Reading is fundamental. It’s the rock that is the base of education for our youth. For adults, its the best way to gain knowledge on a variety of subjects as well as being entertaining.

I’ve always been a voracious reader. I think I inherited that from my father who always seemed to be reading multiple books at a time. I’m more of a one book at a time type of guy, but I almost always have something to read.

With the holiday season almost here, work schedules will slow and there will be plenty of downtimes. There will be plenty of opportunities to pick up a book or two, or in my case six.

Here’s a quick synopsis of what I’m going to be trying to read over the next couple of weeks:

Renegades-Born in the USA is based on a podcast from musician Bruce Springsteen and former President Barack Obama. They have discussions about growing up, marriage, family, music, politics and just life in general. It’s an interesting back and forth between two American legends. Also, there are plenty of visuals which include photos, copies of speeches and original song lyrics to keep it fresh.

Betrayal-The Final Act of the Trump Show is the latest in a series of books about the dysfunction of the final year of Donald Trump’s presidency. This one is written by Jonathan Karl of ABC News. There are plenty of these types of books out now. If you’ve read one, you’ve read them all…although I admit that this is the third one I’ve read in the last couple of months. I’m apparently a glutton for punishment.

Game Misconduct-Hockey’s Toxic Culture and How to Fix it takes a look at all the things wrong with Hockey starting at the youth level and which continues at the professional ranks. If you followed what occurred recently with the Chicago Blackhawks, you’re familiar with some of these abuses. Written by Evan Moore, who used to write at this site and Jashvina Shah, it goes deeper into other abuses such as racism, sexism and the violence that are prevalent in hockey culture.

Led Zeppelin-The Biography is written by Bob Spitz who wrote a biography of The Beatles. He’s also done features on Keith Richards and Paul McCartney as well as helped manage the careers of Bruce Springsteen and Elton John. This book goes deep into the career of one of the greatest bands of the classic rock era.

The Lyrics-Part One: Paul McCartney has done a two-book diary of one hundred fifty-four of his songs. You get all the lyrics along with a story about each tune. It’s done alphabetically so part one is A-K. As a tease, I’ll have a review of both books in the early part of January 2022.

The Echoing Green-The Untold Story of Bobby Thomson, Ralph Branca and The Shot Heard Around The World: If you’re a baseball fan you know about one of the most famous moments in the sport’s history. One of baseball’s great rivalries, The Dodgers and Giants, a playoff to determine the National League championship and the memorable broadcast call from Russ Hodges “The Giants win the pennant. The Giants win the pennant.” Written by Joshua Prager, this book looks at all of that plus gives details that haven’t come out before about the game and the relationship between Thomson and Branca.

So that’s my list. I doubt I’ll get through all of them by the end of this year, but I’m going to give it a go. What about you? What will you be reading this holiday?

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