Books: "Full Count" by Cone & Curry Now Available In Paperback

Full Count: The Education of a Pitcher
By David Cone and Jack Curry
Grand Central Publishing; paperback, $17.99

David Cone, a five-time All-Star and a five-time World Champion, is a New York baseball legend, and he tells his story in the entertaining new book, Full Count: The Education of a Pitcher.

Major League Baseball Takes Big Step To July Opening Day

Yankee Stadium could look like this come July under a proposal to play games without fans. This was from the first game of a doubleheader between the Yankees and Orioles on May 15, 2019. Photo by Jason Schott.

Major League Baseball took a major step to launching the 2020 season when, according to the Associated Press, the owners have approved a proposal from the players' union that could lead to the season opening in July in ballparks without fans.

Part 2: A Chat With "Yogi" Author Jon Pessah

Jon Pessah.

Jon Pessah is the founding editor of ESPN the Magazine, former sports editor at Newsday and the Hartford Courant, and the author of The Game: Inside the Secret World of Major League Baseball's Power Brokers, which detailed Major League Baseball's labor strife in the 1990s. 

"I Know This Much Is True," Based on Wally Lamb's Novel, Debuts Sunday On HBO

This Sunday, May 10, marks the debut of the HBO Limited Series "I Know This Much is True," starring Mark Ruffalo and based on the novel by Wally Lamb (I Know This Much is True; Harper Perennial/HarperCollins Publishers; paperback; $17.99).

Part 1: A Conversation With Jon Pessah, Author of "Yogi"

Jon Pessah is the founding editor of ESPN the Magazine, as well as managing sports sections at Newsday and the Hartford Courant, and the author of The Game, which detailed Major League Baseball's labor strife. 

Caitlin Moran's Novel "How To Build A Girl" Now An IFC Movie

Caitlin Moran is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel How To Build A Girl, and she was also the screenwriter for the IFC Film production, which debuts this Friday, May 8.

Book Chat: With Brad Balukjian, Author Of "The Wax Pack"

The Wax Pack: On the Open Road in Search of Baseball's Afterlife
By Brad Balukjian
University of Nebraska Press; 280 pages; hardcover, $27.95; eBook, $16.95

Brad Balukjian, a freelance journalist who is also the director of the Natural History and Sustainability Program and teaches biology at Merritt College in Oakland California, and he set out on a quest to see if there's life after baseball.

Books: "Westside Saints" By W.M. Akers

Westside Saints
By W.M. Akers
Harper Voyager; hardcover, $27.99; available Tuesday, May 5

Last year, W.M. Akers introduced a different kind of New York City in Westside. Set in 1921, the city dying and a thirteen-mile fence running the length of Broadway that splits Manhattan into the prosperous East Side and the Westside, which is an overgrown wasteland and, with an aversion to modern technology, a home to the gritty underbelly of the city.

Book Chat: Kimberly McCreight, Author Of "A Good Marriage"

A Good Marriage
By Kimberly McCreight
Harper; hardcover, 400 pages; $27.99; available Tuesday, May 5

Kimberly McCreight is the author of the New York Times bestseller Reconstructing Amelia, which was nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, and Alex awards; Where They Found Her; and The Outliers, which is a young adult trilogy. She is a resident of Park Slope, where she lives with her husband and two teenaged daughters.

Books: New Novels For May

Photo by Jason Schott.

As the calendar turns to May, it is a good time to keep reading as the quarantine continues. The month's arrival comes with the debut of three compelling new novels - Meadowlark, by Melanie Abrams, and The Girl Beneath The Sea, by Andrew Mayne.

Books: "The Gay Agenda"

The Gay Agenda: A Modern Queer History & Handbook
By Ashley Molesso & Chase Needham
Morrow Gift, an imprint of William Morrow; hardcover, $28.00; available Tuesday, April 28

Last year, there were numerous commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, which marked the start of the gay rights movement in America.

