did this book capture you? It did me.

[Carol]

This book just spoke to me in so many ways. What did you think?

[Matthew]

Wanna share in detail? The book was interesting for me. It helped me understand baseball a little bit more, for someone who is no a fan at all... I was suprised at how the table was turned on the supposedly star in the first part of the book. Isn't life like that sometimes?

[Carol]

Yes, I am not a baseball fan eitheer but I find I enjoy watching a game more after reading the book. I was captured by the friendships and the romances and the idea of perfection at anything. The small college enchanted me. The moving of the body at the end really touched me and spoke of the love the young people had for the college president. I read that the author was rejected many many times. I am glad he persevered.

[Diane]

I loved it. The characters are all deeply flaed and intensely human. Hardback seems to cherish each one, foibles and all. I found it less a story of baseball and more a story of struggles, humanity and relationships. A wonderful read.

[Travis]

This book was great! I read about it in Vanity Fair and my super groovy inlaws got it for me for Xmas last year. I read it right away and blew through it in like a week or ten days or something. It had a great plot that reminded me of a great John Irving novel. This is a superbly written book (and its not even really about baseball!). It's really about the crucial instability in our preconceived conception of time's predestined inevitability to fail us; to the extent that if it doesn't, we make it.

[Diane]

Yes, ver John Irving-like- down to Owen.

[Chuck]

I liked it, and I'm a BIG baseball fan. The author went to the trouble of getting the baseball stuff right, at least the on-the-field stuff. My problem was that I read it right after I read 1Q84, and the contrast made it seem relatively unimportant. Not fair, I know. Still, it was a good read with a lot to like.

[Sandy]

Travis wrote: "This book was great! I read about it in Vanity Fair and my super groovy inlaws got it for me for Xmas last year. I read it right away and blew through it in like a week or ten days or something. ..."


It's funny how people relate differently to what the story is about. It shows just how much thought and depth he put into it. On my end, I saw it as a way to show the different ways to deal with the first real failure; the first time you really blow something in your adult life that you know to be meaningful and that forever changes the course of your life. It's something I definitely struggled with in my own life and it's something that transforms you afterwards.

I enjoyed the baseball setting and was really really happy to realize it wasn't only about that though because I'm not a baseball fan at all.

But something I really admired and that I'm always very touchy about is the economy of words and sentences to describe a scene or a feeling. Like a minimalist description of everything that's needed is there and nothing more. I've been reading some very fun page-turners recently but this one was definitely a notch above as far as that was concerned. It's a very fine line that separates a shallow read from an overly descriptive book and I think he went strait along it as far as I was concerned.

I think I'd like a movie made from this book. Even if it'll change the whole rhythm. There's a lot of visual involved and I'd like to see it brought to life :)

[Claudette]

I loved this book. I couldn't stop reading it. It's driven by the characters, and I just wanted to know more about them. I really enjoyed the baseball parts, although I'm not a big fan I do enjoy the sport.

[[deleted user]]

I also loved this book and agree about the John Irving comparison. Did anyone else think or have an opinion why the author chose such outrageous names for most if not all of his characters? I also thought the character development in the main male characters was spot on but was a bit disappointed with how Pella was portrayed but that would fit in with the style of John Irving.

[Laura]

I am a baseball fan,so the book had me from its title. I engaged in the characters from the beginning, although I got a little bogged down with some of them - Pella seemed particularly unbelievable, and I couldn't decide if Schwartz was actually that much older than the "traditional" college student that his thoughts ran so philosophically, or whether he was just a little unbelievable himself as a college age student. Were were to understand that his rough background gave him all this insight into himself. I couldn't quite decide what to do with him - I ended up placing him in at least his 30's for maturity and insight, as well as his "beaten up body." And...why did that become important to me - I just wanted that character to pan out for me, I guess.
Despite things like this, I still stuck with the book and found the baseball, the mulling over relationship and life purpose and life's contradictions and insurmountabilities intricate and well set up. Overall - I really enjoyed it and even enjoyed some of the things that bothered me about it.

