Comments on: BOTNS Books Podcast #85: Gooooooaaaaaalllllll!

By: Christel Michael

Christel Michael — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 03:18:21 +0000

Hi, I read plenty of blog posts on a regular basis and many blog posts are short of real material however, I merely wanted to make a quick comment to say FANTASTIC weblog! I am going to be checking in regularly now. Keep up the good work!

By: Melissa W.

Melissa W. — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:44:56 +0000

A good soccer book would be The Fix : soccer and organized crime by Declan Hill. He looks into the world of organized crime and soccer and how there has been match fixing. From what I have heard about the book, it is an excellent read and a good insight into how various crime syndicates have basically made sure that certain teams move ahead, etc.

By: Melissa W.

Melissa W. — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 04:44:00 +0000

By: Carla

Carla — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:44:11 +0000

Joel, glad you posted that about the film. I was trying to remember the family name of the men in that film. The book sounds just like the Ward brothers.

By: Carla

Carla — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 21:44:00 +0000

Joel, glad you posted that about the film. I was trying to remember the family name of the men in that film. The book sounds just like the Ward brothers.

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:30:25 +0000

CookOff is awesome! And then if you then tune into the Pillsbury Bake-Off or Build-A-Better Burger or other shows like that on the Food Network you’ll spot all the people from the book.

I’m now spinning through bake-off related books on Amazon. There are quite a few out there that I’m going to have to add to my giant to-be-read pile!

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:30:00 +0000

CookOff is awesome! And then if you then tune into the Pillsbury Bake-Off or Build-A-Better Burger or other shows like that on the Food Network you’ll spot all the people from the book.

I’m now spinning through bake-off related books on Amazon. There are quite a few out there that I’m going to have to add to my giant to-be-read pile!

By: Ann Kingman

Ann Kingman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:03:39 +0000

GASP! Why didn’t I know about CookOff??!!

By: Ann Kingman

Ann Kingman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 20:03:00 +0000

GASP! Why didn’t I know about CookOff??!!

By: Helen

Helen — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:18:28 +0000

I’ve moved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn up to my “on deck circle” of books. Last summer one of my sisters was reading it at the same time as her daughter who had to read it for school. They both loved it. I’d forgotten about their enthusiasm for the book until this podcast.

I’d like to give a solid thumbs up endorsement to The Miracle of Castel di Sangro. I read it years ago, during a heavy non-fiction phase, and I’ve recommended it to many friends since then. I’m a sports fan but not a soccer fan by any stretch of the imagination and yet I loved the story. I felt completely a part of their community and loved learning about small town Italian life and their passion for sport.

As for how I choose what to read next — I think I go by a combination of mood, buzz, and general life circumstances. If I’m working a lot or generally busy I tend to read really light fluffy books like Sophie Kinsella type chick-lit. In other words, books that don’t tax my brain in the least.

When I go on vacation at a beach resort, it’s not unheard of for me to read five or six books while I’m gone. In those cases I tend to choose longer, more literary titles that I can lose myself in but I also throw in fun-stuff to break it up. I really enjoy non-fiction about niche groups of people (like scrabble people in Wordfreak, or competitive home cooks in CookOff) and they mix well with my vacation reading. In winter, when I’m wishing I was on vacation, I tend toward travelogues.

I’m relatively new to Goodreads but I do keep a “to be read” list although I don’t update it frequently. I have a kindle and I tend to download samples these days as a reminder of books that I want to read. I’ve created collections on the kindle to sort out the samples and have groups like “books on the nightstand”, “friends”, “bookstore browse” etc. When I have something I really want to read sooner rather than later, I download the full book and put it in the “on deck circle”. Of course, right now, there are 15 books in the on deck circle so I think it might be time to weed that list!