•• •• • • • • • •• • • • • au •• • • • • • • • s' • • • • 46. • • • • • • • • ■ 4 ■ • • • one she found was from the year [my have to make up as much," says dad coached my team] when I was 14." Lasser, whose religious beliefs were Lasser's mother, Joyce Ginsberg, is fostered through Temple Beth El. one of the few family members remain- The generational conflict would have ing in Michigan. A former teacher, she been more difficult to bring out if went to New York to baby-sit while they had been Christian." Lasser and his wife traveled on the first When Lasser was a student at leg of his book tour, and she brought Andover High School, the idea of writ- along a copy of Battle Creek, purchased ing professionally never crossed his mind. for her son to autograph. "In high school, English was always "I like the book's language, feel- the subject that I had to take," Lasser ing for people and the relationships," recalls. "I was a pretty decent student, says Ginsberg, an avid reader who but I couldn't count on the greatest admits that she grades in English. I would not have had stopped reading sought out a for pleasure and just book on baseball read books that were if it had been assigned to me. written by some- "While I went to one else. The Dartmouth as a politi- fact that the set- cal science major, I ting is local came home [on break] makes it fascinat- and worked a physical ing, and I read it labor job during the with a sense of day and as a busboy at wonderment." night. I would get Lasser says the home at 11:30 and Michigan setting couldn't fall asleep. I is critical. started reading and "It's where I loved it. Somewhere, I grew up, and it had the hubris to influenced the think that I could do way I view the it myself. Once I start- world," says the ed, when I was 23, I It not mere coincidence that the author, whose never stopped." novel's. main character, Gil Davison, next novel moves Lasser's short sto- is a Jewish baseball coach for a to a Wall Street ries appeared in liter- Detroit-area team. setting. "There ary journals, such as really is a baseball The Missouri Review tournament every year in Battle Creek, and The Mississippi Review, and he and I did have a core family in Jackson. has written for the PBS nature series I had a grandfather there, but Morris in Wild America. the book is very different. He enrolled in a creative writing "My father, who lives in Florida program at the University of Michigan now, was a really successful athlete, and received a master's degree in and it was very difficult for the family 1989. He also went on to earn a mas- to fathom or value that. If you're a ter's degree in business administration good athlete in some middle- from the University of Pennsylvania's American town, that's important in Wharton School. the town. It's unusual that it's impor- Lasser's business focus allows him to tant in the town but it's not important support his family: wife Deborah, who in your house. I wanted to get that converted to Judaism; son Charley, 9; into the book because I felt [it] would and daughter Allison, 19 months. His be something that would stay with a writing fulfills a very personal need. person an entire lifetime as it does for "Baseball was as important as the the [main] character." II other sports I participated in as a kid, and after I stopped playing, it wasn't as important anymore," the novelist Scott Lasser will read passages explains. "Now that I have a son, its from Battle Creek and sign copies importance has intensified again. I at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 18, at play with him, and he plays in Little Borders, 34300 Woodward, League. It's a connection between the Birmingham, (248) 203-0059; generations, and in many ways, that and at 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 19, makes it interesting. at Shaman Drum, 313 S. State, "When I needed a glove to play Ann Arbor, (734) 662-7407. catch with my boy, Ica lled my mother to ask if she still had [one of mine]. The • • 4 1T1EN'S OF CONGRESTION aCTII MOM invites you to attend an 4 • • • 4)t 4ketioft 4 • . • : 4 Sunday, May 16, 1999 • • * Preview 7:00PM 4 • 4 ■ • • • 4 4 • • • • • • • • • • • • • Auction 8:00PM with an elegant wine, cheese, and hors d'oeuvre reception at Congregation Beth Shalom • 14601 W Lincoln Blvd • Oak Park Admission: $5.00 in advance, $7.50 at the door For more information or tickets contact the office (248) 547-7970 Proceeds to benefit the Education Center Door Prize and Raffle Prize Art Collection includes Works by dam, Behrens) Boulanger) Buckels) Calder) Chagall) Deli) Delacroix) Erie, Ebgi ) Haenraets) Lautre) McKnight) Miro) Neiman ) Picasso) Read ) Rockwell ) Vasarely) Vickers) Wooster) Scott and more artists Lithographs — Etchings — Engravings — Watercolors — Enamels Original Oils Various mixed media. 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