Tim McCarver, one of baseball’s most respected announcers, is the top analyst for Fox Sports and a broadcaster for the New York Yankees on Fox-New York. As a catcher in the major leagues for 21 seasons, McCarver was a two-time all-star and a member of two St. Louis Cardinal world-championship teams. Here are six of his favorite books:
A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole (Grove Press, $9.56). It’s hilarious. The main character, Ignatius J. Reilly, has a thought process that we would all like to have for a single day. It is a brilliant achievement.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
October 1964 by David Halberstam (Fawcett Books, $11.20). David interviewed me for about 15 hours for this book. I had never really thought about the cultural changes in baseball and the effect African-American players had on that World Series against the Yankees. The way he wove this social fabric was, I thought, extremely successful. This book is very personal to me—absolutely.
Blood Meridian, Or Evening Redness in the West by Cormac McCarthy (Vintage Books, $11.20). I don’t think I have ever read another book about so dark a betrayal.
Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Alone, 1932-1940 (Vol. 2) by William Manchester (Dell Books, $15.96). The Day of the Jackal was great, but I like Last Lion. I think it is a particularly poignant portrayal of Winston Churchill, showing how he was a lonely voice in Parliament in the early 1930s. Churchill was one of only a handful of men in Britain to speak out in favor of increased military action as a means of countering the growing Nazi threat in Europe.
Lee’s Lieutenants: A Study in Command: Manassas to Malvern Hill (Vol.1) by Douglas Southall Freeman (Scribner, $32). This made me familiar with Stonewall Jackson’s brilliant campaign at the beginning of the war. A great book.
-
Taking aim at Venezuela’s autocratFeature The Trump administration is ramping up military pressure on Nicolás Maduro. Is he a threat to the U.S.?
-
Comey indictment: Is the justice system broken?Feature U.S. attorney Lindsey Halligan has indicted former FBI Director James Comey on charges of lying and obstructing Congress
-
Government shuts down amid partisan deadlockFeature As Democrats and Republicans clash over health care and spending, the shutdown leaves 750,000 federal workers in limbo
-
Lou Berney’s 6 favorite books with powerful storytellingFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Dorothy B. Hughes, James McBride, and more
-
Elizabeth Gilbert’s favorite books about women overcoming difficultiesFeature The author recommends works by Tove Jansson, Lauren Groff, and more
-
Fannie Flagg’s 6 favorite books that sparked her imaginationFeature The author recommends works by Johanna Spyri, John Steinbeck, and more
-
Jessica Francis Kane's 6 favorite books that prove less is moreFeature The author recommends works by Penelope Fitzgerald, Marie-Helene Bertino, and more
-
Keith McNally's 6 favorite books that have ambitious charactersFeature The London-born restaurateur recommends works by Leo Tolstoy, John le Carré, and more
-
Garrett Graff's 6 favorite books that shine new light on World War IIFeature The author recommends works by James D. Hornfischer, Craig L. Symonds, and more
-
Helen Schulman's 6 favorite collections of short storiesFeature The award-winning author recommends works by Raymond Carver, James Baldwin, and more
-
Beatriz Williams' 6 timeless books about history and human relationshipsFeature The best-selling author recommends works by Jane Austen, Zora Neale Hurston, and more
