The Riches of this Land--#44 finished

This is a book about the American middle class, first looking at definition and then why such a rise and what has happened to it.  The author is an economics reporter and this book is a process of several interviews of many years, articles he has written and his research that he combined into this book.  I guess one of the main take aways is too often in a middle class discussion women and minorities seem to be left out when really it is their participation in work which gave the middle class the rise after WWII.  There is a lot of information and ideas packed into this book that me typing a few sentences about it would not do it justice.  I didn't get any big takeaways here, writer does sort of mention that these issues are complicated to solve and really have to start at a base level of person to person.  A lot to think about here.  A good read.

There are no copies on PBS site but at this point I am keeping book, maybe loan out to friends or post down the line.

Bob Plager's Tales from the Blues Bench--#43 finished

Bob Plager was basically a lifetime Blues player and executive back from the beginning of the team.  I am not much of a hockey fan, never watching it growing up and only catching a few games here and there since living in St Louis.  I had heard stories of the Plager brothers--all 3 of them playing for the Blues at one time.  This book was picked up at a library sale for a quarter or 50 cents and has been on my bookshelf for years.  Figured I needed something light and easy to read so grabbed it.  It has some funny stories as well as some of the more tragic story about his brother in here too.  Overall a good quick read, especially if an old time Blues fan.

I have already posted it on PBS, it is the only copy but since older book, don't know if it will ever get requested.

The Manhattan Hunt Club--#42 finished

This is an older mass market paperback that I have had on a shelf for several years.  I do not even remember where it came from, I don't think it was PBS unless it was a free throw in book at some point, maybe a library sale book--just don't know.  Book was published in 2001 so 25 years old now too.  The elites of New York have found a way to get the worst criminals secretly released into the tunnels and subway lines below New York and then the elites hunt them down.  In a macabre part of the story, the bodies are then brought back to the club where a taxidermist stuffs them--this was mentioned a few times but I just don't understand why anything this sick made it into the story.  Also these bodies are then just evidence against these elite if ever found too.  Oh well, one of those sent into the tunnels was of course innocent and dating/engaged to a daughter of one of the elite.  This guy gets a message out and his dad and the daughter join the tunnels in search of him.  They are able to kill of the hunters and survive.  Not a great read but interesting I guess in the idea.

There are already 17 copies of this book in PBS so I will not add to that.  It will go onto my donate away pile.  Seems like a good one for one of the free small library boxes around.

As Good As Gold--#41 finished

The rest of the title is: 1 Woman, 9 Sports, 10 Countries and a 2 Year Quest to Make the Summer Olympics.  The author Kathryn Bertine was a pro tri-athlete who was also a writer but took several part-time jobs as well to fund her triathlon career.  ESPN approached her about making an attempt to get to the Olympics in whatever sport she could accomplish it.  They would pay her for articles and cover a lot of the expenses for this.  She was not Olympic qualifier stuff for the triathlon so she tried out for the team handball sport, pentathlon, track cycling, rowing, open water swimming, race walking and then road cycling.  She didn't earn any spots on US teams so she reached out to other nations for road cycling and eventually was given dual citizenship with St Kitts and Nevis to try to earn a cycling spot there but was unable to accumulate enough points to qualify for the Olympics--she traveled to several countries and rode races there trying to earn the points but as a single racer vs teams of racers it was low odds to start and her attempts while valiant didn't get her there.  It is a good story about determination and desire and also exposes the reader to some little known sports and how Olympic teams for formed.  

This is a book that I got from ThriftBooks, so not a PBS book.  It is also a book autographed by author.  I read up on Wikipedia about author and she has a few other books but has also been an important person for establishing professional cycling leagues.  This book will be a keeper for me.  There are 2 WL for book on PBS but have enough credits & plenty of other books I can mail if ever need more.  

It's Hard for Me to Live with Me--#40 finished

This is a memoir by Rex Chapman a Kentucky basketball player that went onto a long career in the NBA and then in several front office jobs around the league.  While this was going on, he was struggling with several things.  Being injured several times during his career, he develop an addiction to opioids--Vicodin and Oxycontin and later another drug that helped wean him off of those.  Throw in a gambling addition as well that he talks about.  I also think there seems to be a lot of just not growing up involved--he was thrown money in college--probably high school too--then got large contracts in the NBA to the point that he never really thought about money.  Relationships too, as it sounds like he wasn't very faithful to any of his partners--he doesn't go into a lot of detail about this but did seem to at least hint at this during his playing days.  He blew all of his money, divorced, arrested and basically homeless.  It sounds like he is in a better place working, repairing relationships with his kids, handling his addictions so I am glad to hear this.  From reading this memoir though, worried that he is still sort of on a razor's edge--I hope he can stay clean though.

There is 1 WL for this book on PBS so I will probably be posting it soon to get it mailed off, no reason to keep it any longer.

There You Are--#39 finished

This is a book that is very much about St Louis.  The author grew up in St Louis or at least St Louis county, probably in the U-City area.  The Delmar Loop with Vintage Vinyl as the main area of contact for the characters.  A lot of talk of music and albums--something I don't know that much about but doesn't go too crazy about it, I was able to read through it and get the meaning.  Good characters if sometimes a little to easy to figure out.  The main characters have moved away but are drawn back to St Louis while the Michael Brown protests are going on and with the threat of the music store closing.  A lot to do about race in St Louis, police, schools along with the music.  I enjoyed it and living here I have seen a lot of this too.

There is 1 WL for this book on PBS but since a St Louis book will probably keep at this point.  I did get this one through Thrift Books too instead of PBS.

Burntcoat--#38 finished

This is a short kind of quick read.  It is about an artist in England and her life.  Her mother was a writer that suffers a brain aneurysm and struggles to re-gain her life.  The daughter is a pre-teen and basically has to learn to take care of herself and her mother, the dad can't take his wife's changed life & he left.  Now daughter is older and meets a man and becomes romantically involved, then a deadly virus strikes the world--not sure if idea came from Covid or if this was started before and just happened this way--book published in 2021 so could be either I guess.  Her and the boyfriend struggle through this virus with boyfriend succumbing to it and her falling sick but slowly recovers.  Life has changed.  I tough read at times and emotional in many ways.  A different sort of book, sometimes hard to follow but worth it as story and characters are worth the read.

There were no copies in PBS so I posted it right away and it has already been requested.  I will get it mailed off in the next few days.