Sports Fact of the Day 2/25-2/29/2008

Feb. 25:
2/25/1978:
Led by rookie Swedish goaltender Hardy Astrom, the last-place New York Rangers skate into the hallowed Forum in Montreal and shock the first-overall-in-points Canadiens, 6-3, snapping the Habs' NHL-record 28-game unbeaten streak (23-0-5). It's the first loss for Montreal in over two months. The Rangers play with concerted defensive intensity and brisk checking to protect Astrom, making his NHL debut. When Ron Duguay's goal gives New York a 5-1 lead early in the third period, the demanding local fans actually start booking despite Montreal's unequaled run of excellence since before Christmas.

Birthdays:
Monte Irvin b. 1919
Tony Lema b. 1934
Ron Santo b. 1940
Anders Hedberg b. 1951
Paul O'Neill b. 1963

1964:
The seven-t-one underdog Cassius Clay (who later changed his name to Muhammad Ali) won the world heavyweight boxing championship with a technical knockout over Sonny Liston.

"The boxer confounded and defeated the slugger. Cassius Clay, who for weeks had cried, "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee," floated and stung-and he whipped Sonny Liston as thoroughly as a man can be whipped." -Tex Maule, March 9, 1964

Packers Fact:
While at Western Michigan in 2005, wide receiver Greg Jennings led the nation by averaging 8.9 catches per game.

Feb. 26:
2/26/1955:
Nashua, Eddie Acaru up, survives a foul claim by the owners of runner-up Saratoga to win the Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah. Nashua's margin is one and a half lengths after some minor bumping between the leaders at the head of the stretch that the stewards deem inconsequential. It's just the start of a legendary year for the highly regarded colt. He'll win 10 of his 12 races, coming in behind Swaps in the Kentucky Derby but finishing first in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Later in the year, he'll beat Swaps in a match race in Chicago. Helped by that nice purse, he'll lead the money-earnings list and be named Horse of the Year.

Birthdays:
Preacher Roe b. 1915
Bobby "Bingo" Smith b. 1946
Rolando Blackman b. 1959
Marshall Faulk b. 1973
Jenny Thompson b. 1973

1995:
The diminutive golfer Corey Pavin joined legends Ben Hogan and Arnold Palmer as the only three players ever to win consecutive Los Angeles Opens at Riviera.

"He is one of golf's most imaginative and fearless shot-makers. His ability to play a draw or a fade, a screaming line drive or a marshmallowy high ball, allows him to attack just about any pin from any point on the course. This more than makes up for his short drives." -Alan Shipnuck, January 16, 1995

Feb. 27:
Million Dollar Baby wins four Academy Awards, including the Oscar for Best Picture. The movie about an aging trainer and a woman fighter is based on stories by Jerry Boyd, who drew on his own experiences as a ringside cut man in the tough world of professional boxing. Writing under the pseudonym F.X. Toole, Boyd also left behind an unfinished boxing novel when he died in 2002.

Birthdays:
Raymond Berry b. 1933
John Davidson b. 1953
James Worthy b. 1961
Kent Desormeaux b. 1970
Duce Staley b. 1975

1992:
Teenage golfing sensation Eldrick "Tiger" Woods amazed the Professional Golfers Association when he teed off at the Los Angeles Open.

"At 16 years and two months, he became the youngest golfer ever to play in a PGA Tour event-a man-cub among men in a sport that favors the long-in-the-tooth over the teething." -John Garrity, March 9, 1992

Packers Fact:
While at Iowa, linebacker Abdul Hodge played in each of the Hawkeyes' 50 games during his tenure there. He started each of the last 37.

Feb. 28:
2/28/1949:
For the second time in as many meetings, the Harlem Globetrotters beat the Minneapolis Lakers, 49-45, at Chicago Stadium. Over 20,000 fans pack the Madhouse on Madison for the contrast in styles between the deliberate Lakers and the freewheeling Trotters. Reese Tatum (14 points), Marques Haynes (11) and Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton (11) lead a balanced attack for the winners, while George Mikan with 19 points is the only Laker in double figures.

Birthdays:
Frank Malzone b. 1930
Mario Andretti b. 1940
Bubba Smith b. 1945
Ickey Woods b. 1966
Nureddine Morceli b. 1970

1960:
The United States hockey team won the gold medal at the Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, California.

"A solider, a fireman, a couple of carpenters, two insurance peddlers and a television advertising salesman. Unheralded and unsung...these U.S. hockey men drifted into Squaw Valley like wandering minstrels. They left national heroes." -William Leggett, March 7, 1960

Feb. 29:
2/29/1952:
All-American Dick Groat scores 48 points, leading Duke to a 94-64 rout of North Carolina. It's the third time this month that the two-sport star has had 40 points or more in a game (46 against George Washington and 40 against South Carolina). He'll average 26 points and 7.6 assists per game in his senior season, finishing second in the nation in both categories. Turning his attention to baseball after a brief fling in the NBA and a stint in the military, Groat will excel at shortstop for his hometown Pittsburgh Pirates and later the St. Louis Cardinals. He'll hit .325 in 160, win the NL MVP award and lead the Pirates to their first world title in 35 years.

Birthdays:
Pepper Martin b. 1904
Al Rosen b. 1924
Henri Richard b. 1936
Steve Mingori b. 1944
Vonteego Cummings b. 1976

1980:
Hartford's Gordie Howe, 51, became the first player in NHL history to score 800 goals when he scored in the Whalers' 3-0 win over St. Louis.

"As always, his stick stayed high-menacingly high-when the puck was not attached to it. As always, his head never stopped bobbing. And, as always, his eyes, deeply recessed in his scarred face, never stopped blinking. They were working at about one hundred eighty blinks a minute as he skated." -Mark Mulvoy, March 11, 1974

Packers Fact:
Linebacker Abdul Hodge finished his college career at Iowa in 2005 with 453 career tackles. That ranks third in the school's all-time list.

Book Rec of the Day 2/25-2/29/2008

IT’S A MYSTERY

“The best mystery writer in the English-speaking world.”—Time

“Unequivocally the most brilliant mystery writer of our time. She magnificently triumphs in a style that is uniquely hers and mesmerizing.”—Patricia Cornwell

Mistress of Mystery Barbara Vine, aka Ruth Rendell, has tapped the ghost of Daphne du Maurier for this gothic tale that takes place in the 1960s at Old Lydstep Hall, complete with box-hedge maze, a disturbed brother, and a reunion between two women that sparks a long flashback story. Treat yourself: Vine/Rendell always delivers a real novel along with a mystery.

