What I've Been Reading

Pat Tillman, the subject of Where Men Win Glory

The Essential Smart Football  by Chris B. Brown.  If you're a frequent reader of the site (mine or his), then you know the basic gist of what you'll find in this book.  It's a collection of blog posts and essays by Brown on the various offenses and defenses being run by the NFL and college teams around the country.  For Michigan fans, there is plenty of discussion of Tom Brady and even a section on offensive coordinator Al Borges.  As a high school coach who's constantly trying to grasp new schemes and tweak old ones, I breezed through it in no time and want more.  Of course, it helps that the entire book is only 139 pages long.  And luckily, even though I want more, I just have to skip over to Smart Football  and see what's new.

Where Men Win Glory  by Jon Krakauer.  Ever since I read Under the Banner of Heaven  about a year ago, I've been on a Krakauer kick.  I read Into Thin Air  over the summer, and I just ordered Into the Wild. I know I'm behind the times a bit with reading some of these books, but oh well.  I was always fascinated by the story of Pat Tillman because I watched him in college and I liked watching him play for the Arizona Cardinals, who used to be my second favorite team (behind the Lions).  At the time that he left football for the Army, I couldn't imagine someone giving up a pro football career for a life of fighting in the desert.  It was admirable, of course, but it was a sacrifice of a lifelong dream.  Lots of athletes participated in earlier wars (World War II, Korea, etc.), but there was a time when being a pro athlete wasn't quite as glamorous.

A Clash of Kings  by George R.R. Martin.  I finished reading A Game of Thrones  a few months ago and immediately moved on to this one.  It seemed to get a bit of a slow start, but eventually picked up and turned into a good read by the end.  I hate to spoil the book for anyone reading or planning to read it, because there are all kinds of twists and turns for the various characters.  The longer this goes on, though, the more I like Tyrion Lannister.

A Storm of Swords  by George R.R. Martin.  Unlike its immediate predecessor, A Clash of Kings, this book started off fast-paced and ended the same way.  It seems like Martin really found his rhythm in this book, although by this point, I've started to catch on to his foreshadowing techniques and been able to make some pretty accurate predictions about what's coming down the pike.  Also unlike the previous books, this one ends on somewhat of a high note.  Things seem to be going in the right direction for the protagonists, and some of the villains are getting what they've had coming to them.

The Zombie Survival Guide: Recorded Attacks  by Max Brooks.  I am a nerd.