Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne: "The Walls of Lucca"

It is always such a treat to have a fellow broadcaster join us to talk about a book he has written. Today it is Steve Physioc of the Royals broadcast team.

Steve has been in the professional play by play business since 1983 with the Reds, Giants, Angels, ESPN and now the Royals.

With the support of his family, he undertook a long look at the history of Lucca, Italy, and the story-filled history of the place. From that examination came this novel.

I have not yet read this book. The release came just two weeks ago and it is available online.

Kindle is promoting the book with this intro: "Can love be found in the ruins of war? Find out in this thrilling and inspirational story of hope, redemption and the power of forgiveness in a broken world. An enchanting debut novel by Steve Physioc."

With that said, let's let Steve tell us about his work.

I applaud Steve for his willingness to spend the time it takes to write a book like this and the difficult process it is today to publish - especially to self-publish. I look forward to this read.

Esquire has published a list of 2018 books that it considers the best of the year. Their first five listed are:

* "The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters" by Priya Parker
* "The Mars Room" by Rachel Kushner
* "Warlight" by Michael Ondaatji
* "Like Brothers" by Mark Duplass and Jay Duplass
* "The Pisces" by Melissa Broder

Always like to hit the library with a list of books to peek at and see if they look like a read for me.

The passing of Philip Roth leaves us without one of the most honest voices of literature. Thankfully that voice lives in his works.

"The danger with hatred is, once you start in on it, you get a hundred times more than you bargained for. Once you start, you can't stop." - Philip Roth, "The Human Stain"

Gary Thorne is the play-by-play voice of the Orioles on MASN, and the 2018 season is his 12th with the club and 33nd covering Major League Baseball. His blog will appear regularly throughout the season. The Orioles and Sarasota County, for the 7th consecutive year, 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. 180 children participated last year.

* Hitting the Books with Gary Thorne. © Copyright 2018 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.