THE MINOTAUR, by Barbara Vine (Viking, 2005)

YOU GOTTA LAUGH

She’d been presented at court and was the great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens, but her sense of mischief and curiosity led the young author to see how the other half lived, downstairs. As maid or cook in several grand establishments (of her social peers), she drops roasts, renders eccentric services to aristocratic English wackos, and generally suffers hilariously.

ONE PAIR OF HANDS, by Monica Dickens (Academy Chicago Publishers, 1988)

A drought in the Yorkshire dales dries up a reservoir, exposing the remains of the town of Hobbs End and the body of a woman brutally murdered there 50 years ago. Detective Inspector Alan Banks patiently gathers evidence to reconstruct the story of a young bride who had deserted her shell-shocked husband. Robinson parallels Banks’s detective work with a manuscript written by the victim’s sister-in-law that seems to tell the murdered bride’s story. This beautifully crafted mystery was a New York Times Notable Book for 1998.

IN A DRY SEASON, by Peter Robinson (Avon, 2000)

ALL THAT JAZZ

Doerschuk, a music journalist and jazz pianist, starts his 88 chapters with “the man who invented jazz” (Jelly Roll Morton) and takes us through stride, swing, bop and funk, the sophisticates, the neotraditionalists, postbop, and the future. Morton, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Thelonius Monk, Bill Evans, Cecil Taylor, and Keith Jarrett are singled out as defining something their own. Includes a bonus CD with 11 great jazz tracks, 100 photos, and a foreword by Jarrett.

88: THE GIANTS OF JAZZ PIANO, by Robert Doerschuk; foreword by Keith Jarrett (Backbeat Books, with CD, 2001)

SHORT FICTION

“Nelson is a superb storyteller preternaturally attuned to the wildness in our hearts.”—Booklist (starred review)

Tales of childhood and middle age, of love and loss, and gritty, totally real dialogue—there’s a new(ish) writer on the block for those who love Lorrie Moore or Alice Munro or any good woman who can tell a good story. Antonya Nelson is a name to remember and a force to be reckoned with.

SOME FUN: STORIES AND A NOVELLA, by Antonya Nelson (Scribner, 2006)

Sports Fact of the Day 2/20-2/24/2008

Feb. 20:
2/20/1993:
Mexican boxing icon Julio Cesar Chaves defends his WBC junior welterweight championship belt with a fifth-round knockout of American Greg Haugen at Aztec Stadium in Mexico City. More than 130,000 fans provide the festive ambiance of a street fair for Chavez to perform in front of his countrymen. Unfortunately, the passionate crowd is so dangerously unwieldy that thousands of police officers are required to augment the moat and barbed-wire fencing arrangement that encircles the field for soccer games.

Birthdays:
Roger Penske b. 1937
Phil Esposito b. 1942
Charles Barkley b. 1963
Livan Hernandez b. 1975
Stephon Marbury b. 1977

1982:
The New York Islanders outskated the Colorado Rockies, 3-2, and set a National Hockey League record with their 15th victory in a row, surpassing the Boston Bruins' 52-year-old mark.

"Back in 1930, Herbert Hoover was feebly battling the Great Depression, new DeSotos sold for $845, and one could buy a New York Times for two cents and read a report of Babe Ruth's threatened holdout for an $85,000 salary. We're talking long ago." -Mike Delnagro, March 1, 1982

Packers Fact:
Wide receiver Greg Jennings attended the same Michigan high school (Kalamazoo Central) as New York Yankees baseball superstar Derek Jeter.

Feb. 21:
2/21/1974:
Tim Horton of the Buffalo Sabres is killed when his sports car careens off the Queen Elizabeth Way in the early morning hours near St. Catherines, Ontario. The 44-year-old Horton, who had the longest career of any defenseman in NHL history, played 24 seasons (18 with Toronto) encompassing 1,446 regular-season games. He won four Stanley Cups with the Maple Leafs, was named to numerous All-Star teams and founded a doughnut company that has exponentially grown from a single store in 1967 to over 2,500 outlets, making Tim Hortons the largest coffee shoppe/fast food consortium in Canada.

Birthday:
Tom Yawkey b. 1903
Jack Ramsay b. 1925
Alan Trammell b. 1958
Brian Rolston b. 1973
Steve Francis b. 1978

1992:
At the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France, Kristi Yamaguchi became the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating since Dorothy Hamill, in 1976.

"Skating to the Spanish-styled Malaguena, Yamaguchi, calmly nailed her opening triple-triple combination, her ponytail a blur, then assuredly turned the ice into her stage. She landed her jumps so softly it seemed as if she were skating in her slippers." -E.M. Swift, March 2, 1992

Feb. 22:
2/22/1976:
Helped by an eagle on the very first hole, Hale Irwin shoots a 3-under-par 68 to overtake Tom Watson and win the Los Angeles Open at the Riviera Country Club. Watson self-destructs with a bogey, double-bogey, bogey stretch on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes to enable Irwin to overcome a five-stroke deficit. Irwin, a former star defensive back for the Colorado Buffaloes, shoots all four rounds under 70. His 12-under-par 272 sets a new record for this event.

Birthdays:
Julius Erving b. 1950
Amy Alcott b. 1956
Vijay Singh b. 1963
Pat LaFontaine b. 1965
Michael Chang b. 1972

1980:
At the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., Eric Heiden won the 10,000-meter race and swept all five speedskating gold medals.

"His control over his strokes is as precise and as constant as if he were computerized. And his self-confidence is as inexorable as the flowing of a mighty river. Although just 21, Heiden isn't only the best speedskater racing today but also the best speedskater in history." -William Oscar Johnson, February 11, 1980

Packers Fact:
Greg Jennings was the first wide receiver ever drafted out of Western Michigan, which has been playing football since 1906.

Feb. 23:
Almost as if they've played two separate games, the Detroit Red Wings rally from a 6-0 deficit with six goals o ftheir own to gain a 6-6 tie against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Joe Louis Arena. Detroit's fortunes change after Greg Stefan is replaced in net by Glen Hanlon at 6:06 of the second period after the sixth Pittsburgh goal. After that, it's all Detroit. The Red Wings, hearing boos from the loyal home crowd, score three goals in a 4:45 span to get within hailing distance of the Pens, and with five minutes left in the game Steve Yzerman's second goal of the night and 57th of the year draws the Wings even against stunned Pittsburgh goalie Tom Barrasso.

