Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 8/19/2007

8/19/2004:
The Houston Astros score seven runs in the seventh inning and turn a round-the-horn triple play to defeat the Phillies, 12-10, at brand-new Citizens Bank Park. Eric Bruntlett, Craig Biggio and Lance Berkman all homer during the seven-run salvo. Struggling badly this season, the Astros finally get to the .500 mark with this win under new manager Phil Garner. They'll go 36-10 down the stretch to win the National League Wild Card and reach the seventh game of the NLCS before bowing to St. Louis.

Birthdays:
Bill Shoemaker b. 1931
Anthony Munoz b. 1958
Ricky Pierce b. 1959
Morten Andersen b. 1960
Mary Jo Fernandez b. 1971

EPICS

“Vivid, entertaining. Its visceral, cinematic descriptive beauty truly impresses.”—USA Today

“Inspired storytelling.”—People

“Shantaram is a true epic. It is a huge, messy, over-the-top irresistible shaggy-dog story.”—Seattle Times

Shantaram is a 900-plus-page, turn-off-the-phone, and sink-your-teeth-in read. A gritty, sweeping saga about an Australian convict who escapes to India to meet his fate in Bombay, the book—unbelievably—is a thinly veiled account of the author’s own life. A dashing, exuberant page-turner.

SHANTARAM, by Gregory David Roberts (St. Martin’s Griffin, 2005)