It’s only February but readers are already gearing up for spring training! There are two highly anticipated baseball books hitting bookstore shelves this month. The Cactus League by Emily Nemens, current Paris Review editor, is a traditional novel about America’s former favorite pastime. It’s a Goon Squad-esque novel about a fictional MLB team, The Los Angeles Lions, during Spring Training in Arizona, surrounding their all-star, center-fielder, Jason Goodyear. The Cactus League has an entertaining cast of characters from sportswriters, hitting coaches, agents, and a Bull Durham-like groupie.
If you like a baseball novel crossed with the dystopian quality of Chang Rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea, you will enjoy THE RESISTERS by Gish Jen.
This is the story about the haves and have-nots in a future America. In The Resisters by Gish Jen, Gwen is from a “surplus” family who lives in swampland due to climate change and rising tides. She’s also a baseball phenom pitcher in the future AutoAmerica (what they call America in the future). Readers will travel with Gwen from the swamps to the Olympics with other “netted” (i.e., wealthy) teammates, facing off against ChinRussia.
Let’s get ready to play ball and check out these hot reads.