Birthdays:
Dante Lavelli b. 1923
Fred Biletnikoff b. 1943
Ed "Too Tall" Jones b. 1951
Flip Saunders b. 1955
Bobby Bonilla b. 1963

1980:
The United States Olympic ice hockey tam completed its historic "Miracle on Ice" with a 4-2 victory over Finald in the gold medal game.

"For two weeks in February they-a bunch of unheralded amateurs-became the best hockey team in the world. The best team. The whole was greater than the sum of its parts by a mile. And they were not just a team, they were innovative and exuberant and absolutely unafraid to succeed." -E.M. Swift, December 22, 1980

Feb. 24:
Refusing to be roped into endorsing a Democratic candidate for the Senate in North Carolina, superstar athlete and pitchman Michael Jordan explained: "Republicans buy sneakers, too."

Birthdays:
Honus Wagner b. 1874
Alain Prost b. 1955
Eddie Murray b. 1956
Simeon Rice b. 1974
Lleyton Hewitt b. 1981

Book Recs of the Day 2/20-2/24/2008

The author of Salt: A World History; Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World; and The Basque History of the World: The Story of a Nation turns his omnivorous attention to detailing the history of the oyster and New York City. This engaging account rambles along the wharves and over oyster beds, early haunts of colorful New Yorkers and their pearly gray bivalve friends, the oysters. As usual, a fun romp through food and history.

THE BIG OYSTER: HISTORY ON THE HALF SHELL, by Mark Kurlansky (Ballantine Books, 2006)

READ ME

Baxter, a novelist (The Feast of Love, 2001) and master of the short story, gives us the gift of his laserlike insight and flawless ear for the way people speak and think in this, his fifth novel. Saul and Patsy is mostly an account of how Saul understands himself and Patsy after they move, despite strenuous objections from friends and family, to a semirural town in Michigan, and the couple’s magic circle of love becomes enmeshed in a web—fine, strong, slowly built—of words, feelings, meaning, and consequences.

SAUL AND PATSY, by Charles Baxter (Vintage, 2005)

“We do not need another epic painting, but rather a fresh portrait focused tightly on Washington’s character,” Pulitzer Prize-winner Joseph J. Ellis writes in his preface, and he proceeds to deliver to us a Washington of flesh and blood. Ellis shows us a young Washington experiencing the French and Indian War, where he witnessed horrible massacres and mastered what we now call guerilla warfare. Ellis examines Washington’s marriage to Martha Custis and the changes it worked on him psychologically and economically. Nor does he neglect Washington the president, his vast accomplishments, or his ability to lay that power down when the time came.

HIS EXCELLENCY, GEORGE WASHINGTON, by Joseph J. Ellis (Vintage, 2005)

A BOOK LOVER’S FICTION

In his Thursday Next series, Welsh writer Fforde sets up a parallel universe that The Wall Street Journal calls a mixture of “Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer” with a “quirky charm . . . all its own.” Thursday Next is a Special Ops detective, humble yet spunky, traveling back and forth in time through BookWorld to solve book crimes with the help of Miss Havisham, the Cheshire Cat, and other beloved characters. They’re nimble, witty fun. If you like them, try his new series, the Nursery Crimes.

THE EYRE AFFAIR (2003); LOST IN A GOOD BOOK (2004); THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS (2004); SOMETHING ROTTEN (2005), by Jasper Fforde (Penguin Books)

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Divided into three parts, each devoted to a place the author has loved and lost, Pierson’s study of the unwinnable war between nostalgia and progress is simultaneously an anguished cry, a scathing exposé, and an extended lyric, with regular flashes of humor, sweetness, and bitterness. What it may lack in organization it more than makes up for in good writing and vigorous intellect. It would go nicely on the shelf with Jane Jacobs’s The Death and Life of Great American Cities and Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring.

THE PLACE YOU LOVE IS GONE: PROGRESS HITS HOME, by Melissa Holbrook Pierson (W. W. Norton, 2006)

Sports Fact of the Day 2/16-2/19/2008

2/16:
Dealing with overnight fame and international acclaim on the tennis circuit has proven to be harder than dispatching opponents on the court for American star Andy Roddick: "That's the weird part for me. Being famous never feels normal. I don't know if it ever will become normal."

Birthdays:
Bernie Geoffrion b. 1931
John McEnroe b. 1959
Kelly Tripucka b. 1959
Mark Price b. 1964
Jerome Bettis b. 1972

1992:
Martina Navratilova broke Chris Evert's alltime tennis singles record of 157 championships when she defeated Jana Novotna in three sets for her 158th title at the Virginia Slims tournament in Chicago.

"When Martina is at her best, she doesn't play like anyone else. She is sublimely gifted in strength, athleticism and talent for tennis. The top of her game beats the top of everybody else's. But. She has the temperament of an operatic diva." -Sarah Pileggi, May 24, 1982

2/17/1994:
David Robinson becomes only the fourth man in NBA history to record a quadruple-double, leading the San Antonio Spurs to 115-96 victory over the Detroit Pistons at the Alamodome. The Admiral has 34 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 blocked shots as the Spurs win their club record 11th straight game. He joins Nate Thurmond (1974), Alvin Robertson, also of the Spurs (1986), and Akeem Olajuwon (1990) in the exclusive club.

Birthdays:
Red Barber b. 1908
Jim Brown b. 1936
Rick Majerus b. 1948
Michael Jordan b. 1963
Luc Robitaille b. 1966

2/18/1962:
Fireball Roberts sets a new speed record and beats Richard Petty by 27 seconds to win the fourth running of the Daytona 500. Driving a Pontiac and starting from the pole position, Roberts leads for 144 of the 200 laps on the two-and-a-half-mile oval, averaging 152.529 mph to set a new standard for late-model stock car racing. It's sweet redemption for Roberts, who got his nickname when he was a baseball pitcher. He led last year's race at Daytona before a blown engine ruined his chances.

Birthdays:
George Gipp b. 1895
Dick Duff b. 1936
Manny Mota b. 1938
Judy Rankin b. 1945
Andy Moog b. 1960

1996:
Picabo Street won the downhill at the World Alpine Ski Championship held in Sierra Nevada, Spain.

