Book Review: October

More Stories from the Twilight Zone- Carol Serling, editor- As mentioned a few times on here, i am a big TZ fan.  I don't buy a lot of anthology books, but saw this 2010 collection and had to try it out.  I am told that Carol (Rod's widow) is very protective of the legacy and so she has very high standards.  I didn't recognize many names (Rod's brother contributes as does sci-fi author Norman Spinrad, and there is an unpublished Rod Serling short) but all appear to have impressive resumes in movies and television, or have written several novels.

I was very happy with this collection.  I don't think there was any one story that I hated.  A few were very moving ("Thoughtful Breaths" by Peter Crowther about put me in tears.)  Many had imagery that really stuck out, and were as visual as anything you can do in a printed medium.

Some had predictability, but even those were so well-written that you wanted to stick with them.  A couple seemed repetitious, though that was by no fault of their own.  There were 19 stories here and it is a thick book, but it seemed like it read incredibly fast.  As far as anthologies go, I really thought it was top notch, and if you are a TZ fan but thought you wouldn't like something like this, it might be worth investigating.

A Season on the Brink - written by John Feinstein - I have been going back and reading some of the great all-time sports book.  This is among the best-selling sports books of all time, and follows the 1985-86 Indiana Hoosiers basketball team and their colorful coach Bobby Knight.

Feinstein has since become a fixture on sports talk radio, and a keen observer on sports (especially college basketball and golf).  Knight at the time was a God among mortals where College (and high School) Basketball was the local religion.  I spent quite a bit of time in the state in those days, and Knight may have been seen as a hothead by others, but was adored by the state.  Knight's reputation has had a couple of changes over the years, one an incident in which his temper got the best of him and he choked a student; but since has been able to resurrect that reputation with a stint at Texas tech, and still able to be someone that could make commercial appearances as a legendary coach for products like Guitar Hero.

This book suffers from time elapsed.  The idea of following a team and their coach for one year was novel.  In the era of Hard Knocks, twitter, and 24/7 cable networks, it's hard to imagine the impact this book made at the time.  We are then left with a first-hand observation of one of the iconic coaches of the time- a complex character who was brilliant, making more of the talent he had than possibly anyone could, and someone whose anger management issues were omnipresent.  (It is also likely we have seen the end of the Beloved Coach. With  Joe Paterno's death, we may have seen the last of the coach who would command that love and be employed in the same place for decades.  If the Beloved Coach hasn't been killed by scandal (Paterno, Jim Tressel, Pete Carroll, et al), there are certainly other instances where the Beloved Coach has been forced out by impatient forces who wanted instant gratification (Bobby Bowden).  All my examples are college football, though I think we will see basketball will closely follow.)

In which case, I think the book is sort of on the tedious side.  We do get an understanding of what makes Knight tick. Like the college basketball season, the interesting parts are the beginning of the season (when everything is taking shape) and the end of the season (as teams race for the championship).  Still, the format means you get a lot of day-to-day details, and is sometimes repetitious.

I am hesitant to recommend it as it didn't really move me that much, and I suspect nonfans would find it even drier than I; though I know people who count this as one of their all-time favorite books.

   

Adventures of a Battleground State voter- "Actual Insight" edition

At this point, i have been following things close enough that I can actually provide some real insight, so I accidentally stumbled on something while talking to a friend on the phone.

Unless you are one of the few people who have their feet on the ground (like the Des Moines Register's Kathie Obradovich), then you are just a person who is reading those dispatches and reporting on them.  So thus, I am not that far removed from doing what Chris Matthews or Rush Limbaugh does.

It also should be noted that nothing is original, and what I am going to share is someone else's observation.  Political writing is often taking others words and refocusing on it.  Where I feel that I am falling into the category of 'real insight' is that I am not hearing anyone else say this right now.  In fact, my observation is based on a view that was observed over six months ago.

So, here it is: 

Mitt Romney is only good when he's not in the lead.

Observe.

In 2007, he made his appearance on the Presidential scene as the guy who seemed destined to be President.  He arrived with a resume and a reputation that painted him as the clear cut favorite.

What happened?  Well, despite being the favorite and despite buying everyone barbeque, from the Ames Straw poll until caucus night, Romney's support crumbled bit by bit, until unthinkably he lost to Mike Huckabee.

Four years later, in a field now void of the likes of McCain and Giuliani, once again, Romney was the instant favorite. 

Romney led early polls and was again the inevitable nominee, though again, the masses loved him, but were not in love with him.  Story after story appeared where prominent Republicans were reaching out to Govs. Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Rick Perry and ex-Gov. Sarah Palin.

As you remember, Perry did decide to win and became the favorite.  A fighting tough Romney slowly worked his way back up the polls, with his debate performances, and slowly working over Perry and a series of serious contenders like Herman Cain and Newt Gingrich.

The story doesn't end there.  It should.  At Christmas, it appeared that Romney would end up with a respectable victory, beating out his most serious contender, Ron Paul.  As we know, that didn't happen.  On election night, his victory was an eight-point squeaker past Rick Santorum; though a closer count would actually reveal Rick Santorum as the actual winner with 34 more votes than Mitt.

So, it seems the story is about to repeat again.  Though you might argue that Romney never had the lead (If Romney was in first, then why in a poll in a battleground state like Iowa last week give Obama an eight point lead 51-43), after debate #1 and some Libya controversy, it certainly appeared that Mitt was once again in the driver's seat.

The door is closing on that opportunity given by those events.  Both men went into the third debate as if this was now Romney's to lose, and sure enough, it's a pretty universal consensus that Obama had the better night.  in a few days, Romney will once again be in a role that might be preferable in regards to his style of campaigning.  The question would be if the timing is right.