3 posts tagged “cables”
Read because: I found his first book, Word Freak, to be utterly fascinating.
Borrowed from: the Sacramento Library
Rating: 8 out of 10
Synopsis: Fatsis (Word Freak) is dwarfed by any of the NFL athletes who put their bodies on the line each Sunday. But that doesn't stop him from asking to attend the Denver Broncos' training camp in hopes of learning one very specific athletic skill—that is, placekicking—and not to become an NFL-caliber kicker, but to become a credible one. Fatsis is treated like any rookie, from having to sing his alma mater's fight song minutes after stepping into the locker room to carrying the team's duffel bags and bunking in the hotel with all the other rookies. But his vibrant enthusiasm for improving his kicking ability helps his Bronco teammates accept him as one of their own. With that, the reader gets a glimpse of the true NFL, in the tradition of George Plimpton's Paper Lion. We see the crippling injuries that are kept secret for fear of losing playing time; the heartbreak of standing on the sidelines in camp, just aching to prove one's worth; the tears that come when the NFL dream could be over. Fatsis, too, has his own personal highs and lows through camp, enduring the long days, the trainer's visits and the sting of failure in front of coaches and players. It's an incredibly fascinating read for football fans, squashing the notion that the life of an NFL player is always glamorous.
My review: This definitely isn't a book for everyone. If you don't like football, you might fall into a coma while reading it. But seeing as I've been a 49er fan since before I could walk, I really enjoyed Fatsis's inside look at the NFL. He really breaks apart the NFL's cover and delves into the players' lives. For the first time, well, ever, I could see these giant guys as really people. The way the NFL treats players (who have no guaranteed contracts) was scary -- you can be dropped from the team without any warning for any reason. I can't imagine having to do my job under that kind of pressure. I found his personal story slightly less interesting than the player's stories, mostly because no matter how he tried, he was never really, truly one of the gang. The process of learning how to placekick was interesting, though. I learned a lot about training and the mental game. I wish *spoiler alert* the NFL had allowed him to kick in the pre-season game. Oh well. You can't win them all. (Finished 8/17/09)
Traded through: www.bookins.com
Rating: 6 out of 10
Synopsis: A treasure hunt for a Jesuit ship sunk by pirates off the coast of Spain is the plot on which Perez-Reverte's new novel turns, but a love story is the real heart of this nicely crafted, carefully told adventure. A suspended sailor happens on a maritime auction in Barcelona, where he meets the beautiful Tanger Soto, a museum curator whose winning bid buys her a 17th-century atlas that may reveal the final resting place of the Dei Gloria. Coy, the sailor, is totally smitten, so it's no surprise that he signs on to help Tanger track the sunken ship to its grave in waters he's sailed since childhood. Enlisting the aid of a diver friend, Coy and Tanger stay a few steps ahead of the crooked salvagers who've been trying to get the atlas, outmaneuvering the attempts on their lives and the efforts to keep them from the treasure.
My Review: I felt like this book moved a little more slowly than his others, but it was still a really well-crafted book. Perez-Reverte has a knack for weaving together both good plots and good characters. I wish I could have read it in its original Spanish because I think the English is great and I'd like to see how it started. This is the first book I've read in ages about a treasure hunt and although it's a really old plot device, PR made it seem new. The characters were fresh, although I thought the main character was a little uneccessarily angry sometimes. (Dude, calm down.) The girl was one of those girls who feels like she's been written by a guy, which always bugs me a bit. Still, I was entertained and I really liked how it ended. (Finished 5/29/09)
My brother came over, and after re-doing a bazillion cables I have HDTV! Woohoo! Through an antenna! Bunny ears! Didn't even know that was possible. He's freaking awesome -- an A/V geek without the geek. Okay, a little bit of the geek. But not that much. I'm way geekier.
And lo and behold, college football has never looked better!
But apparently there is a problem with my DVD player. Using red/blue/green cables, everything is magenta. Not just pink, but radioactive. So it's back to the regular red/white/yellow cables. I just can't watch Friday Night Lights in pink. It's about football, for goodness' sake.
