James J. Patterson reads “The Nearest Thing to Perfection”

“One of the welcome treats from the emergence of James J. Patterson’s fiction is his penchant for setting his stories in the real America, the part of our country that gets too little notice by either the factual or the fictional media stars. He’s a welcome addition to the stories of our times.” James Grady

James J. Patterson can give you a breakdown of every pitch, every play, every score, every formation, and infuse it with color no matter how slow the windup or mundane the foul ball. This is his job, as a writer: caring so much it infects. Not long ago James and Rose ran a magazine called Sportsfan out of an office complex in downtown DC. Sportsfan was by, for, and about fans of sport, featuring stories on season ticket holders, on loving sports, on taking a date to the game and so on. Sportsfan could have been like any tabloid sports quarterly, with locker room interviews and marital affair exposés, but James cared (and cares) about the millions of people who flock to the stadium, more so even than the few who play in it. This is what makes James such a compelling sports writer, even for those, like me, who have never made it a pass time to watch athletics: when James talks about sports, the object of his care is always you. “The Nearest Thing to Perfection” may not be traditional sports writing, neither was Sportsfan, but by god does it care.

 

Hear James read “The Nearest Thing to Perfection”

The Nearest Thing to Perfection

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