"The course allowed skiers to stay in their tucks on the hard-packed but not icy run. No one tucks like Street, who is among the sport's most aerodynamic skiers. Her knees stretch wider than her shoulders, and her body seems to sink to the snow." -Michael Farber, February 26, 1996

Packers Fact:
The Packers had 12 selections in the 2006 draft. That equaled their second most in any season since the NFL went to a seven-round format in 1994.

2/19/1982:
The Atlanta Hawks outlast the Seattle SuperSonics, 127-122, in four overtimes in a foul-plagued game that sees 7 of the 10 original starters foul out, four of them Sonics. Eddie Johnson has 34 points to lead the Hawks and John Drew adds 31. Eighty-two fouls are called in the 68-minute game, 48 of them on Seattle, sending Atlanta to the foul line 51 times. Downtown Freddie Brown and Gus Williams lead Seattle with 24 points apiece, but Atlanta, despite being outscored 53-20 off the bench, manages to win the battle of attrition at the Seattle Center Coliseum.

Birthdays:
Eddie Arcaro b. 1916
Forest Evashovski b. 1918
Paul Krause b. 1942
Dave Stewart b. 1957
Hana Mandlikova b. 1962

1989:
Darrell Waltrip's gamble not to take his final pit stop paid off as he crossed the finish line on fumes and won the Daytona 500.

"Driving with a clear head and a deft right foot rather than an anxious heart, he slid into the lead three laps from the checkered flag, while heavier-footed hot dogs lost their chance for the crown because they had to pit for a final splash of fuel." -Sam Moses, February 27, 1989

Book Recs of the Day 2/16-2/19/2008

In 1878, travel lover Clemens went to Europe, and this volume, published in 1880, was a sort of sequel to Innocents Abroad. His whimsical, clumsy drawings from the first edition are included in most modern editions as well, along with the classic “The Awful German Language,” a hilarious account of his struggles with what he found to be a tongue-twisting torture machine. Throughout Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, the narrator and his friends, though ostensibly on a healthful walking tour, are constantly hopping into or onto the nearest barge, steamboat, train, or funicular. A must read from the irrepressible, inimitable American master.

A TRAMP ABROAD, by Mark Twain (1880; Penguin Classics, 1997)

Five Points, saloons, gangs, criminals, trains, low life, saloons, pushcarts, Orchard Street, Tammany Hall, whores, more saloons, Fourteenth Street . . . If you love New York, if you have a breath of life in your body, you have to love this book. And the writing! In a league with Joseph Mitchell’s Up in the Old Hotel (Vintage, 1993).

LOW LIFE: LURES AND SNARES OF OLD NEW YORK, by Luc Sante (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2003)

LINCOLN’S DARK SIDE

After years of research into Lincoln’s history of melancholy, Joshua Wolf Shenk shows us a side of the president that has never been seen before. We not only come to better understand Lincoln’s depression and how it shaped his extraordinary achievement, we also gain a clearer and richer understanding of the nature of depression itself. Lincoln’s Melancholy was named one of the best books of 2005 by both The Washington Post and The New York Times.

LINCOLN’S MELANCHOLY: HOW DEPRESSION CHALLENGED A PRESIDENT AND FUELED HIS GREATNESS, by Joshua Wolf Shenk (Mariner Books, 2006)

Reprinted after deafening clamor from the smitten readers of this 2001 book, Disturbances in the Field is routinely described by anyone who has read it as without question the best novel they’ve ever read. Now, you might quibble, but was Bo Derek a 10? Readers also say, brace yourself. Life ain’t easy, and neither are the truths here.

DISTURBANCES IN THE FIELD, by Lynne Sharon Schwartz (Counterpoint Press, 2005)

Also by Lynne Sharon Schwartz: The Writing on the Wall (Counterpoint Press, 2005), a love story set against the events of September 11, and Ruined by Reading: A Life in Books (Beacon Press, 1997), a book that makes you fall in love with books all over again.

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/15/2008

2/15/1961:
Odds-on favorite Carry Back defeats Sherluck by a half-length in the Everglade Stakes at Hialeah. Ridden by John Sellers, Carry Back trails for much of the race before assuming control at the head of the stretch. He'll win 9 of his 16 races as a three-year-old, including the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but Sherluck will rise up at the Belmont and scuttle his Triple Crown bid.

Birthdays:
John Hadl b. 1940
Darrell Green b. 1960
Jaromir Jagr b. 1972
Amy Van Dyken b. 1973
Ugueth Urbina b. 1974


1984:
At the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, Bill Johnson of California became the first American skier ever to win the Olympic downhill gold medal.

"The gold was an explosive surprise for the United States team. But for the European skiing establishment, it was a paralyzing turn of events, a happening as unthinkable to them as an Austrian's hitting a World Series-winning home run would be to Americans." -William Oscar Johnson, February 27, 1984

Packers Fact:
Wide receiver Greg Jennings is a first cousin of Broncos linebacker Ian Gold.

BIBLE STUDY

The New Testament is a collection of letters, narratives, and revelations. None of the original manuscripts exist today; the Bible we read is a copy of copies of the originals, each layer with its own examples of the fallibilities of editors and transcribers. Bart Ehrman has made a study of biblical manuscripts and of how the Bible was modified over time. This potentially dry subject becomes both accessible and interesting in Ehrman’s hands, and it is further humanized by the author’s personal story of how his studies of the Bible’s texts have changed his own religious thinking.

MISQUOTING JESUS: THE STORY BEHIND WHO CHANGED THE BIBLE AND WHY, by Bart D. Ehrman (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005)

Keep the Lights On!

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/14/2008

2/14/1951:
Sugar Ray Robinson batters Jake LaMotta into submission but can't knock the Raging Bull off his feet, scoring a 13th-round technical knockout at Chicago Stadium to win the world middleweight championship. With LaMotta helpless along the ropes, referee Frank Sikora stops the St. Valentine's Day massacre before Robinson can inflict any more damage. It was the sixth lifetime meeting of the two fighters but first since 1945. Robinson won five of the bouts; LaMotta's only win came in 1943, when he gave Robinson his first loss as a professional after 40 straight wins.

Birthday:
Woody Hayes b. 1913
Mickey Wright b. 1935
Jim Kelly b. 1960
Drew Bledsoe b. 1972
Steve McNair b. 1973

1991:
Tonya Harding was crowned the U.S. Figure Skating champion after becoming the first American female to successfully land a triple Axel in competition.

