Well, it's official- Nick Swisher is no longer a Yankee. Poor bastard will be plying his trade for the Indians for the next four years. And Raul Ibanez is gone now too- off for his third go around up in Seattle. Both were fan favorites- Ibanez for his homerun barrage this past post-season when seemingly no one else in pinstripes could get the ball out of the infield. Swish, on the other hand, delighted the fans with his antics out in right field and played a respectable first when needed, but was diminished when the "real" Yankee season started and that, along with the contract demands, is what lead him out of town. Very happy at least that Swish, of whom I was already a big fan from watching how he played the game out in Oakland, didn't wind up heading north to Boston. Wasn't quite ready to hate him.

But with Cody Ross "down off the board" as the free-agent tracker sites like to say, the prospect of signing a righthanded outfielder to supplement the now-all lefty one of Gardner, Granderson and Ichiro is left to Scott Hairston. Story is that he would like to stay in New York, but re-sign with the Mets, makes you wonder where the guy's drive to win is. Right?


Been spending much of the last month or so buried in books. Just followed up the excellent prequel, "Kings of Cool" by Don Winslow with its predecessor, "Savages" which is the last Oliver Stone movie. Having read a bunch of Winslow after the aforementioned KoC, it's been interesting to watch his prose style - lots of white on the pages, lots of lingo - develop over the course of a number of books that intersect characters like "Dawn Patrol," "The Gentleman's Hour," and "The Death and Life of Bobby Z." (an unwatchable movie version exists of that one, too) and "The Winter of Frankie Machine."

Having adored the more recent Jeffrey Franzen work, "Freedom" I have an older one on the shelf - "Strong Motion" lined up on the bed-stand as "next."

Can really recommend the trilogy by George Alec Effinger that starts with "When Gravity Fails," followed by "A Fire on the Sun," which lead me to some of his other work. I put away "The Nick of Time" in a day and its follow-up, "The Bird of Time," should follow the Franzen. Interestingly enough, I took a flyer on an old Jonathan Lethem novel, "Gun, with Occasional Music," which, coincidentally enough, turned out to be quite the homage to the Effinger trilogy to surprise me that I read them in succession having no previous knowledge of their clear connection.

I had read some of his magazine pieces, but I think "Downtown Owl" was the first novel I have read by Chuck Klosterman. His Mid-Western settings and music references will see more of him on my shelf. If you're buying me books - or yourself, I suppose as well - there are new novels out by the likes of Jess "The Financial Lives of the Poets" Walter, Mark "House of Leaves" Danielewski (sic?), Junot "The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao" Diaz (check out my book's Facebook page for a very cool picture/quote by that author here.) and Michael Chabon.

Okay, happy reading to you all especially in these cold weather months. My book is available here or by emailing me directly at 26tales@gmail.com for an inscribed copy.

Cheers
B.