December is always a big reading month for me. Each year I read Jean Shepherd’s A Christmas Story, which only takes a couple hours. I generally squeeze in at least one other quick Christmas read. And then the holiday break at the end of the month allows me to really finish the year strong. 2015 was no exception. I knocked…

A lighter month, as I tackled another beast of a book and then punted most of Thanksgiving week. With a strong finish – and December always includes a few traditional and quick reads – I’ll get to 52 books for the year. The Cartel – Don Winslow What is the official threshold that you need to cross for your book…

Despite all the baseball last month, I still managed to get through four books. One of which inspired me to read two other of my October selections. For those keeping score at home, I began November with 44 books read for the year so far. Night Soldiers – Alan Furst You may recall I read Furst’s Dark Star a couple…

I believe I’ve mentioned a time or two (or three) that I spent nearly a month wading through a beast of a book. Now I have to write about said beast. Cripes. The good news (for me at least) is that despite the time spent on that book, I remain at book-a-week pace for the year. The Woman Who Lost…

A bit of a slower, more relaxed reading month in August. Part of that is simply because I’m roughly halfway through a fairly massive novel that locked down the last couple weeks of the month. But still on book-a-week pace for the year overall. 100 Things Royals Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die – Matt Fulks My step-dad…

Up, Up, & Away – Jonah Keri Keri’s first book, The Extra 2%, was destined to disappoint. Its focus was the small market, small budget Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays and their rise to become perennial contenders in the American League East. That was a problem, because it was impossible not to compare it to Michael Lewis’ Moneyball, his look at…

Will Not Attend – Adam Resnick A first-class collection of short stories by the former writer for Letterman and producer of The Larry Sanders Show, among other entries on his résumé. They are all utterly ridiculous – some to the point where you wonder how far the truth has been stretched in them. But most, especially those that feature his…

At first glance, it was a light month. Two books?!?! What the hell? Ahhh, but the truth is more complex. One book took nearly three weeks to read. And in spare moments I was also reading books about photography. So, fear not. I knocked out my obligatory five books in May. I just won’t bore you with the details of…

Station Eleven – Emily St. John Mandel I ended March with a disappointing semi-apocalyptic novel, Black Moon. As I was finishing it, I got the notice from the library that my hold on Station Eleven had come in. It was much better. Mandel goes to the Stephen King well to find the source of her apocalypse: a super flu that…