"After all the hankies were wrung out and all the teardrops had fallen, the [night]...belonged to a 20-year-old dynamo from Portland, Oregon, named Tonya Harding. In one energized four-minute free skating program, Harding leapt from nowhere into history." -E.M. Swift, February 25, 1991

LOSE YOURSELF

A wonderful first novel from the coeditor of the Italian newspaper La Stampa. The prince of the clouds is a dreamy, shy scholar of military history, Carlo, who goes to Sicily after World War II to study and for his wife’s health. He finds himself drawn into real life in a way he never has before, with all the confusion, passion, rueful mistakes, and tiny triumphs that he has avoided for too long. Nicola McAllister of The Observer (London) writes, “Riotta is as romantic as Pasternak, as colourful and densely plotted as García Márquez.”

PRINCE OF THE CLOUDS, by Gianni Riotta; translated from the Italian by Stephen Sartarelli (Picador USA, 2001)

Sports Fact of the Day 2/8/08-2/13/08

Feb. 8:

2/8/1996:
Jason Kidd has 25 assists and Jim Jackson scores 38 points, leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 136-133 victory over the Utah Jazz in double overtime at Reunion Arena. Kidd also scores 20 points and hits a three-point basket early in the second OT to put the Mavs ahead for good. Karl Malone (36), John Stockton (28), David Benoit (24) and Jeff Hornacek (22) combine for 110 points in the losing effort for the Jazz.

Birthdays:
Joe Black b. 1924
Clete Boyer b. 1937
Marques Johnson b. 1956
Dino Ciccarelli b. 1960
Alonzo Mourning b. 1970

1992:
Magic Johnson returned from retirement to play in the NBA All-Star Game. He scored a game-high 25 points and won the Most Valuable Player award.

"How many times did you see Magic...throw an indescribable 40-foot bullet of a bounce pass that met [a teammate] in full stride, just as they cut toward the basket? That ability to calculate the convergence of a bouncing ball with a sprinting player is a gift, and Magic is one of the few players who ever had it." -Jack McCallum, November 18, 1991

Packers Fact:
Linebacker A.J. Hawk's older brother, Ryan, is a quarterback in arenafootball2.

Feb. 9:
After being widely quoted on several controversial topics on the PGA Tour, including the issue of whether women should be allowed to play men's events, Vijay Singh forthrightly defended himself: "I speak my mind and I'm very honest about it. I'm not a fake, like many of the guys out here."

Birthdays:
Dit Clapper b. 1907
Phil Ford b. 1956
Mookie Wilson b. 1956
Vladimir Guerrero b. 1976
Jameer Nelson b. 1982

Feb. 10:
2/10/1991:
Top-ranked and unbeaten UNLV (20-0) takes charge of second-ranked Arkansas (23-2) with a 16-2 run to start the second half en route to a 112-105 victory at Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville. The Runnin' REbels build a 23-point lead with lightning speed, creating countless fast breaks off hurried Razorback shots and guard-line turnovers. Stacey Augmon leads all scorers with 31 points, Anderson Hunt has 26 and Larry Johnson adds 25. It will be a colossal upset when this relentless UNLV team loses to Duke, 79-77, in the NCAA tournament semifinals next month.

Birthdays:
Bill Tilden b. 1893
Mark Spitz b. 1950
Greg Norman b. 1955
Lenny Dykstra b. 1963
Lance Berkman b. 1976

1992:
At the Winter Olympic Games in Albertville, France, Bonnie Blair set a world record time of 39.10 seconds in the 500-meter speedskating final. That made her the first American woman to win gold medals in back-to-back Olympics.

"There are no sequins in women's speedskating. No death-drop necklines or feathered hats. Nobody gets points for lipstick or meaningful eye contact...There are only fast women waiting for a guy. They are tough, and they dress not to flirt but to fly." -Rick Reilly, March 7, 1988

Feb. 11:
2/11/2006:
The Wisconsin Badgers defeat Ohio State, 4-2, in a hockey game staged outdoors at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Captain Adam Burish scores Wisconsin's first goal only 23 seconds into the game. Kyle Klubertanz, Andrew Joudrey and Robbie Earl also score for the Badgers, who replicate a Packers tradition by doing a celebratory "Lambeau Leap" into the front row of the seating area following their victory. Two months from now, they'll really have something to celebrate when they win their sixth national championship and first since 1990.

Birthdays:
Eddie Shack b. 1937
Sammy Ellis b. 1941
Ben Oglivie b. 1943
James Silas b. 1949
Brian Daubach b. 1972

1990:
Unheralded boxer James "Buster" Douglas knocked out the undefeated champion Mike Tyson to win the heavyweight title, in Tokyo, Japan.

"This is how the latest of sports' sure things, the Tyson dynasty, ended; far from home and entirely removed from expectation and possibility. It was probably the biggest upset in boxing history, and certainly the unlikeliest result of all recent sporting events." -Richard Hoffer, February 19, 1990

Packers Fact:
While in college at Boise State, offensive lineman Daryn Colledge set school records for consecutive games played and started (52).

Feb. 12:
The Western Conference routs the East, 139-112, in the 45th annual NBA All-Star Game at Phoenix. Mitch Richmond of the Sacramento Kings earns MVP honors, shooting 10 of 13 from the field and leading all scorers with 23 points. A 59-41 edge off the boards helps the Western Stars get 19 more field goal attempts than the East, and when they also shoot 53% from the floor, the outcome is never really in doubt. Gary Payton adds 15 assists for the West and Hakeem Olajuwon contributes 11 rebounds in the mid-season exhibition played at the Suns' new home, America West Arena.

Birthdays:
Chick Hafey b. 1903
Dom DiMiggaio b. 1917
Joe Garagiola b. 1926
Don Stanhouse b. 1951
Chet Lemon b. 1955

1983:
Boxing champion "Marvelous" Marvin Hagler raised his career record to 56-2-2 and retained the world middleweight title with a sixth round knockout of Britain's Tony Sibson.

"The Englishman is about as devious as a hungry bear making for a honey tree, and such men are made to order for a moving, slashing sharpshooter like the champion. The fight became a magnificent exhibition of Hagler's impressive, even frightening, skills." -Pat Putnam, February 21, 1983

Feb. 13:
2/13/1991:
American sprinter Leroy Burrell sets a new world record of 6.48 seconds in the 60-meter dash at a track meet in Madrid. He actually runs the race twice within a matter of minutes. After his first clocking of an even faster 6.40 seconds is voided by the judges for a premature start, he gets back in the blocks and posts his second record time, bettering Lee McRae's 6.50 seconds in 1987 at Indianapolis.

