Safe at Home

Safe at Home: Confessions of a Baseball Fanatic by Alyssa Milano, 2009 (229 pages)

I was intrigued to learn that Alyssa Milano had written a book. I clearly remember watching her every week on Who's the Boss? when I was a kid. (I loved that show!) I also know that she's a huge baseball fan who's also designed a line of clothing specifically for female baseball fans. As a huge baseball fan myself, I was interested to see what she had to say.

The book starts off strong. Within the first couple chapters, she had my eyes tearing up a time or two, and she also made me laugh out loud. Her personal voice comes through in her writing, which is nice for this kind of a book. She has a love for the game of baseball that I can relate to, which is part of the reason that I enjoyed this book. However, she definitely does more than just explain the game. She also brings in her own personal experiences throughout the book, often showing the part that baseball played in her life (and the lives of her family members).

If you're not a fan of baseball, Milano does a good job of explaining what's so fascinating about the sport. For most of the book, she simply explains the various aspects of the game that those of us who are fans already know and love. She also acknowledges some of the not-so-good aspects of the game. There are a couple chapters in the middle of the book that get a little-heavy handed. I love baseball and understand it well, and yet her chapter on the numbers of the game started to be a bit much, even for me. There were also a few places in the book where she seemed to get a bit sidetracked and went off on a tangent for a few pages.

If you already love baseball, you should give this book a try (especially if you're a woman). If you're a good friend or relative of someone who's a big fan of baseball, you should read this book. It might explain a lot about your friend. :) However, if you're only mildly interested in the sport, it's definitely still worth reading; you just might want to consider skimming through the chapters that get heavy on stats and numbers.

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Total number of books read in 2009: 22

Total number of pages read in 2009: 8056