TODO is one daily thing recommended for you, by us.

Not to get all Deadspin on ya, (remember how well that turned out), but we do like us some sports. Sports books, on the other hand, are kind of a mixed bag: For every Lords of the Realm (for our money, one of the best books on baseball and business out there), there's a Juiced. (And don't get us started on Mike Lupica). So we were pleasantly surprised by Seth Mnookin's Feeding the Monster, an account of the Boston Red Sox' remarkable rise to (and subsequent short fall from) the top.

Whatever your feeling about the Red Sox (and we always sort of felt sorry for them, until they won the Series and started acting like your loser friend in high school who finally gets laid and then starts thinking he's the coolest guy in the world), Mnookin - who was granted full access to the entire Boston organization during the 2005 season - offers a fascinating glimpse into the ways success can be more challenging than failure, particularly in a town where a ravenous media has little else to focus on save for falling chunks of highway underpass. This is a solid, intelligent book that transcends its genre; even if you don't like sports, you can probably give it to your dad for Christmas.

Feeding the Monster [Seth Mnookin]

Disclosure: Seth Mnookin once offered us a ride on the Vespa, which we declined because, you know, come the fuck on.