The Art of Fielding

Doesn't this lower cover strike you as a little YA? I can see why the American publishers went with the upper design instead. Although, that is one of the most boring covers I think I have ever seen. It says little about the book except for the little harpoon to represent the school emblem within the pages, and even then I had to notice it after I started reading. It means nothing to the cover browser. But I guess this hasn't hurt sales though since the book is doing well and is rather lauded.

I picked THE ART OF FIELDING up on the recommendation of my great local independent bookseller, Inkwood Books. Usually their fiction suggestions leave me cold, being more of a science fiction/mystery reader, but baseball always interests me and I gave it a spin.

Mostly what I could think of during this book was that it reminded me of Donna Tartt's THE SECRET HISTORY, but with baseball. Conflicted college people trying to avoid/cope with the coming transition to the real world. It was written well-enough and kept me hooked. There was some obvious foreshadowing, but nothing too distracting. And it ended in the best way possible. So I can't complain too much.

Probably the best thing about it was that baseball was secondary to the characters. And we were spared any lengthy homilies about the purity of the game or the beauty of the play, etc.

A good first inning, but we'll see how the author's innings play out.