Welcome To Books and Bookmarks

I like a good story. Whether it’s fiction or nonfiction, I like a narrative, a beginning and an end, a difficulty to overcome, and preferably likeable characters I can root for. This is what I look for both in books and in sports. This blog brings these two areas together.

I often read books on my Kindle or listen to audiobooks through Overdrive or Audible, but when I do read a hard copy of a book, I always use a baseball card as a bookmark. Over the years the habit has evolved from simply using a card I’d choose randomly to looking for a card that seemed appropriate for the book.

Sometimes it’s hard to find a bookmark that has much connection to a book. In that case I’ll usually try to find a player who shares the name of a primary character or someone born or connected to the setting of the book. Failing either of those, I’ll just pick a card that jumps out to me at the time for no other reason.

Here I plan on sharing some of my choices, the reasoning, and maybe a review of the book itself, although my reviews sometimes are as simple as “yeah, I liked it.”

Follow along with me, read with me, give me your book and bookmark suggestions.

• How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
• The Bona Fide Legend of Cool Papa Bell: Speed, Grace, and the Negro Leagues by Lonnie Wheeler
• Amnesty by Aravind Adiga
• Homeland Elegies by Ayad Akhtar
• The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown