Non-Fiction

Review: Newton’s Football by Allen St. John and Ainissa G. Ramirez, Ph.D.  

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I was supposed to read this two years ago when I first joined NetGalley. I just never got in the mood to read about football… until a couple of weeks ago when a near-and-dear-one started playing youth football. I figured this book might help me understand a few things, plus it appealed to the “I need to know how things work” geek in me. 

Well, it’s certainly a scientific book. I mean, you don’t need to be a rocket scientist, but it would help if you can remember some basic high school physics and math. It’s also definitely a football book. The authors interviewed athletes and coaches, they use football lingo, and they refer to historical football games and their importance in the evolution of football. 

I understood it on a basic level, but I certainly had LOTS of questions.  I interrogated my go-to football expert about the no-huddle, a nickel, declaring eligibility for receiving passes, and his personal thoughts about football plays that bent the rules.  Seriously. This book showed me how much I really don’t know about the game. 

Even though I’m not well-versed in the grid-iron world, Newton’s Football was FASCINATING. I especially loved the examples of how changing one little thing in one particilar game had ripple effects in subsequent football games. And I appreciated the discussion on proper tackling and helmet safety. (There’s some progressive thinking in those chapters!)

Reading Newton’s Football was work for me, mostly because I went in pretty clueless about plays and positions. But if you’re a football fan and you want a fresh perspective on the sport — or if you’re not but you’re bold and curious like me — go for it.

-calliope
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Review: The Death of Santini by Pat Conroy

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Only Pat Conroy can write such terrible things so beautifully. Only he can turn a phrase in such a way that he makes his point succinctly and eloquently at the same time. Conroy’s inner conflicts imbue this autobiographical work with the love and hate he has for his father, and to a lesser degree, his mother and siblings. 

I think Conroy is a master wordsmith. I appreciate the beauty and flow of his writing in all the Pat Conroy books I’ve read. But I struggle with The Death of Santini because it’s almost like hearing a child whine. I can read a spectacular passage, and then be disrupted by Conroy’s complaints and persuasion, trying to convince me that his childhood really did happen the way he says it did, that it was as bad as can be, that he is indeed telling the truth.  

I believe him. I don’t need to be convinced. I think his father needed to be convinced. I think his siblings and his extended family need to be convinced. I think Conroy is whining to the wrong crowd. 

Unless. Unless this book isn’t meant for me or you or anyone EXCEPT his family… and Conroy himself. And I think it is. 

That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it. I just don’t feel like in the intended audience. I do think that if Santini admitted his transgressions while Conroy was a child, the psychological damage would have been minimized, and The Death of Santini would not have had to be written. 

The Death of Santini offers a window into the moments of Conroy’s early life that inspired his best-selling novels, and moments of Santini’s later life that inspired Conroy’s love and forgiveness for his father. 

-calliope

Buy THE DEATH OF SANTINI

Review – My Life in Middlemarch by Rebecca Mead.

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17883928I received this review copy in exchange for an honest review from bloggingforbooks.org

Have you a favourite book?  A book that has stayed with you through thick and thin?  Of course you have.  Everyone does.  This is a book about a book, or more accurately, a book about the love of a book.

I don’t usually venture into the genre of non-fiction, but the premise of this book intrigued me.  Rebecca Mead loves Middlemarch by George Elliot.  It is her favourite book and the events in the story, and indeed the life that Elliot led, resonates on a very deep level with Mead.   As I’m a sucker for learning about what makes people tick, particularly if it has to do with literature, I delved into this book straight away.

Now, I’ve not read Middlemarch, and that right there was my downfall.   Chapter by chapter, we get a mini biography of Elliot and her family.   We also get a LOT of analysis of Middlemarch.  I did my degree in English Literature, and even I couldn’t help but skip the many pages of theory and analysis.   You’ve really got to like, or have studied, Middlemarch to understand and enjoy those pages.

Even though I was overwhelmed by the biography and literary analysis featured in the book, I did find the insights that we occasionally got of the author’s life, love of Middlemarch and literature in general, very interesting.   Unfortunately, for me, there wasn’t enough of  that.  I went into this book believing that there would be more personal reflection.  Saying that, I think if it was about an author that I loved or had studied a lot, then I would love this book.  If you are a fan of George Elliot, then I definitely recommend that you seek out this book.  If you are not a fan, then I recommend you save your money.

Bit of a disappointment this week, but as my TBR pile keeps telling me, there are many more books to read!

Until next time,

Pegasus.

My Life in Middlemarch