When I set out to create a list of monthly reading prompts last December/January, I had a feeling I was going to struggle with June's prompt and that is indeed the case.
Baseball. I know it is the national sport/pastime loved by all and played by many. And I can respect that. Alas, I personally am not much of a sports fan. We all have our likes and interests and mine just doesn't fall into that realm. I admire people who can play sports and appreciate that many love to watch sports. I thought this would be a way for me to read outside my comfort zone.
But. Now that June is literally around the corner and I am still grasping at reading possibilities (and pretty much rejecting the choices), I think I need to rethink June's prompt, which was 'play ball'. Now I could leave it very much open to interpretation. There are other sports that involve balls. And it isn't as though I have to read something that has a female protagonist (but I must say I really do want to read a novel with a female protagonist). Surely there are novels with women in the role of 'sportswoman'. Maybe a tennis player or soccer star or basketball heroine? Nothing is coming to mind save Karen Fowler's Sweetheart Season, which I do own, have not read, but I am just really not in the mood for.
I have been doing really well with my monthly prompts, though I am still reading this month's prompt, Kate Morton's The Forgotten Garden (will indeed finish, however). I want to salvage the prompt, but is it cheating to want to fit a particular sort of book into the chosen prompt? I would very much love to choose a Virago or Persephone title and surely one of them (considering what lengthy title lists the two publishers have) has a story that in some way (even just peripherally) has to involve sports. I think I remember a Virago title that involves a young woman who likes the sporting life. Any ideas, anyone?
If all else fails, and a cursory look at my bookshelves that house my Viragos and Persephones yield nothing, I can pick some other June-related theme. Maybe Solstice? It's adopt a cat month, and Gay Pride Month. There is applesauce cake day and national yo-yo day. International mud day? (Hah, I wonder how the world celebrates that one!).
Suggestions welcome. I will be contemplating this very important (reading) question for the rest of the day, now . . .