Birthdays:
Patty Berg b. 1918
Eddie Robinson b. 1919
Mike Krzyzowski b. 1947
Mats Sundin b. 1971
Randy Moss b. 197

1995:
The pitcher Hideo Nomo, a five-time All-Star in the Japanese Baseball League, signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers and became the second player from Japan to play in the major leagues.

"In coming to America, Nomo has stumbled over the expected cultural and linguistic hurdles, but at the same time he has shown an unmistakable fluency. It is his pitching delivery, which begins when he thrusts both hands high above his head, stretching his arms in the exaggerated manner of a man awakening from a long nap." -Tom Verducci, May 15, 1995

Packers Fact:
While at Boise State, offensive lineman Daryn Colledge helped the school win four consecutive conference championships. The Broncos went 31-1 in conference play during his tenure there.

Book Rec of the Day 2/8/08-2/13/08

LIZARDO AND FRIENDS

“Kotzwinkle fans will find sharply resonant moments as well as pointed humor and insight into human nature at its worst and best.”—Publishers Weekly

Suspend your disbelief, engage your sense of humor, and indulge yourself in this over-the-top space opera. Space pirate Jockey Oldcastle has heard about a project to bring immortality and enlightenment to the human race. Not a bad idea, but unfortunately the subjects, instead of becoming immortal, end up as crystal artifacts. Oldcastle, with his navigator, one Lizardo, and botanist Adrian Link decide to find out why. Their quest is filled with twists, turns, extradimensional beings, and some unusual technology.

THE AMPHORA PROJECT, by William Kotzwinkle (Grove Press, 2005)

SEX, DRUGS, ETC.

Here it is, everything you ever wanted to know about the sex film industry but somehow never got around to asking. Written from interviews with the major players in porn from the ’50s to the ’90s, the book has just about everything: sex, drugs, the FBI, the Mafia, money, celebrities, rock stars, and murder. Was Linda Lovelace forced to perform in the legendary Deep Throat, or was everyone else lying? Was Traci Lord a victim of child pornographers, or did she mislead them about her age and use the resulting scandal to further her own career? This other Hollywood turns out to be just about as fascinating and sleazy as the real Tinseltown.

THE OTHER HOLLYWOOD: THE UNCENSORED ORAL HISTORY OF THE PORN FILM INDUSTRY, by Legs McNeil, Peter Pavia, and Jennifer Osborne (ReganBooks, 2005)

Cooger & Dark’s Pandemonium Shadow Show comes to Green Town, Illinois, bringing with it Mr. Dark, Mr. Cooger, Mr. Electro, and the Dust Witch, among other devious characters. Two 13-year-old boys, Jim Nightshade and Bill Halloway, are fascinated by the carnival and innocent of its evil. Bradbury’s classic story is as much a coming-of-age tale as it is one of good versus evil.

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES, by Ray Bradbury (1962; Avon, 1998)

Something Wicked This Way Comes, which has not been out of print since its publication in 1962, makes a wonderful pairing with Bradbury’s sweetly nostalgic Dandelion Wine, about a 12-year-old boy’s experience of a near perfect summer.

MORE INCONVENIENT TRUTH

“If you are not already addicted to Tim Flannery’s writing, discover him now: this is his best book yet.”—Jared Diamond, author of Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Most of us get our information about global warming and climate change in bits and pieces from the popular media. Here, Flannery brings all the science together and lays it out for the general reader, allowing us to fully comprehend what we human beings are doing to our planet and what individuals might do to make a real difference.

THE WEATHER MAKERS: HOW MAN IS CHANGING THE CLIMATE AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR LIFE ON EARTH, by Tim Flannery (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006)

FINE ROMANCE
Evanovich and Hughes add another wild confection to their Full series. In Full Scoop, the denizens of Beaumont, South Carolina, are up to their bangs in romance and mischief. Maggie Farnsworth’s ex-con ex-boyfriend has escaped prison and is looking for her. FBI agent Zack Madden is there to intercept him and stirs up some unwanted feelings in Maggie. A hound dog named Fleas seems to have very wanted feelings for Butterbean, a pygmy goat. And what is the romantic destiny of Destiny, the town psychic-slash-astrologer? Then there are the Elvises and the ice-cream parlor. Evanovich and Hughes have concocted another big yummy sundae of laughs and romance.

FULL SCOOP, by Janet Evanovich and Charlotte Hughes (St. Martin’s Paperbacks, 2006)

EVOLVING CIVIL RIGHTS

In 1963, the fanatic racist Byron de la Beckwith murdered NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers and got away with it when two hung juries failed to convict him. Thirty years later, Beckwith was tried one more time, found guilty at last, and sentenced to life in prison. Nossiter examines the years between the trials and traces how the civil rights movement changed Mississippi and the South, making Beckwith’s ultimate conviction possible. His portraits of Evers, Beckwith, and prosecutor Bobby DeLaughter are truly memorable.

OF LONG MEMORY: MISSISSIPPI AND THE MURDER OF MEDGAR EVERS, by Adam Nossiter (Perseus Books, 2002)

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/07/2008

2/7/1970:
Senior center Dan Issel scores a school record 53 points to lead teh Kentucky Wildcats to a 120-85 rout of Ole Miss. He'll average 33.9 points per game this season and become UK's all-time leading scorer (2,138 points) and rebounder (1,078). The Wildcats will be the top-ranked team in the nation, entering the NCAA tournament with a 25-1 record, but they'll be upset by Jacksonville, 105-100, in the Mideast regional final.

Birthdays:
Dan Quisenberry b. 1953
Rolf Benirschke b. 1955
Carney Lansford b. 1957
Juwan Howard b. 1973
Steve Nash b. 1974

1990:
Lisa Leslie, a Los Angeles senior at Morningside High School, scored 101 points in the first half of a game against South Torrance. The South Torrance players quit at halftime, preventing Leslie from breaking Cheryl Miller's single-game high school record of 105 points.

