Hit the Harvard Coop yesterday (best bookstore in Massachusetts, fiction section is out of this world) and loaded up on some January reading. Have a lot ongoing, and more in the wings, but I couldn’t pass these up.
The Big Oyster, Mark Kurlansky. Well, this is a blog about clamming strategies, so I had to get this from one of the best food historians (Cod, Salt, etc.) writing today.
 The Mayflower Papers, Nathaniel and Thomas Philbrick. Primary source companion to The Mayflower, spied this as I was about to buy William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation. All in keeping with my recent early Massachusetts history binge. I love primary source history — having had it shoved down my throat in college by history professors who would have it no other way. Sort of opens your eyes to a new perspective on things to hear from the first hand witnesses to events versus the commercial pap foisted on school children about the love affair between the Pilgrims and the Indians and the first Thanksgiving.
Stars and Bars, William Boyd. Contemporary English author, introduced to me by Charles Dubow. One of my favorites. Recommend a newcomer start with The New Confessions
PS: Hey Amazon, stop mucking up book covers with the fricking “Search Inside!” logo. It ruins a good thing.
Aha, fun with Amazon images! This is all easily hackable. All you need is the ISBN for your book. For Stars and Bars, enter 0375705015 where the form asks for the ASIN here:
http://www.majordojo.com/projects/amazon-image-hacks.php
It will give you the URL to embed that version of the image.
More on hacking Amazon images here: http://aaugh.com/imageabuse.html
Glad to see you have become a Boyd fan! You may also be amused to learn–if you haven’t already–that Daniel Day-Lewis (the subject of your previous post)–starred in the film adaptation of Stars and Bars, proving that he can do comedy as well as drama.
Thanks for the push to read The Mayflower Papers. It had been on my list but finally got off my butt and ordered a copy off Amazon.
If you can find a copy, read Prophet of the Sandlots by Mark Winegardner. Mark spent travel time with America’s greatest major league baseball scout. It will give you a perspective on baseball that you never had and you will never watch a sandlot game the same way again.
Yes, the Cape cod league is mentioned 🙂