Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Hypothetical Book Championship Belt #2

Another couple of months and another few books down - has something overtaken Quammen or Green?

Non - fiction contenders:
Showtime by Jeff Pearlman - I have always enjoyed Pearlman and his books, and this one was one of his best.  He expertly weaves the tale of the eighties Lakers and their brilliant control of the league during the period.  Given the sort of heat he took from the last book he wrote, about Walter Payton, this has been receiving almost universal praise and deservedly so.  The Lakers stories are full of tawdry affairs and Pearlman brilliantly weaves it all together with the success on the court.  Although I really liked Boys Will Be Boys about the Cowboys, this was a stronger book.  Perhaps the best part was the parts about enigmatic Laker Kareem Abdul Jabbar.  No writer has better explained who Kareem is and why he is he way he is.  Overall, a great read, which for Pearlman is business as usual.

Fiction contenders:
The Silo Saga (Wool / Shift / Dust) by Hugh Howey - If you like your dystopia rather totalitarian and grim, this is the series for you.  Released as an ebook, this was transformed by an incredible amount of reviews and press.  Howey has written a very good series that does not go in necessarily conventional ways - namely the second book completely ignores the characters from the first, and the third brings the two books together.  I could not put these books down, and they were very well written and the characters are immersed in a frighteningly real world that is too recognizable for comfort.  Prepare to go down a bit of a rabbit hole with these ones.

The belt holders: remains Green and Quammen

However...a serious challenge is being laid down by another book about viruses (I cannot get enough) called The Coming Plague by Laurie Garrett...stay tuned.