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I read the Wyman’s post on summer reading, and it reminds me that I, too, did some heavy summer reading. Heavy in the sense that I read more books in the past few months than I had done in a long time. And, no, they weren’t filled with 2D girls or men in tights, they were real books with words, sentences, and paragraphs. Stories, persuasive arguments, colorful anecdotes. All there in the books I read. I’ll divide the books into the genres I was reading to highlight what piqued my interest for the summer.

The first subject I devoured relates to the grand old national pastime, baseball. It began with Alyssa Milano’s recollection of her life filtered through the joys of the boys of summer: Safe At Home. Admittedly, I picked it up because as an 80s kid, I had a crush on her, and I want to find out her views on the game. She’s very knowledgeable about the game. It’s rather intimidating as I only know it superficially enough to get by in the stands, but she knocks ’em out of the park with her experience (and love for the game.)

I also read an interesting account of the 1966 World Series, Black And Blue. The Orioles first World Series. It seems so long ago as compared to the sad, sad team they are today, but we were champions once. It’s an interesting read, but I think all sports books kind of have the same ebb and flow: here’s team A, then here’s team B, then they meet, post-mortem. It really should’ve been Black and Orange as the tale (and the Series) was mostly about the Orioles.

I read about Ichiro and his impact on the game. I have the prequel and intend to read it, but it languishes on my nightstand.

The next genre was new urbanism. I got through James Howard Kuntsler’s tirade, Home From Nowhere and slogged through Traffic. It’s almost making me want to move into high-density, public transportation ready cities. I’m currently reading Jane Jacob’s polemic, The Life and Death of Great American Cities.

I did geek out. Besides Oscar Wao I managed to read the light novel, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. It’s the original source for the anime. It’s decent, but exactly like the anime. I’m catching up with Suzumiya-sama by starting in on The Sighs of Haruhi Suzumiya. Kami-sama saves.