Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Young Adult Author
My Turn at Bat is the 1969 autobiography of Ted Williams (with writing help from Sports Illustrated writer John Underwood), who as a kid wanted to be the greatest hitter who ever lived, and largely achieved his goal. Notice, he did not want to… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: My Turn at Bat”
Sachiko is the story of Sashiko Yasui, who was a five-year old living in Nagasaki in 1945 when the atomic bomb exploded only three-quarters of a mile from her house.That one moment became the defining event of her life, as the blast took her family… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: Sachiko”
Wow. I’m finally done with The Seven Pillars of Wisdom, by T.E. Lawrence, i.e., Lawrence of Arabia. Yes, these are his memoirs, upon which the famous movie is based, and I feel like I’ve been reading them for months. I have been reading them… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: The Seven Pillars of Wisdom”
When I Was a Young Boy is the translated title of Erich Kästner’s 1957 book Als Ich ein Kleiner Junge War. Erich Kästner was a German author for children from the 1930s to 60s, probably best known for his book Emil and the Detectives. It would be an… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: When I Was a Young Boy”
So here’s my baseball book for this year: Becoming Mr. October, by Reggie Jackson. I saw it on the New Arrivals stand at the library and picked it right up. Reggie gives us a few chapters on growing up in a small town in… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: Becoming Mr. October”
The Reason I Jump was written by Naoki Higashida, a thirteen-year-old Japanese boy with autism. Though unable to verbalize his thoughts in normal speech, his mother created something called the “alphabet grid” that allows him to communicate. He has both a keyboard version for typing… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: The Reason I Jump”
A Journey to Self-Publishing is another one by a member of the Writers of Chantilly. The author here is Kalyani Kurup, who gives us a brief (five chapters) but charming memoir of her experiences as a writer and her misadventures in the publishing world in India… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: A Journey to Self-Publishing”
Bill Lee was a left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox and Montreal Expos in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was well-known for his outspoken views, free-spirited approach to life, and (controversially at the time) unabashed drug use. Oh, and he was a… Continue Reading “What I’m Reading: The Wrong Stuff”