"You get the feeling that Leslie is capable of being every bit the drawing card that some think women's basketball needs, but that she isn't quite sure she should be so presumptuous as to try to fill that role. Maybe all the sport needs to do is ask." -Phil Taylor, November 25, 1991

YOU GOTTA LAUGH

Augusten Burroughs wrung a pretty funny book out of what most people would consider a nightmare of a childhood. His father was a depressed alcoholic. His mother was a would-be poet who went crazy: “Not crazy in a let’s paint the kitchen bright red! sort of way. But crazy in a gas oven, toothpaste sandwich, I am God sort of way.” When the two separate, his mother turns Augusten over to her disturbing therapist, Dr. Finch. Insane incidents unfold page after page, some harrowing, some revolting, some just laugh-out-loud funny. Augusten survives, rises above the madness, and successfully makes his way out into the wider, hopefully saner, world.

RUNNING WITH SCISSORS: A MEMOIR, by Augusten Burroughs (Picador USA, 2003)

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/06/2008

Ash Wednesday
2/6/1986:
Buffalo center-iceman Dave Andreychuck scores five goals to lead the Sabres to an 8-6 win over the Bruins at Boston Garden. Buffalo scores eight times on only 21 shots against two ineffective Boston Goalies. Andreychuck scores all five of his goals in the first two periods. He'll go on to play 22 seasons in the NHL, score 634 regular season goals and retire as a Stanley Cup champion as a member of the 2004 Tampa Bay Lightning.

Birthdays:
Babe Ruth b. 895
Smoky Burgess b. 1927
Don Cockroft b. 1945
Richie Zisk b. 1949
Kim Zmeskal b. 1976

1993:
Tennis legend and human rights activist Arthur Ashe died after complication caused by AIDS, which he had contracted during a blood transfusion while having heart surgery several years earlier.

"Ashe was the best at leaving every shot behind. He played each stroke as if it were for life and death and then instantly abstained from regret or celebration because there was another shot to play." -Kenny Moore, February 15, 1993

Packers Fact:
Linebacker A.J. Hawk earned a bachelor's degree in criminology from Ohio State and is interested in a career in law enforcement following his playing days.

SPIRITS OF ROMANCE

“Sparks delivers another shrink-wrapped, reliably uncomplicated romantic confection that’s light as air, smooth as silk and gloriously sweet.”—Publishers Weekly

Down in pastoral Boone Creek, North Carolina, they’re seeing strange lights in the old cemetery. The local psychic, Doris McClellan, thinks the lights are supernatural, and she invites professional skeptic Jeremy Marsh down to see if he can debunk her theory. A rising science journalist in New York City, Marsh senses a good story and accepts her invitation not knowing that the true mystery he will encounter is love in the person of Lexie Darnell, the town librarian and Doris’s granddaughter.

TRUE BELIEVER, by Nicholas Sparks (Warner Books, 2005)

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/05/2008

2/5/1995:
Peter Jacobsen captures his first PGA tournament in five years with a bogey-free final-round 65 to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. Jacobsen's 17-under-par 271 for the four rounds over the scenic but treacherous coastal layout breaks Tom Watson's 1977 course record of 15 under (273). He starts his final round with a flourish, birdieing the first three holes to gain a working margin, which he never relinquishes. David Duval finishes second, two strokes behind, while Kenny Perry and Davis Love III tie for third.

Birthdays:
Hank Aaron b. 1934
Roger Staubach b. 1942
Craig Morton b. 1943
Darrell Waltrip b. 1949
Roberto Alomar b. 1968

1976:
At the Winter Olympic Games in Innsbruck, Austria, Bill Koch of Vermont became the first American ever to win an Olympic cross-country skiing medal when he won the silver medal for a second-place finish in the 30-kilometer race.

"Koch, moving by means of a lunging series of explosions, driving all-out over the top of each hill, twisting through turns in a muscular blur, gone before the snow his poles have uprooted returns to the earth, is a vision of compulsion." -Kenny Moore, February 6, 1984

THE GLORY THAT WAS SPARTA

“A kind of heroic saga, drenched in the gore of battle and the dust of Spartan discipline.”—The New York Times

In 480 B.C.E., 300 Spartans held the narrow pass at Thermopylae long enough to give the rest of Greece time to prepare a defense against the invasion of two million Persians under the leadership of King Xerxes. Steven Pressfield has written an ambitious narrative about the band of Spartan warriors. He conveys with compelling realism the gritty horror of the ancient battlefield, as well as the relations among the Spartans and their sacrifice at one of the most momentous battles of Western civilization.

GATES OF FIRE: AN EPIC NOVEL OF THE BATTLE OF THERMOPYLAE, by Steven Pressfield (Bantam Books, 1999)

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/04/2008

2/4/1997:
The Missouri Tigers thrill their home fans at the Hearnes Center in Columbia by upsetting top-ranked and unbeaten Kansas, 96-94, in double overtime. Kelly Thames (24 points) and Derek Grimm (20) lead the Missouri offense, but both players foul out during the overtime sessions. With the shot clock winding down and six seconds left in the second OT. Corey Tate picks up a loose ball in the lane and scores the game-winning basket. It's the only loss of the regular season for the Jayhawks, who will finish No. 1 in the wire-service polls but lose to Arizona in the NCAA tournament in the round-of-16.

Birthdays:
Byron Nelson b. 1912
Lawrence Taylor b. 1959
Denis Savard b. 1961
Dan Plesac b. 1962
Oscar De La Hoya b. 1973

Baseball owners settled on a new commissioner, Bowie Kuhn, and gave the compromise candidate a term of only one year.

"A betting man would be wise to lay $5 that Kuhn will eventually hold the job for as long as he wants it. After a judge, a governor, a newspaperman and a retired Air Force general, baseball's owners, bless them, finally turned the game over to a fan." -William Leggett, February 17, 1969

Packers Fact:
Linebacker A.J. Hawk's parengs called him A.J. because they were fans of Indy car driver A.J. Foyt.


Much like George Eliot herself, Maggie Tulliver was a girl, then a woman, of independent mind and spirit. Such qualities were bound to get her into trouble in the Midlands of Victorian Britain, not only with disapproving aunts and neighbors but even with her brother, Tom. Tom’s attitude was especially hurtful because of their close childhood relationship. Eliot, ever the novelist of character and society, renders Maggie and Tom beautifully as children, and as adults. One of Eliot’s best-loved works and a great book for rereading.

THE MILL ON THE FLOSS, by George Eliot (1860; Modern Library, 2001)

Super Bowl XLII

I can't tell you how badly I wanted the Patriots to lose. It made me physically ill to think of them winning it all. All I can say is thank goodness Bellicheat and his boys lost. Eli Manning played a great game, the Giants defense did their job.

