The Bill James Baseball Abstract 1983 – Bill James, 1983 ★★★

A Banquet of Numbers

Is it possible to be so steeped in knowledge that you lose all sense of proportion explaining something? Are there factoids so trivial you risk getting buried by them when you take them too seriously?

I mean, how exercised can one get about stolen bases?

If you are Bill James, and the year is 1983, when stolen bases were all the rage and no one noticed their lack of value when it came to winning or losing ballgames, you took a stand and chanced the consequences.

Basil Seal Rides Again – Evelyn Waugh, 1963 ★★★

Last Laugh

Evelyn Waugh’s final published fiction is utterly free of ambition, a recycling of familiar characters in service of amusing dialogue and a diverting if meandering plot.

Even the way in which it was originally published, as an ornately bound, personally-signed limited edition, suggests more a celebrity cash grab than anything creative. As a final word from Waugh the author, it isn’t much of a signpost, yet taking time to read it hardly damages the fellow’s legacy, either.

Tintin In Tibet – Hergé, 1958-60 ★★★½

On Top of the World with Tintin

I don’t know about you, but when I see Tintin reviews that use terms like “spiritual,” “mature,” and “deeply personal,” I get nervous. I know what I like about Tintin, and those ain’t them.

So I came to Tintin In Tibet with trepidation, not only because it came while author Hergé began losing interest in his towheaded brainchild but also because it has the reputation for being very different from those earlier volumes that entertain me so.

Here’s the thing: Tintin In Tibet is different, yet very enjoyable. And despite what critics say, it’s still Tintin; at times jagged and at other times very efficient, yet consistent in delivering the same joys as yore. So dig in!

Lady Killer – Ed McBain, 1958 ★★★

Killing Time

Detective work is tough enough when trying to solve a murder. How about solving a pending murder?

That’s the challenge members of Isola’s 87^th Precinct face in this early installment of Ed McBain’s long-running series of crime-fiction novels. A note written in cut-out letters handed to the desk sergeant by a young boy warns: “I will kill the Lady tonight at 8. What can you do about it?”

The Ragged, Rugged Warriors – Martin Caidin, 1966 ★½

Heroes Battle Zeroes

World War II was an Allied victory that looks more assured now than it did at the time. Like the Nazi invasion of Russia, you can call the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor a case of colossal overreach, yet it didn’t seem so crazy and reckless going down.

In fact, for several long months after December 7, 1941, momentum was all on the side of the Japanese. It’s this aspect of the war, when the Americans and their allies were in the role of decided underdogs, that Martin Caidin draws upon in this account of the air war in the Pacific.