The Super Bowl is this weekend, and there’s plenty to be excited about: the game, the halftime entertainment, the watching parties, the Taylor Swift sightings.
And while I’ve had plenty of Super Sundays watching the game with friends and family, I’ve spent others enjoying the quiet that comes over the city (minus the shouts and groans you hear after big plays) as the freeways get a little freer and the bookstores, museums and other favorite places get a little less crowded.
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One year as a big game played, we got a docent tour of the Huntington Library from my wife’s godfather, George, and I remain grateful for that time, especially now that he – one of the most hilarious storytellers I’ve ever encountered and a kind, lovely man, too – is no longer with us.
So whatever you do on Sunday, I hope it’s something you enjoy. If it’s reading, which is a safe bet if you’ve made it to this paragraph, I was thinking about football books and one of the best is “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk,” which takes place during a Dallas Cowboys game on Thanksgiving as a group of Iraq War vets are being honored for acts of bravery. (It also has a connection to this year’s big game if you need a bit of trivia: The 2016 Ang Lee film adaption starred the actor Joe Alwyn, Taylor Swift’s beau in the pre-Travis Kelce days.)
Another recent football novel about a guy named Billy is Eli Cranor’s Edgar-winning “Don’t Know Tough,” a hard-hitting noir about a high school football player in Arkansas, Billy Lowe, a newly transplanted coach from California and we’ll leave it at that to avoid spoilers. But it’s good.
There are plenty of other football books I’ve been meaning to read – “Friday Night Lights,” “North Dallas Forty,” “Black Sunday” and “Brian’s Song,” to name a few. And while I can recall endless middle school page-turners about the big game, maybe my favorite football book of my youth was a pricey, photo-heavy tome I saved up to buy when I was a kid. With its dramatic cover featuring former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw, I believed the book was a more grown-up item than my football cards, showing the worldly sophistication of a boy who had a coffee table book despite not yet owning a coffee table.
Was it a great book? I’m guessing probably not, but every young reader has a book or two that holds a kind of sway over them that far outstrips what’s inside the pages. Another one for me was a kid’s oversize novelization of Disney’s “Robin Hood.” Was that one any good? I have managed to hold onto my big, battered copy, so I could go and check for you. But I’d rather not know.
My chief memory of the “Robin Hood” book is my dear mother reaching the words, “The end,” with a kind of palpable relief – and even as the words still hung limply in the air, I said: “Read. It. Again.” I can remember the weariness on her face, but I’m pretty sure she turned back to page 1 and started again.
I’ve thought of that moment whenever my kids said the same thing – whether it was for more of a lovely picture book by Oliver Jeffers or a barely-coherent line of “Scooby-Doo” paperbacks we somehow acquired – and I’ve done as she would have: I read the damn thing again.
Side note: Some movie tie-in books are frankly terrible, and so there were nights when I would practice my editing as I read them, trimming a clumsy half-page description down to one line of polished prose as I read it aloud. Not only did it help keep me awake, but it offered a bonus challenge: I had to remember these mental edits when the child asked me to read it again.
In short, we all want compelling stories, whether on the football field or off, so I’m going to direct you to some more worthy ones below. And coming up, I have an author interview to share with you and an excellent new book that we’ll be talking about soon.
So whatever you choose to do this weekend – watch football or hit a bookstore or, I don’t know, read a delightful interview about the 14-year odyssey of “Alphabetical Diaries” author Sheila Heti that isn’t afraid to also mention her dog, Feldman – I hope you have a great weekend.
More stories
Writer Emily St. Martin wrote about “Eat the Mouth That Feeds You” author Carribean Fragoza and the South El Monte Arts Posse’s efforts to open a free lending library in El Monte’s Zamora Park. Read more
Old Town Monrovia’s Underdog Bookstore, the LGBTQ-owned bookstore I wrote about last year, has been subjected to repeated racist and homophobic outbursts, according to the store staff. I saw the Instagram reel about the situation, and my colleague Victoria Ivie went out to get the story. Read more
A controversial city policy has librarians at Huntington Beach Central Library pulling children’s books from its shelves for reevaluation. The policy, according to Michael Slaten’s story, says no city library should allow children “ready access” to books that contain content of a sexual nature. Among those pulled? “Everybody Poops.” Read more
More books, authors and bestsellers
Ordered thoughts
Sheila Heti spent nearly 14 years on new book “Alphabetical Diaries.” Here’s why. READ MORE
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Miles to go
Quincy Troupe nearly punched Miles Davis. Then he co-wrote the jazz icon’s biography. READ MORE
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Women in war
Why Kristin Hannah decided to write about Vietnam War nurses in “The Women.” READ MORE
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The week’s bestsellers
The top-selling books at your local independent bookstores. READ MORE
Next on ‘Bookish’
The next installment is Feb. 16, at 5 p.m., as hosts Sandra Tsing Loh and Samantha Dunn talk about upcoming books. Sign up for free now.
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Read any books that you want to tell people about? Email epedersen@scng.com with “ERIK’S BOOK PAGES” in the subject line and I may include your comments in an upcoming newsletter.
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