No perfect season for the cheaters! Woo & hoo!

Congratulations New York fans! Enjoy the huge upset of a win!

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/03/2008

2/3/1987:
The Minnesota Twins acquire closer Jeff Reardon from Montreal as the centerpiece of a six-player trade with the Expos. Reardon will be an invaluable component of the Twins' improbable rise to a world championship this season. Rarely used for more than one inning at a time, he'll record 31 saves and 8 wins out of the Twins' 85 victories on their way to the AL West title. In the postseason, he'll be on the mound when the Twins clinch the ALCS against Detroit and win the World Series against St. Louis.

Birthdays:
Emile Griffith b. 1938
Fran Tarkenton b. 1940
Bob Griese b. 1945
Vlade Divac b. 1968
Retief Goosen b. 1969

OY VAY!

Michael Wex is a professor, translator, novelist, and stand-up comedian. All of these have contributed to Born to Kvetch. The book is not merely a compendium of colorful Yiddish phrases but an exuberant investigation of the underlying spirit, culture, and people that make the language what it is: “the national language of nowhere,” a language of exiles. Wex is perhaps at his best in the chapter on Yiddish curses, “You Should Grow Like an Onion.” “Wise, witty and altogether wonderful. . . . Mr. Wex has perfect pitch,” Willliam Grimes wrote in The New York Times.

BORN TO KVETCH: YIDDISH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE IN ALL ITS MOODS, by Michael Wex (St. Martin’s Press, 2005)

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/02/2008

2/2/1960:
Playing their fifth game in five nights with a coast-to-coast trip thrown in for good measure, the Philadelphia Warriors defeat the Cincinnati Royals, 109-107, at Convention Hall. Rookie sensation Wilt Chamberlain leads the Warriors with 34 points; Jack Twyman paces the Royals with 30. Showcasing the Big Dipper on the West Coast in a pair of soon-to-become league cities, the NBA had the Warriors play a two-game series with the Minneapolis Lakers in San Francisco and Los Angeles before returning to the East Coast for tonight's game. Such a grueling schedule in today's unionized era would be unthinkable.

Birthdays:
Red Schoendienst b. 1923
Gary Dornhoefer b. 1943
Arturs Irbe b. 1967
Sean Elliott b. 1968
Scott Erickson b. 1968

1970:
Louisiana State University guard (Pistol) Pete Maravich pumped in 49 points against Mississippi State and became the first college basketball player in history to score more than 3,000 career points.

"Many long, lost and unexplainable 50-point nights hence, when he finally gets to the pros and is able to play with men who can complement him and against men who can't afford to collapse on him, he will be so good he will indeed scare people. -Curry Kirkpatrick, March 4, 1968


In 1956, John Ames, a pastor in small-town Iowa, learned that he had heart disease and had not long to live. The father of a young boy by a May-December marriage, the dying man hoped to communicate something of his life and beliefs to his son, and Gilead is the letter Ames wrote to him—a combination of family history, meditation, a bit of theology, concern for the boy’s and his mother’s future, and the earnest examination of a Midwestern minister’s life. The book is quite simply a masterpiece, beautifully constructed, thematically rich, and with writing that is at once tranquil and powerful. Gilead won the Pulitzer in 2005.

GILEAD, by Marilynne Robinson (Picador USA, 2006)

Sports Fact and Book Rec of the Day 02/01/2008

2/1/2004:
Adam Vinatieri kicks a 41-yard field goal with four seconds left to give the New England Patriots their second Super Bowl title in three years, 32-29, over the Carolina Panthers at Reliant Stadium in Houston. The two teams combine for 37 points in the final 15 minutes, a new Super Bowl record for one quarter, but a pair of missed two-point conversions by the Panthers greatly compromises their chances. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady completes 32 of 42 passes for 354 yards and three TDs to earn MVP honors. His primary receiver, Deion Branch, grabs 10 receptions, including a 17-yard gain in the closing moments, to set up Vinatieri's game-winning placement.

Birthdays:
Paul Blair b. 1944
Dick Snyder b. 1944
T.R. Dunn b. 1955
Malik Sealy b. 1970
Tommy Salo b. 1971

1968:
Vince Lombardi resigned as coach of the Packers, after leading Green Bay to five NFL championships in nine seasons.

"Lombardi's intensity is a phenomenon to behold...He exerts his personality not so much to control things as to keep himself taut, conditioned, perfectly disciplined. It is a kind of isometric exercise of the will-or perhaps of the soul. -William oscar Johnson, March 3, 1969

Packers Fact:
While a senior at Ohio State in 2005, A.J. Hawk won the Lombardi Award as the nation's top lineman or linebacker.


After a six-year renovation, the Smithsonian American Art Museum reopened in 2006, and this lavishly illustrated volume celebrates art, Americana, and the splendors of the Smithsonian. Art lovers will find much in this book to engage the senses and provoke thought—225 works from the collection, many of which have rarely been displayed, and enlightening commentary from curators: from stirring western landscapes to the tenements of New York City; from portraits that give a glimpse into the emotions of subject and painter to the burnished surfaces of modern sculptures that can be enjoyed purely as art for art’s sake. It’s all here.

AMERICA’S ART: MASTERPIECES FROM THE SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM (Harry N. Abrams, 2006)

January 2008 reads

Butcher, Jim	FOOL MOON	January 2001	January 2008	Contemporary Fantasy	Dresden Files #2	A-
Butcher, Jim	GRAVE PERIL	September 2001	January 2008	Contemporary Fantasy	Dresden Files #3	B+
Butcher, Jim	STORM FRONT	April 2000	January 2008	Contemporary Fantasy	Dresden Files #1	A
Butcher, Jim	SUMMER KNIGHT	September 2002	January 2008	Contemporary Fantasy	Dresden Files #4	A
James, Arlene	MARRYING AN OLDER MAN	March 1999	January 2008	Contemporary Romance	Wagner #2	C
Sobrato, Jamie	SEX AS A SECOND LANGUAGE	April 2007	January 2008	Contemporary Romance	N/A	C
Sparks, Kerrelyn	HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE VAMPIRE	August 2005	January 2008	Contemporary Vampire Romance	Love at Stake #1	B+
Weaver, Carrie	THE SECRET WIFE	May 2005	January 2008	Contemporary Romance	McGuire #1	B