The Art of Fielding in Pick-a-Shelf

Apr 28, 2015 Mmars rated it liked it

But then this morning I was thinking about Sawyer Fredericks, winner of this season’s “The Voice”. I enjoy the singing and dancing competition TV shows but don’t follow them closely. At least a week after the winner was announced, yesterday I checked to find out Sawyer had won and I reviewed several of his performances. What I realized was that signature look. Beautiful long hair always kept in place by cloth fedoras, and a nicely tailored vest worn with various dress shirts underneath. He alway But then this morning I was thinking about Sawyer Fredericks, winner of this season’s “The Voice”. I enjoy the singing and dancing competition TV shows but don’t follow them closely. At least a week after the winner was announced, yesterday I checked to find out Sawyer had won and I reviewed several of his performances. What I realized was that signature look. Beautiful long hair always kept in place by cloth fedoras, and a nicely tailored vest worn with various dress shirts underneath. He always accepted the applause amidst everyone else’s hoopla and glitz and fancy tremolos, he just sang. He has a modest with just an unassuming and beautiful smile. He’s a natural. Like I said he just sang.

The Art of Fielding focuses on three of the baseball team’s players: Henry, the budding star who never errs at shortstop; Schwartz, the team leader who grooms Henry; and Owen, who just is. Owen, aka the Buddha. He has won a prestigious scholarship, and is part of the team, but he prefers to sit at the end of the dugout and read. Seemingly unaware but also all-knowing about what is going on around him. When called upon, he does what is asked and the rest of the team gets used to him. Henry doesn’t look the player as a scrawny freshman, but Schwartz notices his talent and through insane workouts turns him into a prospective major-leaguer.

Reflecting about all this I began to see what was brilliant in the Art of Fielding. It is all about a “state of mind.” Sawyer has it. Owen has it. Henry who seemingly does, loses it after an errant throw messes him up. So errant is this throw that it hits the Buddha, calmly reading in the dugout, on the side of the face and sends Buddha to the hospital. And Henry loses his mojo and can’t get it back. He experiences error after error every time he gets the ball, until several games later he walks off the field and away from the game.

There is a lot more supposedly heady stuff going on in the 500 plus page book, but nothing is as fully realized or as well written as this – the importance state of mind as it applies to life and dealing with life’s ups and downs.
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Aug 29, 2012 Sam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: proper-books, contemporary-fiction

Upon first receiving this book I was rather sceptical as to whether I would enjoy it or not as it seems very different to books I've read before and the blurb on the back made it sound a little too fluffy for my taste. However, I was quickly made to swallow my doubts as I becamse fully engrossed in the lives of Henry, Mike, Owen, Pella and Guert both the good, the bad and the ugly. This is a book driven by its characters, which themselves are superbly written, thoroughly engrossing and wholly be ...more

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May 19, 2013 Carey rated it really liked it

Shelves: book-club-books

I really enjoyed this book. Not a book that I'd usually pick up, but was pleasantly surprised. I read the book in two nights. I quickly lost myself in the plot. I'm not saying that it was a page turner and I had to keep reading to find out what happened next, I truly lost track of time and enjoyed the journey. I could relate to the characters and their experiences except for the very end where digging was involved.
I thought Henry and Owen's relationship was interesting and identified immediatel ...more

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Dec 08, 2012 Ozma rated it really liked it

Shelves: borrowed-from-the-denver-public-lib, book-club-pick, feels-like-i-read-it-yesterday

Wow! What a book! There's no magical realism, no fancy tricks. Just a good, long story. It's a great book to read if you don't want to read a book that is too unhappy, too dramatic. It's also a GREAT book to read if you like Moby-Dick and baseball. I actually enjoyed the baseball portions the most as that world is totally new to me. The narrators change by chapter, which is also great. There is a totally strange storyline that is very unexpected, and then a sex scene with this storyline! I still ...more

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