany and the love affair with another player’s estranged wife that ushers him into adulthood.
Promo
In print for the first time in the United States, acclaimed novelist Benjamin Markovits’ PLAYING DAYS is a mostly autobiographical narrative concerning the author’s season playing minor league professional basketball in Germany and the love affair with another player’s estranged wife that ushers him into adulthood.
About the Book
In print for the first time in the United States, acclaimed novelist Benjamin Markovits’s PLAYING DAYS is a mostly autobiographical narrative concerning the author’s season playing minor league professional basketball in Germany and the love affair with another player’s estranged wife that ushers him into adulthood.
Growing up in Texas, Ben experienced basketball as a mostly solitary pursuit, one he gave up after riding the bench in high school. But as his college classmates prepare for the real world, Ben is seized by an idea. All he needs is a video camera, an empty court and his mother’s German citizenship.
Improbably, he lands a roster spot on a lower division pro team in Landshut, forty-five minutes outside of Munich. It’s Ben’s first taste of competition in years, not to mention his first job. And like most jobs, it’s defined by repetition, boredom and gossip. There’s Charlie, the trash-talking mercenary from Chicago; the coach, Herr Henkel, a recently retired player anxious to justify his paycheck; and Karl (based on the author’s real life relationship with Dirk Nowitski), a gangly teenage prodigy flashing the raw talent that will make him an NBA star. As a group of men learn how to navigate one another, Ben falls in love with the young mother of a teammate’s child, and begins an affair that will change his life.
Wry, poignant, and tenderly observed, PLAYING DAYS is an evocative meditation on the joys of youth, the triumphs and terrors of post-college life, and one of the best books ever written about what basketball can mean to an American man.
Editorial Content for Protectors 2: Heroes: Stories to Benefit PROTECT
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Tom Callahan
Sometimes it’s possible to buy a book for the enjoyment and at the same time help support a vitally important cause. In PROTECTORS 2: HEROES, dozens of authors, artists, poets and illustrators have joined together and donated their efforts to help protect children from physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Read More
Teaser
PROTECTORS 2, edited by Thomas Pluck, is a mammoth anthology of 55 stories and almost 600 pages, with all proceeds going to PROTECT, a nonpartisan pro-child and anti-crime lobby dedicated to the protection of children from physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Contributors include Andrew Vachss, Joyce Carol Oates, David Morrell, Linda Rodriguez, Charles de Lint, Hilary Davidson, Joe R. Lansdale, Joelle Charbonneau, Reed Farrel Coleman, SJ Rozan and Alison Arngrim.
Promo
PROTECTORS 2, edited by Thomas Pluck, is a mammoth anthology of 55 stories and almost 600 pages, with all proceeds going to PROTECT, a nonpartisan pro-child and anti-crime lobby dedicated to the protection of children from physical, sexual and emotional abuse. Contributors include Andrew Vachss, Joyce Carol Oates, David Morrell, Linda Rodriguez, Charles de Lint, Hilary Davidson, Joe R. Lansdale, Joelle Charbonneau, Reed Farrel Coleman, SJ Rozan and Alison Arngrim.
About the Book
PROTECTORS 2 features 55 stories to benefit Protect, the political lobby of the National Association to Protect Children, whose victories include the Circle of Trust act and the HERO Corps, which hires wounded veterans to assist law enforcement in hunting online predators.
Contributors include Andrew Vachss, Joyce Carol Oates, Harlan Ellison®, David Morrell, Laird Barron, Linda Rodriguez, Charles de Lint, Hilary Davidson, Joe R. Lansdale, Joelle Charbonneau, Reed Farrel Coleman, SJ Rozan and Alison Arngrim.
Here are 600 pages of fiction of all genres, poems and art, essays and memoirs, to fund one cause: to protect children from abuse and exploitation of all kinds. 100% of proceeds goes to PROTECT.
Jane Haddam
In my day, we didn't have self-esteem, we had self-respect, and no more of it than we had earned.
Attribution
Jane Haddam
November 24, 2015
The following are lists of books releasing the weeks of November 23rd and November 30th that we think will be of interest to Bookreporter.com readers.
Happy 100th, Ol' Blue Eyes!: 20 Books, CDs and DVDs Celebrating the Legacy of Frank SinatraDecember 12th marks what would have been the 100th birthday of the iconic Frank Sinatra. Although best known for his timeless music and distinctive voice, Sinatra was much more than a popular vocal artist. In addition to his 11 Grammy Awards, he was an Academy Award-winning actor, with a film career spanning five decades. Aptly nicknamed “Chairman of the Board” and “The Entertainer of the Century” (not to mention “Ol’ Blue Eyes”), Sinatra is still at the forefront of popular culture to this day. The holidays are approaching fast! What fictional present would you love to add to your wishlist?December 1, 2015, 196 voters
Rose, the protagonist of RULES FOR 50/50 CHANCES, isn't the only one who lives by a set of rules. As it turns out, her creator --- debut author Kate McGovern --- has the same tendency. Below, she outlines her own rules to live by --- as well as a few she's trying to break.
Be sure to check out Kate's post, below, as well as the book itself!
November 2015Considering the time of year, we imagine that you and your kids have been thinking about the idea of “thankfulness” quite a bit (along with all of the different kinds of pie you’re going to sample at Thanksgiving dinner and what topics are not OK to bring up in front of grandma). Maybe you’re thankful for your family, your friends, your health, your safety, a job that you love or a hobby that you feel passionate about. Since Kidsreads.com is a children’s books website (surprise!), our “thankful” list has a bit more of a literary bent.
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