Scan barcode
liberrydude's review against another edition
3.0
As warned in the introduction this is a dog’s breakfast- a miscellaneous pot pourri from baseball and literary criticism to remembrances of the deceased to growing old. I certainly learned a lot about the New Yorker.
danchrist's review against another edition
4.0
A relaxing ride through an unfamiliar landscape, one I'd enjoy seeing again.
pinkbasil's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book and only hope that the author follows it up with a book just of his collected letters. What a graceful letter writer he is!
zdmgg's review against another edition
3/5, style of writing was not my cup of tea. I will continue to read his baseball articles though when I stumble upon them
bobbo49's review against another edition
4.0
The "pieces" are a wide variety of essays and talks and letters and notes by Angell over many years, on an equally broad range of topics - but the clear foci are (a) literature and literati (many from his time as an editor at the New Yorker), (b) baseball, and (c) aging. Angell can be funny, poignant, brilliantly observant, critical, thoughtful - or all of the above at once. As is only to be expected in such a compilation, the quality is somewhat uneven, and it's hard to imagine that anyone who doesn't enjoy reading about all three major topics (noted above) would really like the assemblage, for me the book was a very enjoyable piece of time travel.
mc6owanj's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book of essays. While some of the letters seem unnecessary, they nonetheless confirm how eloquent a writer Angell is. This book rekindled many memories of listening to my father discuss with his peers new Angell essays as they appeared in the New Yorker. While this may not be the best introduction to Angell (I really liked "Late Innings"), it is still worthy of your time.
hcq's review
4.0
Classic Angell. For the record, I'm a huge fan; his baseball essays were part of my introduction to being a real fan of the game, not just my team, and I love his style.
This book has that style, applied to other topics as well. Angell has rightly been praised for the title piece—lines and bits of it have stuck in my mind for months. He's been a lucky man, in many ways, and he both knows and acknowledges it with his customary grace.
This book has that style, applied to other topics as well. Angell has rightly been praised for the title piece—lines and bits of it have stuck in my mind for months. He's been a lucky man, in many ways, and he both knows and acknowledges it with his customary grace.
More...