Books: On The Genius Of “Weird Al” Yankovic

Weird Al: Seriously
By Lily E. Hirsch; foreword by Dr. Demento
Rowman & Littlefield; hardback, $28.00; eBook, $26.50

"Weird Al" Yankovic is one of the most recognizable recording artists, and possibly the most unique talent, as he has made a four-decade career out of creating classic hits out of major hits, such as "Eat It," based on Michael Jackson's "Beat It," and "Amish Paradise," a take-off on Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise."

Books: "From The Links" On Golf's Grand History

On The Links: 
By Joshua Shifrin
Lyons Press; paperback, 256 pages; $18.95

Billed as "a golf hall of fame, shame, and arcane, From the Links is the perfect book for people who miss playing and watching the pros battle on television on weekends.

Books: "Unrigged" By David Daley

Unrigged: How Americans Are Battling Back To Save Democracy
By David Daley
Liveright; hardcover, 320 pages; $26.95

David Daley is a senior fellow at FairVote and the author of Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count, which showed how a small cadre of Republican operatives rigged American elections. He is the former editor of Salon, and his work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, and the Washington Post. 

Books: "American Prophets" Looks At The Religious Left

American Prophets: The Religious Roots of Progressive Politics and the Ongoing Fight for the Soul of the Country
By Jack Jenkins
HarperOne; hardcover, $27.99; available today, Tuesday, April 21

Jack Jenkins a national reporter for Religion News Service and a former Senior Religion Reporter for ThinkProgress, is one of the most respected religion reporters in the country. In his new book, American Prophets, he shares a paradigm-shifting discussion of how the Religious Left is actually the moral compass that has long steered America's political debates, including in this era.

Books: "Kid Quixotes" On A Transformative School In Bushwick

Kid Quixotes: A Group of Students, Their Teacher, and the One-Room School Where Everything Is Possible
By Stephen Haff
HarperOne; hardcover; $27.99; available Tuesday, April 21

In this time of uncertainty, in which our world has been turned upside down, comes a book about a school in Bushwick, with a teacher on a mission to help kids facing adversity find their individual and collective voices.

Books: "Final Judgment" By Marcia Clark

Final Judgment: Samantha Brinkman - Book 4
By Marcia Clark
Thomas & Mercer; hardcover, $24.95; paperback, $15.95; ebook, $4.99; available Tuesday, April 21

Marcia Clark has been a practicing criminal lawyer since 1979 and joined the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office in 1981, where she served as prosecutor for the trials of O.J. Simpson - which people associate her most with - and Robert Bardo, who was convicted of killing actress Rebecca Schaeffer.

Yankees Co-Chairperson Hank Steinbrenner, Eldest Child Of The Boss, Passes Away

@Yankees.

The Yankees announced the untimely passing of General Partner and Co-Chairperson Henry G. "Hank" Steinbrenner at the age of 63 on Tuesday morning at his home in Clearwater, Florida, from a longstanding health issue.

Books: "Citizen Reporters" On One Of The Most Influential Magazines Ever

Citizen Reporters: S.S. McClure, Ida Tarbell, and the Magazine That Rewrote America
By Stephanie Gorton
Ecco; hardcover, 384 pages; $28.99

The United States of a century ago was not all that different now, as it was a time when we were divided politically, wealth inequality hasnever been higher, and the president of the United States publicly attacked the press, calling reporters who threatened his reputation "forces of evil.

Books: "The Committee" By Sterling Watson

The Committee
By Sterling Watson
Akashic Books; hardcover, $32.95; paperback, $16.95; E-book, $16.99

Sterling Watson is the author of eight novels, including Deadly Sweet, Sweet Dream Baby, Fighting in the Shade, and Suitcase City. He was director of the creative writing program at Eckerd College for twenty years and now teaches in the Solstice MFA Program at Pine Manor College in Boston.

Books: On Presidential History

As the nation experiences one of its worst crises in history, battling the coronavirus pandemic, it's a good time to look back at other rough moments in time, and how presidents have dealt with them. Four books that are great resources are: Shall We Wake The President? Two Centuries Of Disaster Management From The Oval Office, By Tevi Troy; Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America, by Jared Cohen; Presidents Of War, by Michael Beschloss; and Presidential Leadership: Politics and Policy Making, Eleventh Edition, by George C. Edwards III, Kenneth R. Mayer, and Stephen J. Wayne.

