Joe Castiglione is in his 35th broadcasting season and his 32nd with the Red Sox. No one has broadcast more Boston games than Joe.

He is also authored two books on his tenure with the Red Sox, "Broadcast Rites and Sites: I Saw it on the Radio with the Boston Red Sox" and "Can You Believe It?: 30 Years of Insider Stories with the Boston Red Sox."

We have long been friends and I am a longtime admirer of his work and his person.

When we got together at Camden Yards to hit the books, Joe went right to Babe Ruth. So much has been written about Ruth that one could spend a reading lifetime on him, but since one of the best on Ruth - "The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth" - came from Boston writer Leigh Montville, we offer it here.

"Don't ever forget two things I'm going to tell you. One, don't believe everything that's written about you. Two, don't pick up too many checks." - Babe Ruth, via Brainyquote.com

Julie Johnson, Roland Park Branch manager of the Enoch Pratt Free Library, lends us this insight:

"One of the advantages (and disadvantages) of being a librarian, is seeing the plethora of books other people are reading. One that caught my eye earlier this year is 2008's 'In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams' by Tahir Shah. This one, and its companion piece, 'The Caliph's House,' document Shah's time in Casablanca as he and his family (India-born wife Rachana, daughter Ariane and son Timur) settle into and renovate an old home.

"Life is full of magic and story as Shah the storyteller mixes childhood remembrances, local storytellers, 'A Thousand Nights and a Night' (aka 'The Arabian Nights'), jinns, curses, a haunted house, a sorceress, the neighbor's hen, a stork, henpecked husbands at the local café, a trip to the desert, the guardians (three men whose apparent goal is to work as little as possible), two maids in an ever-expanding war to gain the affections of young Timur, Shah's long-suffering wife and the fan who used Google Earth to show up unannounced on the doorstep - all in search of the story in his heart. The search for the story in your heart will begin quickly thereafter."

Julie, thanks for sharing.

Gary Thorne is the play-by-play voice of the Orioles on MASN, and the 2015 season is his ninth with the club and 30th covering Major League Baseball. His blog will appear regularly throughout the season. The Orioles and Sarasota County have partnered on the Big League Reader Program, which rewarded kids who read three books in February with tickets to a Grapefruit League game at Ed Smith Stadium in March.

* Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne. © Copyright 2015 Gary F. Thorne. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog's author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Gary F. Thorne and MASNsports.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.