My man W texted me that the movie adaptation of "Moneyball" premiered September 23rd at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland. That place is really fucking book. I saw Mos Def and Talib Kweli there two years (!) ago. I can't imagine a better place to start off a world press tour about the As than the Paramount Theatre. I also can't believe I never wrote about how I read most of Michael Lewis' catalogue this past summer.
I read "Moneyball" maybe 4 or 5 years ago, when I was still a student at Berkeley (GO BEARS!). Obviously, I have a lot of love for my hometown team but Michael Lewis made baseball more than an excuse to throw peanuts and drink beer outdoors. It's a pretty great feat when you get someone (like me) who has no interest whatsoever in baseball and makes it relatable and interesting. He describes more than just a game - it's the story and strategy of how and why a game is played that makes it so intensely intricate and impressive.
This past summer, I spotted "Liar's Poker" at the Boston Public Library for a dollar. Then I found "The Blind Side" for another dollar at Goodwill in Allston, right by Boston University. I borrowed "The Big Short" from the Ann Arbor Public Library early in the summer when I was still very unemployed and fearing that I would forever be a waitress. That is actually my worst nightmare. I had a dream two nights ago that I was a bartender at a local spot, and that my customers were.... my first graders from the school I used to teach at. Turns out they have no manners and are horrible tippers. I was very disappointed in them (both for drinking way under the legal age and the fact that they showed their old teacher no love with the tips, cheap-asses).
So how does the Michael Lewis collection stack up? I think Lewis has become a way better writer. In both "Liar's Poker" and "Moneyball," Lewis has the tendency to write in short, clipped sentences. He also LOVES those dangling modifiers, which I find distracting (as I start the sentence with the aforementioned....). He's also much better at synthesizing information these days. "Moneyball" and "Liar's Poker" both suffer from a bit of information overload: too many tangents (albiet interesting ones) that stray from the plot. Both are really interesting reads, but you could skip large portions and still follow the general story.
"The Blind Side" is the one I find the most consistently engaging, both about the sport described, and the narrative development of its protagonist, Michael Oher. It might have something to do with the fact that Lewis really did not understand football before he wrote this story, so he's coming at it from a blank slate: all the things we need to know, he also had to learn. It's an incredibly fascinating story, although I wish there had been more depth with the family that adopted Michael Oher. If you read the afterward, though, it sort of comes out that the Tuohys really are sort of, um, weird. As is Michael Oher. None of them seem incredibly love-able or cuddly, but that may be part of what they chose to reveal to Lewis in the interviewing process. They seem like very guarded people which makes sense but is probably the most interesting part of the story, non? It's also revealed that Lewis knew Sean Tuohy from way back and I do think this shaped how the Tuohys were represented in the story - reading in between the lines, I don't get the impression that they are incredibly fond of each other. But... it's also writing about someone that is an acquaintance and that fine line that Lewis was trying to navigate between telling the truth and not offending the Tuohys. Am I reading too much into this?
Okay, it's Friday night. You know what this means.
NAP TIME!
xoxo! t
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