Books: GH Star Maurice Benard's "Nothing General About It"

Nothing General About It: How Love (And Lithium) Saved Me On And Off General Hospital
By Maurice Benard, with Susan Black
William Morrow; hardcover, $27.99; available today, Tuesday, April 7

Sonny Corinthos is one of the most recognizable characters on television, making his mark in the soap opera "General Hospital" since 1993.

Books: "Crave" By Tracy Wolff

Crave
By Tracy Wolff
Entangled Teen, an imprint of Entangled Publishing LLC; hardcover, $18.99; available Tuesday, April 7

Tracy Wolff is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 64 novels that vary from young adult action adventures to new adult romance, and from women's fiction to erotica. A long-time devotee of vampires, dragons and all things that go bump in the night, Tracy loves nothing more than combining her affection for paranormal creatures with her love of writing tortured heroes and kick-butt heroines.

Books: "The Astonishing Life Of August March" By Aaron Jackson

The Astonishing Life Of August March

By Aaron Jackson

Harper; hardcover, 275 pages; $27.99; available Tuesday, April 7

Aaron Jackson is a writer and comedian who was recently a cast member on Comedy Central's The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, and has also appeared on Broad City, The Detour, Crashing, the National Lampoon Radio Hour, and Funny or Die's Jared and Ivanka, a series he also co-wrote.

Books: "Gotham High," The Latest From Melissa de la Cruz

Gotham High
By Melissa de la Cruz
DC Entertainment; 208 pages; paperback, $16.99; available Tuesday, April 7

Melissa de la Cruz is the #1 New York Times, #1 Publishers Weekly, and #1 IndieBound bestselling author of many critically acclaimed and award-winning novels for readers of all ages, including Alex and Eliza, The Descendants, The Witches of East End, and Blue Bloods, and her more than 30 books have been published in over 20 countries.

Baseball Books: "When Big Data Was Small" & "Unwritten"

Photo by Jason Schott.

As the delay to the baseball season continues, it's a good time to take a look at two books on how the game is studied and played, When Big Data Was Small, by Richard D. Cramer; and Unwritten: Bat Flips, The Fun Police, and Baseball's New Future, by Danny Knobler.

Books: "Something She's Not Telling Us" By Darcey Bell

Something She's Not Telling Us
By Darcey Bell
Harper Paperback/HarperCollins Publishers; paperback, 320 pages, $16.99; available Tuesday, April 7

Darcey Bell is the author of the New York Times bestseller A Simple Favor, which was made into a movie starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick.

Music Books: On Lou Reed & Metal Legends

The Life of Lou Reed: Notes from the Velvet Underground
By Howard Sounes
Diversion Books; hardcover, 378 pages; $26.99

Howard Sounes, a veteran music biographer who has written about Bob Dylan (Down the Highway) and Paul McCartney (Fab), focuses on legendary musician Lou Reed's tortured and tumultuous life in the new book, The Life of Lou Reed: Notes from the Velvet Underground.

Books: The Science Behind "The Hot Hand"

The Hot Hand: The Mystery and Science of Streaks
By Ben Cohen
Custom House; hardcover; $28.99

One of the biggest things in sports is the notion of "the hot hand," such as when Indiana Pacer Reggie Miller lit up the Knicks in the 1994 playoffs, or when Patriots quarterback Tom Brady would keep throwing the ball to Rob Gronkowski, or when golfer Tiger Woods was having an amazing day on the greens.

Books: Elle Marr's Debut Thrlller, "The Missing Sister"

The Missing Sister
By Elle Marr
Thomas & Mercer; paperback, 299 pages; $15.95; available Wednesday, April 1

This thrilling debut novel from Elle Marr is a look into the importance of identity and the strength of sisterhood. The story follows a young American woman in her desperate search for answers about her twin sister's apparent death in the dark underbelly of Paris.

Books: The Latest Installments In The Akashic Noir Series

When Brooklyn-based publisher Akashic Books published Brooklyn Noir, edited by Tim McLoughlin, in 2004, they did not expect that it would be the start of a series.

