Shelf Life

Mike Lowell will sign copies of his new book at the Prudential Center in May. (JIM DAVIS/GLOBE STAFF FILE PHOTO)

Baseball matters
With Opening Day around the corner, publishers are throwing their first pitches for Boston, among them Richard Bradley's "The Greatest Game: The Yankees, the Red Sox, and the Playoff of '78" (Free Press), and Michael Holley's "Red Sox Rule: Terry Francona and Boston's Rise to Dominance" (Harper). Coming next week is "Dynasty: The Inside Story of How the Red Sox Became a Baseball Powerhouse" (St. Martin's) by Tony Massarotti.

Cambridge poet Philip E. Burnham Jr.'s musings about what God did "in His infinite playfulness" on the ninth day have found a fan in the big leagues of public radio. Garrison Keillor will read Burnham's "Assignment #1: Write a Poem About Baseball and God" on "The Writer's Almanac" on April 4.

Nostalgia is the lifeblood of "Anatomy of Baseball" (Southern Methodist University), which will be published April 30. Among the essays collected by editors Lee Gutkind and Andrew Blauner are paeans to caps, bats, and (in four selections) gloves. Katherine A. Powers, Reading Life columnist for these pages, celebrates a purchase made in 1960: "When I put my face in the glove, I can smell our shared history."

On May 15, Barnes & Noble in the Prudential Center will host World Series MVP Mike Lowell for a signing of his new book, "Deep Drive: A Long Journey to Finding the Champion Within" (Celebra).

Six hours of poetry
Boston poet laureate Sam Cornish will kick off a six-hour poetry marathon at 11 a.m. April 12 at the Boston Public Library. More than 50 emerging and established poets will read for 10 minutes each. The eighth annual Boston National Poetry Month Festival will begin at 10 a.m. with readings by prize-winning teenage poets.

Faith-based initiative
On Easter Sunday 2006, Suzanne Strempek Shea - questioning the Roman Catholic faith in which she was raised - embarked on a pilgrimage from her home in Western Massachusetts. For each of 50 Sundays, she attended services at a different church.

The result is "Sundays in America: A Yearlong Road Trip in Search of Christian Faith" (Beacon), a collection of short essays about her experiences.

She found herself bored at a Mormon service and troubled by a Baptist pastor's intolerance, but most of her journey was uplifting.

She worshipped at Barack Obama's church in Chicago, in Maine with the Shakers, at a chapel in the Denver airport, and at Joel Osteen's mega-church in Houston. She prayed with Jimmy Carter in Georgia and was swept up in a musical celebration of John Coltrane in San Francisco.

On April 10, Shea will return to one of the oldest churches she visited - King's Chapel in Boston - for a reading at 6:30 p.m. Details at suzannestrempekshea.com.

Coming out