[Shannon P.]

I am a big baseball fan and I liked this book a lot. Owen was my favorite character--so intelligent and cultured, yet down-to-earth, warm, affectionate and approachable. The relationship between Schwartz and Scrimmer was special and complicated.

I ached for Henry when he was in the midst of his on-the-field struggles that contributed to his depression. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, as a baseball fan, Henry's fielding troubles made me wince repeatedly. I just wanted to see him succeed.

One of the problems I had with the book was Pella's character. I loved that she was smart and spunky, but she seemed so dependent on the male figures in her life: her husband, her dad, Schwartz. I wish I could see her be more independent since that seemed to be what she was striving for.

My final question: I have to make (or buy) desserts for my book club gathering where we'll discuss this book. What should I bring? I want to reflect one or more of the following themes: Harpooners, Moby Dick, Lake Michigan, Baseball, Fielding. Any ideas?

Cheers!

[Mary]

Shannon, you gotta bring peanuts and Cracker Jack!

[Amy]

I really enjoyed this book as well. The only thing that put me off was that it seemed to drag at times. I could handle the book being 100 pages less, and I'm a person who gravitates to longer books. Owen was one of my favorites as well.

[[deleted user]]

Shannon, I read the book quite a awhile ago but I remember food being a very predominant theme. For some reason Oysters keep coming to mind so perhaps Oyster Crackers ??... and Pizza, didn't they all seem to eat a lot of Pizza, perhaps you can make mini ones...and BEER.
Have fun!

[Richard]

I read this almost one year ago when it came out, so my memory could be orders of magnitude off, but didn't Pella get a job in the college cafeteria? And didn't the head of the cafeteria teach her how to cook a few items? Those might be suitable for a theme meal.

[Shannon P.]

Thanks for all your suggestions. Yes, there were many scenes with food in the book. Unfortunately, I can't remember any desserts. During Mike and Pella's first date at the Italian restaurant, I was so hoping that they would eat Tiramisu, but they didn't. (I already knew that I was assigned dessert for the book club gathering.)

I'm going to take Mary's suggestion and make homemade peanuts and crackerjack. http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-homem...

The rest of our menu includes hoagies, soft pretzels, nachos, Wisconsin cheese and crackers, and potato salad. Can't wait!

[Alan]

I thought this was the most overrated book of a year in which there were many overrated books (eg Swamplandia). I thought it was overly precious ("freshpersons"--really???),and overly sentimental. None of the characters seemed real, and the dialogue did not ring true. Despite the subplot about homosexuality, this book might have been set in the 1950's or 1920's--but in no way do these characters resemble my kid's or their peers in college today. I did like the paeans to baseball, and confess to being moved a couple of times by this fairy tale story--but it was really not worth the accolades given it.

[[deleted user]]

I really liked this book. I might never have read it at all, except for a friend who mentioned that her library discussion group was reading it and she thought it was good. In a way, even though it was over 500 pages long, I wished that the novel would never end.

I tend to enjoy books set at colleges anyway and this one really focused on the college scene. I'm not that much into athletics, but I do like to watch baseball and I'm familiar enough with the sport so that I could grasp what was going on with the games. I thought Harbach presented the sport in such a way that even non-fans could enjoy the parts about baseball. Most of the characters were likeable, but they had their flaws, and I thought that made them more interesting and human. If I had one criticism of the book, it would be about Pella. I thought some of the things she did were immature, such as swallowing an expensive earring, even though she was coming out of a bad relationship. The fact that she became involved with one of the students almost immediately after arriving at Westish College did not set well with me, either. But it was good to have a memorable female character because practically all of the other major characters were male. I thought the juxtaposition of a gay love affair with athletics was unusual. I could also relate to Henry's struggle for perfection and how it crippled him to the point that he couldn't even function. Perfection, even if attained, can only be maintained for a short time.

[[deleted user]]

Shannon P. wrote: "Thanks for all your suggestions. Yes, there were many scenes with food in the book. Unfortunately, I can't remember any desserts. During Mike and Pella's first date at the Italian restaurant, I was..."