Books: Wayne Coffey's "The Boys Of Winter" On The Miracle On Ice

The Boys Of Winter: The Untold Story of A Coach, A Dream, and The 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team
By Wayne Coffey; foreword by Jim Craig; with a new afterword by Ken Morrow for the 40th anniversary of the "Miracle On Ice"
Broadway Books; paperback; $17.00

The Miracle On Ice, when the United States hockey team triumphed over the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, NY, is one of the most iconic moments in sports history.

Books: On Baseball Stories & Strategy

Major League Baseball's Opening Day would have been this past Thursday, but while the games are put on hold, you can still read books about this great game, including these three new releases: Wits, Flakes, and Clowns: The Colorful Characters of Baseball, by Wayne Stewart; State Of Play, by Bill Ripken; and The Cup Of Coffee Club, by Jacob Kornhauser.

Books: "Franchise" On McDonald's History In The Black Community

Franchise: The Golden Arches In Black America
By Marcia Chatelain
Liveright Publishing, a division of W.W. Norton & Company; hardcover; 28.95

Fast food is a staple of American life, and while it may appear to be something that everyone enjoys and depends on, it can mean something quite different to each community.

Books: The Definitive History Of "The Office"

The Office: The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s: An Oral History
By Andy Greene
Dutton; hardcover, $28.00; available today, Tuesday, March 24

15 years ago today, the world was introduced to a new kind of sitcom, one centered around a paper company in Scaranton, Pennsylvania.

Books: On How To Improve Personally & Professionally

It's always a good time to read books on how to improve yourself, and that is especially true now in these tough times. Three books to help make the most of your time at home during the Coronavirus pandemic are: Resilient, by Rick Hanson, Ph.D.; All You Have To Do Is Ask, by Dr. Wayne Baker; and Let It Go, by Peter Walsh.

Books: "Problem Child" By Victoria Helen Stone

Problem Child: A Jane Doe Thriller
By Victoria Helen Stone
Lake Union Publishing; 296 pages; paperback, $14.95; Kindle eBook, $4.99; available March 24

This is the second installment of the Jane Doe series, which focuses on this unique heroine. She is your standard sociopath, standard, manipulative, impulsive, emotionless, and utterly charming.

Books: "The Herd" By Andrea Bartz

The Herd 
By Andrea Bartz
Ballantine Books; hardcover, 336 pages; $27.00; available March 24

Brooklyn-based author Andrea Bartz won rave reviews last year with her debut novel, The Lost Night, which was expired by her own experiences as a post-grad in Brooklyn in the time of the Great Recession around 2008. That novel, which was set in the hipster enclaves of Williamsburg and Bushwick, explored themes of friendship, identity, and obsession inside that eerie, closed-door world.

Books: "Faster" By Neal Bascomb

Faster: How a Jewish Driver, an American Heiress, and a Legendary Car Beat Hitler's Best 
By Neal Bascomb
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; hardcover, 368 pages; $28.00

It's amazing how there are still historic sports stories that have not been told, but author Neil Bascomb was tipped off four years ago about a remarkable race car and the improbable team of upstarts who saw it come to creation during the golden age of motor sport. This team was so successful that Hitler reportedly sent a team to have the car found and destroyed when he invaded France.

Books: "The Electric Heir" By Victoria Lee

The Electric Heir - Book 2 in the Feverwake Series
By Victoria Lee
Skyscape; 480 pages; hardcover, $16.99; available today, Tuesday, March 17

Victoria Lee's YA Feverwake series began last year with The Fever King, and readers of all ages and backgrounds were captivated by its diverse characters, striking blend of magic, technology, and science, and skewering of many timely social and political issues.

Books: "The Wartime Sisters" On A Family Navigating Brooklyn In The 1930s

The Wartime Sisters
By Lynda Cohen Loigman
St. Martin's Griffin; paperback; $16.99; available today Tuesday, March 10

Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, and received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a law degree from Columbia Law School. She practiced trusts and estates law in New York City for eight years before moving out of the city to raise her two children with her husband.

