You're Invested in the Baseball Playoffs

Are hunting for a thriller or want to learn more about the publishing industry

Hi friends,

First off, my heart goes out to everyone in the path of the past few massive hurricanes. I hope any of you reading from there are hanging in there.

If you’re looking for a place to donate, World Central Kitchen has teams in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia and Tennessee to provide meals. The organization, run by José Andres, a modern-day saint, has provided 400 million fresh meals to communities impacted by natural disasters and during humanitarian crises.

And, now, what to read if …

You’re Watching a Lot of Baseball

Charlie Hustle by Keith O’Brien

It’s the playoffs and my Yankees remain in it, so I’ve been watching hours of baseball and revisiting Courtney Preiss’s Welcome Home, Caroline Kline. In the Division Series, we’ve gotten some good baseball and a lot of time with 1970s Royals great George Brett). If you’re enjoying the postseason or craving baseball because your team didn’t make it, consider reading Charlie Hustle, Keith O’Brien’s new biography of Pete Rose, who played in the majors from 1963 to 1986.

Pete Rose is one of the most divisive players in baseball history. Rose, who died at the end of September, had more hits than anyone in the history of the game, a record that still stands today. He won three World Series rings, and as his nickname, “Charlie Hustle,” implies, he was always hungry for a win. But, Rose’s career ended in infamy when it came out he bet on baseball and lied about it.

O’Brien’s book provides a complete picture of a complex man. Drawing on exclusive interviews with Rose, as well as investigators' reports, FBI files and court records, the book brings to life not just Rose, but the entire era.

As Jonathan Eig, author of King, said, "Baseball biography at its best. With Charlie Hustle, Pete Rose finally gets the book he deserves, and baseball fans get the book we've been craving, a hard-hitting, beautifully written tale that will stand for years to come as the definitive account of one of the most fascinating figures in American sports history."

You’re Looking for Your Next Thriller

The Lagos Wife by Vanessa Walters

Online, Nicole Oruwari has an ideal life. She has two adoring sons, a handsome husband poised to inherit his wealthy father’s empire, a gorgeous compound in bustling Lagos and friendships with the Niger Wives, a group of fellow expats. But when Nicole doesn’t return from a boat trip with friends, her perfect life starts to look a lot more flawed.

After the local investigators fail to get answers, Nicole’s estranged aunt Claudine decides to conduct her own inquiry. When she arrives in Nigeria, she’s confused to discover Nicole’s husband and in-laws seem almost complacent about their loved one’s disappearance. As Claudine explores Nicole’s room and interviews her friends — including the other glamorous Lagos wives — she discovers infidelity, isolation and even violence in the compound.

Walters alternates between Nicole’s perspective from before she disappeared and Claudine’s point of view after. It’s an affecting choice that simultaneously highlights the bonds between the two women and their isolation from each other.  The Lagos Wife, originally published as The Niger Wife, is both a taut thriller set in the luxe world of Nigeria’s 1% and an incisive look at the cost of the secrets we keep and the lengths we go for family. Get ready to blow through your bedtime to finish this one.

You’ve Ever Wondered How that Book Got in Your Hands

The Untold Story of Books by Michael Castleman

If you’re reading this newsletter, chances are you are a Book Person — someone who can happily spend hours in bookstores and libraries, knows that books have a distinct smell and finds the weight of a book in their hand comforting. If you’re nodding along with that description, grab a copy of Michael Castleman’s The Untold Story of Books.

In it, Castleman, a veteran author, tracks the history of publishing from Guttenberg to Amazon, showing how the industry was shaped as much — maybe more — by market forces as a love of literature. It includes tons of fun tidbits, such as:

• how romances and westerns became known as “pulp” books.

• why New York is the center of the country’s publishing industry (hint: it’s something that’s actually upstate).

• the industry’s long reliance on pirated books.

This is the type of book that could easily have crossed over into overly academic or jargony. Instead, it’s — and I mean this as the best kind of compliment — incredibly readable. I learned a lot, enjoyed reading it and have a newfound respect for how books make it from an author’s computer to my shelves.

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Thanks for reading! I’ll be back next week with a special internet-themed edition.

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What to Read If is a free weekly book recommendation newsletter. Need a rec? Want to gush about a book? Reply to this email, leave a comment or find me on Instagram or Threads.

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