Shannon P. wrote: "I am a big baseball fan and I liked this book a lot. Owen was my favorite character--so intelligent and cultured, yet down-to-earth, warm, affectionate and approachable. The relationship between Sc..."

Richard wrote: "I read this almost one year ago when it came out, so my memory could be orders of magnitude off, but didn't Pella get a job in the college cafeteria? And didn't the head of the cafeteria teach her ..."

Hey, Shannon P. Your comments about food made me hungry. I remember a scene in the book, fairly early on, where President Affenlight hosted a dinner for Owen and his mother. Pella brought back a cinnamon loaf or something from the school cafeteria to bake in the kitchen. I guess your book discussion is long over. I hope it was a big success. I got kind of irritated when Pella didn't even know how to heat it up. She had a 6-burner range when she lived in San Francisco and she didn't know how to use it. My stove doesn't even work now. Oh, well. At least I can read.

[Shannon]

This book was very well-written. It was great account of baseball and academia. The characters were very believable.I enjoyed coming to the end of book, and the way the characters came together.

[Brenda]

I loved it, thought it was a great study of the way we put expectations on ourselves and can be our own worst critics. Really likeable cast of characters, interesting setting... I'm not a baseball fan (though my son is so I know a little about the sport) and I'm a long way from American college life, but still found much to identify and empathise with.

[Ed]

This was an interesting read for me in that the first half was a beautifully drawn picture of life on a small college campus, it's charismatic college president and the very interesting members of it's very good baseball team. Unfortunately, the second half of the book degenerated into a soap opera-like swamp of relationship angst that dragged a potentially 5 star book off the rails toward an absurd and unrealistic finale. Too bad because I felt the author took his very likable, well developed characters in the wrong direction.

[Nick]

This was my favorite read of last year. I saw a certain "surreal" quality in the ending, with the moving of the body, and even the Henry-Pella relationship, but that made the ending stand out for me. In so much of the book I had a Melville-on-my-shoulder feel, which is great and makes the book doubly fun, but the ending soared beyond that.

[Mary]

I love this book: the folks in it and what they get into. So many different kinds of love.

[Steve]

I loved this book. Baseball is a game of failure, struggle, perseverance and redeeming features. This book follows interesting characters who deal with all of that, whether on the field or off.

You can have all the talent in the world, but it is never a substitute for humanity and friendship

[William]

I too very much enjoyed the book... at least the first 3/4 of it, but then it just fell off a cliff. I found the disinterrment (sp?) utterly unbelieveable. Harbach seemed to be in a thoughtless hurry to finish the story. BTW, the body would float, not sink.

[Harold]

I was surprised at how much I liked the book. I saw so many 3 stras on Amazon, that I was afraid to spend the time, but I am so glad I did. It was a wonderful story of coming of age and the relationships of codependency, and a great baseball story. I disagree with William. I loved the ending and found it totally believable. As I recall, they put metal poles on the body so it would sink.
More importantly, it left open the possibility of a sequel about Henry and mike since Henry stays for another year.I just hope it doesn't take him another 9 years to write it.

[Adriana]

William wrote: ". . . BTW, the body would float, not sink."

They had placed steel bars inside the bag so it would sink.

I am a casual baseball fan, but not so much a fan of sports novels, but this one really was more than a story about a sport. I found it thoroughly engaging.

And it appears I'm not the only one who was reminded of a John Irving novel as I read.

[Kelly]

Patricia wrote: "I really liked this book. I might never have read it at all, except for a friend who mentioned that her library discussion group was reading it and she thought it was good. In a way, even though it..."

I loved this book, too - what else have you read that you liked?

[Tim The Enchanter]

I did not enjoy it. The book tried to do too many things and string together too themes. I could have done without the entire storyline of the school president. I expected the book to be about baseball but baseball was only a supporting cast member. Baseball was more of a metaphor than a subject matter. For a great coming of age story, I would suggest The Starboard Sea

[Dana]

Hi all, this book completely blew me away. Loved every word of it. Does anyone have a recommendation for a good book. I'm having a hard time moving off of this to a new one.

