Every day I receive suggestions about books I might consider reading. When I get book tips from librarians, I pay close attention. They know their books. A librarian I know suggested I might want to cover 'A Month of Game Days' by Scott D. Peterson as this current baseball season is winding down. The cover of the book describes it as 'stories,' but this is really an ambitious novel written in the form of interconnected stories. It is set in Maine, and the main character, Lou Mallet, lives and breathes baseball.
Twenty-seven years ago, I did my only interview with Dr. Calvin Sinnette. He had just published his only book, 'Forbidden Fairways: African Americans and the Game of Golf.' Back in those days, we did the show live every weekday afternoon right after the 2 p.m. news break. Dr. Sinnette had arrived at his hotel in New York but had been unable to check into his room. We were able to talk on the phone as this resourceful guest found a quiet place to talk somewhere in the hotel. Fortunately, he also located a land line telephone — this was before the proliferation of cellphones. He had a wonderful, rich-sounding voice. We went back and digitized the recording of our live interview. It was on a cassette tape — they can suffer some sound degradation over time. My guest sounded fantastic on this old cassette. I sound like I have been inhaling helium. I found that rather amusing. I hope you do, too. This is a superb book about the discrimination Black golfers have had to endure over the years just to participate in the game. Dr. Sinnette died in 2021 at the age of 96.
The Book Nook airs Saturdays at 7 a.m. and Sundays at 10:30 a.m. on WYSO 91.3 FM and streams at WYSO.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, Wright Memorial Public Library, and Tipp City Public Library.