Books: "The Operator" By Gretchen Berg

The Operator
By Gretchen Berg
William Morrow; hardcover, $27.99; available today, Tuesday, March 10

Gretchen Berg, who was born on the East Coast and raised in the Midwest, taught English in South Korea and in Northern Iraq, and has traveled to all the other continents. Her debut novel, The Operator, is set in small-town 1950's America, and has a masterfully woven plot that dovetails topics of class, feminism, race, and karma.

Books: Mary Adkins Gives An Unvarnished Look At The "Privilege" Of Higher Education

Privilege
By Mary Adkins
Harper; hardcover, 345 pages; $27.99; available Tuesday, March 10

Mary Adkins' debut novel, When You Read This, which came out last year, was named a Best Book of the Year by Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, and Thrillist. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and The Atlantic. 

Books: "Death In Avignon" By Serena Kent

Death In Avignon
By Serena Kent
Harper Paperbacks; 352 pages; $16.99; available March 3

Death In Avignon - the second book of the Penelope Kite series and a follow up to the acclaimed Death In Provence - has the amateur sleuth scrambling to solve the murder of an expat artist. 

Books: "The Sea Of Lost Girls" By Carol Goodman

The Sea Of Lost Girls
By Carol Goodman
William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers; paperback, $16.99; available Tuesday, March 3

Carol Goodman is the author of twenty-one novels, including The Widow's House, which received the Mary Higgins Clark Award from the Mystery Writers of America. She is nominated for the award again in 2020 for her most recent novel, The Night Visitors.

Books: Maria Kalman Illustrates "The Autobiography Of Alice B. Toklas

The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas
By Gertrude Stein - Illustrations by Maria Kalman
Penguin Press; hardcover; $30.00; available Tuesday, March 3

Gertrude Stein was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 1874. At Radcliffe College, she studied under William James, who remained her lifelong friend, and then she went to Johns Hopkins to study medicine. In 1903, she abandoned her studies and moved to Paris with her brother Leo.

Red Bulls, Powered By Duncan's 3-Pint Effort, Open Season With Win

Kaku celebrating his goal. @NewYorkRedBulls.

The Red Bulls, led by New York native Kyle Duncan's one goal, two-assist performance, rolled to a 3-2 win over Cincinnati FC in the season opener on Sunday afternoon at Red Bull Arena.

Book Chat: Tyler Kepner Of The NY Times On The History Of Pitching In "K"

K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches
By Tyler Kepner
Vintage Books Trade Paperback, 336 pages; $15.00; available Tuesday, March 3

Tyler Kepner, the national baseball writer for the New York Times, gives an enchanting, enthralling history of the national pastime as told through the craft of pitching in his new book, K: A History of Baseball in Ten Pitches.

Books: "In An Instant" by Suzanne Redfearn

In An Instant
By Suzanne Redfearn
Lake Union Publishing; paperback, $14.95; audiobook, $14.99; eBook, $3.99; available Sunday, March 1

Suzanne Redfearn is the award-winning author of Hush Little Baby and No Ordinary Life. In addition to writing, she works as an architect and co-owns two restaurants with her husband. She has been elected as the Literary Laureate of Laguna Beach, helping enrich the city's literary community.

Books: "Hide Away" By Jason Pinter

Hide Away 
By Jason Pinter
Thomas & Mercer;  367 pages,  paperback, $15.95; Kindle eBook, $4.99; available Sunday, March 1

Jason Pinter is the internationally bestselling author of the Harry Parker thriller series (The Mark, The Guilty, The Stolen, The Fury, and The Darkness), the standalone thriller The Castle, and two children's books.

Books: "This Terrible Beauty" By Katrin Schumann

This Terrible Beauty
By Katrin Schumann
Lake Union Publishing; hardcover, $24.95; paperback, $14.95; available Sunday, March 1

Katrin Schumann wowed readers with her debut novel, The Forgotten Hours, which was a Washington Post bestseller. She has also published five nonfiction books and has collaborated on dozens of additional titles, both commercially and independently. She was born in Germany and her family settled in Brooklyn when she was two, and she spent her formative years here before the family moved to London when she was eleven.