[Harold]

Dana,
I really enjoyed this book
http://www.amazon.com/The-Pitcher-ebo...
It is much more than a baseball youth story, but not the exalted literary fiction that The Art of Fielding is.
This was my review:
This review is from: The Pitcher (Kindle Edition)
I am blown away by this novel. It gave me more chills than "The Field Of Dreams" and "The Natural" combined. I choked up more times reading this, soon to be classic tale, than a team that leaves 11 men on base during a game. I kid you not; it's that moving.
This is much more than a story of the love of a game, or a mother's dream for her child. This is a perfectly crafted piece of literary fiction that is relevant to contemporary issues of the day.
You will come to respect and admire Maria and her son Ricky. If you're like me, you will be fascinated by the Pitcher Jack Langford. All I could see when I read about him was Clint Eastwood (about 25 years younger). You'll love his evolution and root for him as well as Maria and Ricky. If this isn't made into a movie, Hollywood is missing out on a potential blockbuster as big or bigger than "Sandlot" or "The Natural".
It weaves in hot button issues like illegal immigration, health care, and domestic violence in a way that isn't preachy or over the top. It is sentimental but not maudlin.
These issues and the dream of a mother and child to have "their moment to shine" is brilliantly done in a manner that is at times humorous, tension filled, and totally satisfying. The last 25 % of the book will have you in angst as the the twists of the story unfold into a totally fulfilling conclusion.
This novel is a must read for men and women of all ages. I just can't put into words how impressive this book is, but I have no doubt that this future best seller is Mr. Hazelgrove's
"moment to shine".

[Nathaniel]

The Art of Fielding was a great book with powerful characters. Baseball was the backdrop to a rich narrative. If you liked The Art of Fielding I think you would like The Adventures of the Omaha Kid and If I Never Get Back.

[Harold]

I loved If I never get back but it took some time to get used to the language of the late 1880's. It is a wonderful time travel novel with guest appearances by people like Mark Twain.

[Nathaniel]

Mark Twain was the perfect guest appearance in the book because it copied his idea of falling back through time in "The Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." which I haven't read since I was in high school. Yes If I Never Get Back and the Art of Fielding were both baseball books that had more action off the field on it. In The Adventures of the Omaha Kid, I tried to show my love for sport balanced with strong plot and moral development by the main character. In that way I think it was somewhat like The Art of Fielding. But Tim's search for "home" paralleled the search to fit in for the protagonist in If I Never Get Back.

[Dana]

Thanks Harold--loved the review and recommendation. I'll have to check that book out.

Dana

[Harold]

My pleasure Dana

[Fred]

Carol wrote: "Yes, I am not a baseball fan eitheer but I find I enjoy watching a game more after reading the book. I was captured by the friendships and the romances and the idea of perfection at anything. The..."
One of the great aspects of this beautifully written story is that it's really not about baseball at all. There is a great kindle single about this book and its journey to publication. I can't think of the name- but I highly recommend it if you're the type who wants to know who great works of art come to life.

[Nathaniel]

If you liked "The Art of Fielding" and "If I Never Get Back", I highly recommend "The Adventures of the Omaha Kid." Sports becomes the backdrop for a lost boy-then man looking to find a home.

[Left Coast Justin]

Hmmmm. I guess somebody has to be the spoilsport -- might as well be me.

As somebody above pointed out, the author got the baseball stuff right, and I heartily agree. I've long felt that athletes are no more strong, fit or flexible than your weekend warriors at the local YMCA, but mentally they're off in another place altogether, and that's what allows them to succeed.

Off the field, though, I dimly remember slogging through and now, a couple of years later, I truly can't remember a thing about it. It left no impression whatsoever.

[Nathaniel]

For a different look at sports feeding a story try my "Adventures of the Omaha Kid," a different type of prose.