Now I Can Die in Peace

I was given a copy of Bill Simmons' Now I Can Die in Peace: How The Sports Guy Found Salvation Thanks to the World Champion (Twice!) Red Sox for my birthday once upon a time and last week I finally got around to reading it. Let me explain a couple of things before I continue.

Yes - I know that I'm 4 years behind the curve here since the book is supposedly about the Red Sox finally winning a World Series back in 2004. However, the book I have is the 2009 edition with lots of footnotes added in to make it seem less dated. I also have to say that even as a rabid Red Sox fan there was an overload of Red Sox material after the victory in 2004. I had neither the time nor inclination to read this book until last week.

Second, I should give some background into my reading habits. I tend to start a new book on Sunday and I give the book a full week to read. If I finish the book in that week - fine. If the book does not grab me and make me want to read more during the week and I fail to finish it - then the book gets piled up with the rest of the books that I started but did not finish. The idea is that life is too short to slog through a book that doesn't truly interest you. Sometimes a book will grab me but take more than a week to read like the first volume of Shelby Foote's Civil War history. With those books I keep reading until I'm done and if I finish up with a couple of days to go until the next Sunday then I may pick a book up from the unfinished pile for a second chance.

I did not finish Bill Simmons' book.

I started off very excited. The "new" material was fresh to me and amusingly written. Then I got into the collection of Simmons old writings and things slowed down. The book is 452 pages long but Simmons and his editors (if such a thing exists) decided to still include sections on Carl Everett, Rich Garces and other subjects that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the 2004 championship team. My enthusiasm for the book quickly vanished. Being constantly hit over the head with dated pop culture references will do that to you. If you have a mullet, love 90210 and have posters on your bedroom wall from every Westlemania then you may feel different.

It should be noted that I am a Bill Simmons fan. I used to read his stuff long before he got to ESPN.com. So maybe this book didn't resonate with me because I had already read much of the material. Maybe the book didn't resonate with me because Simmons is almost by dint of what he does a dated read. Whatever the reason I couldn't get into this book and I won't even be putting the book in the pile of unfinished books. Instead Simmons' book will get a spot in my bathroom because I think even Simmons would agree that is where his writing is really meant to be read.

(Oh and I won't be putting the book up at the top of my blog either because I really can't recommend it.)