In her new book, This Terrible Beauty, Schumann finds inspiration in her family's dark post-World War II heritage to write this historical fiction, which is set in the 1950s and '60s on the German island of Rugen, which fell under Russian control after the war, and in a devastated Berlin.

Schumann's novel centers on a young woman grappling with life and love in a totalitarian system. She explores the cowardice and courage of ordinary people trapped in a world over which they have little control. 

As the novel opens, the war is over and the Iron Curtain has divided Europe with devastating consequences. Lonely and longing for a family, Bettina Hellstrom marries Werner, an older bureaucrat who adores her. 

After joining the fledgling secret police, Werner is drawn into its  dark mission and becomes a dangerous man. When Bettina falls in love with an idealistic young writer, Werner discovers her infidelity and forces her to make a terrible choice: spend her life in prison or leave her home forever. Either way, she is going to lose both her lover and her young child.

A decade later, Bettina is reinvented as a celebrated photographer in Chicago, but she has never lost that yearning for the daughter she left behind. When she is surprised by an unexpected visitor from her past, she resolves to go back to her ravaged homeland to reclaim her child and uncover her beloved's fate, but at what cost?

This Terrible Beauty offers a fresh and surprising perspective on the World War II era, a period that continues to be popular with readers.

The Dark Family History That Lies Behind This Terrible Beauty, By Katrin Schumann:

In November 1989, I flew with my father to the German island of Rugen, up north on the Baltic Sea. A Berliner, my father had spent summers there as a little boy, not unlike Bostonians who head to the Vineyard to escape the city. But for three decades, the island had been on lockdown: after WWII, half of Germany fell under Russian control, trapping millions of Germans behind a physical and metaphorical wall. Luckily, my father escaped to the West and eventually made his way to freedom in America.

Just a few weeks before our trip to Rugen, the actual wall that split Germany in two - patrolled by sharpshooters and dogs, lined with bombs - had finally come down. Truth be told, until that visit to the island, my family's history felt distant and confusing to me.

That all changed after my father and I crept into my great aunt's abandoned cottage on a medieval square in Sabnitz, where I came face-to-face with the epic, yet also crushingly mundane, struggles that defined 20th century German history, and dramatically changed the course of millions of lives.

The derelict fisherman's cottage was filled with debris and broken bottles, unloved and unlived in. In a corner of the cramped living room was a large iron firepit, and behind it a huge coal stain had blossomed over the floral wallpaper. For decades, East Germans relied heavily on cheap and dirty lignite (brown coal), which heated and polluted their homes and cities. The damp wallpaper itself was peeling off in places, and underneath it I saw layer upon layer of designs from past eras.

In that moment, it struck me just how many German women had struggled to live ordinary lives under extraordinary circumstances, first under fascism then under communism. I learned that when the Russians arrived on the island, my great aunt (fearful of retribution) had rushed to the local cemetery to try to scrape the swastika off her husband's gravestone with a kitchen knife. That terrible contradiction stuck with me. 

This was when my novel's protagonist, Bettina Heilstrom, first came 
to me as a character: a young woman who yearns for love and finds herself in conflict with political forces entirely outside her control.

Do you fight? Do you give up? Do you accept guilt and seek redemption? How on earth do you keep going? History is complicated, and there are stories that haven't been fully told yet; Bettina's is one of them.



Launch Events for Katrin Schumann and This Terrible Beauty across the country:

Saturday, February 29 at 6:00 PM -  Shakti Yoga launch party - 1114 White Street, Key West, FL. For more info, contact (305)587-4285

Tuesday, March 3 at 10:30 AM - Monroe County Public Library - 700 Fleming Street, Key West, FL. For more info, contact (305)292-3595

Wednesday, March 4 at 7:00 PM - Belmont Books - 79 Leonard Street, Belmont, MA. For more info, contact: (617)932-1496

Thursday, March 5 at 7:00 PM - Goodnow Library - 21 Concord Rd., Sudbury, MA. For more info, contact (978)443-1035

Thursday, March 12 at 6:00 PM - Boston Anthenaeum with Marjan Kamali - A Conversation on Agency: Displacement And Power During Political Turmoil - 10 1/2 Beacon Street, Boston MA - click here for more information.