false 2424085 3 From the author of the best-selling <i>The Catcher Was a Spy, </i>his most original work yet: a memoir of two cities (New Haven and New York), a family (troubled), a time (the 1970s), a boy who never quite fits in anywhere--and how baseball helps him find his place in America.<br><br><i>The Crowd Sounds Happy</i> is the story of a spirited boy's coming-of-age in a doomed hometown, with a missing father, a single mother, and the professional ballplayers who gradually become the men in his life as he listens to them every night on the bedside radio. This is a childhood shaped by remarkable characters, foremost Nicholas Dawidoff's mother, a stoical, overwhelmed, enterprising woman committed to securing a more promising future for her children. It also tells, with the same arresting candor of Dawidoff's celebrated <i>New Yorker</i> magazine memoir of his father, what it's like to grow up with a disturbed, dangerous parent. Here are the events and places that come to define a young boy's outlook: a local playground, a kidnapping and a murder, rock 'n' roll, the steamy awkwardness of adolescence and first love, and the private world of baseball--the inner game as it has never been described before.<br><br><i>The Crowd Sounds Happy</i> is a beautifully written, moving piece of personal history that transforms ordinary moments into literature. 2431272 6 5 2008 The Crowd Sounds Happy: A Story of Love, Madness, and Baseball total:32|5:10|4:13|3:7|2:2| 32 127 77 11 5 1 false false Sun Jul 13 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 09 03:13:22 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 13:02:53 -0700 2008
This is a perfect book.

It is a series of rememberings, both from the perspective of...more...]]> 5 1 false false Fri Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 13 18:55:41 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 13:58:43 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false true Fri Nov 14 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Mar 29 20:18:10 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 29 20:18:54 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Mon Aug 04 15:52:25 -0700 2008 Wed Aug 13 07:11:34 -0700 2008 My daughter Ryan says reading this book will help understand her, so I approached it a bit sideways, looking for what was Ryan more than just reading a book. I see why she was struck by the book. There is a lot of commonality – reading aloud, the Hardy Boys books, being poor and having a s...more...]]> 3 0 false false Wed Mar 18 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 07:07:14 -0700 2009 Thu Mar 19 07:12:04 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Oct 14 18:51:56 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 14 18:52:58 -0700 2009 PaperbackSwap.com ... a cool book exchange website]]> 4 0 false false Sat Aug 29 13:42:33 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 14 15:03:19 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Nov 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Nov 04 17:41:33 -0800 2008 Fri Nov 07 18:07:40 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jul 16 13:36:28 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 13:38:42 -0700 2008
What can't be ignored is the writing--it's stunning...]]> 3 0 false false Tue Sep 16 17:58:32 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 16 17:59:39 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Oct 09 10:10:17 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 15 08:37:19 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Fri Nov 27 20:40:28 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 27 20:40:28 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 10 04:35:39 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 10 04:35:48 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Wed Nov 04 08:46:25 -0800 2009 Wed Nov 04 08:46:25 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Wed Nov 11 10:39:26 -0800 2009 Wed Oct 21 06:52:31 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 08:55:03 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 18 11:02:34 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 18 11:02:34 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Oct 05 17:02:17 -0700 2009 Mon Oct 05 17:02:17 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Sat Oct 03 18:45:29 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 03 18:45:29 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Fri Sep 25 07:04:53 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 25 07:04:53 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Mon Sep 21 19:02:08 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 21 19:02:08 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6623346