Feldman's Faves: March 30, 2026

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

First, I want to wish those who are celebrating a very Happy Passover and a very Happy Easter. 

Once again it is a great time be alive if you are a sports fan (but maybe not of Tiger Woods). The excitement around the start of baseball is amazing and reminiscent to me of my youth when the Jays were winning all the time. It would so great to keep this magic going again this year. Although I don’t know if my heart can take another year of Hoffman as our closer.  And as per usual I will NOT be retiring based on winning my March Madness bracket.  This year’s Final Four looks pretty damn good – sorry Paula and JC….

For my fellow Pelotoners I think we can all agree that the FTP test is a necessary but (god awful) thing to do. It takes every single bit of will power I have to start and even more to finish (and avoid puking my guts out).  Curious if anyone has any good strategies on how to do this test.

Finally, please join me in wishing Cailey and Ali all the best on their birthday week.

No theme this week – just topics of interest.

MY FATHER’S HOUSE By: Joseph O’Connor – If you like historical fiction, WWII stories and thrillers that keep you guessing then My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor is a good one. This book is the first of a trilogy that centres around a group of Rome-based misfits called the Choir trying to help those in need to survive the Nazi regime.  The book weaves back and forth from an event that took place during the war to the participants accounts of this event decades later. O’Connor masterfully connects the dots but in a way that is not linear so you are figuring things out until the end.  As one reviewer notes, “Joseph O’Connor’s Shadowplay won novel of the year at the 2019 Irish book awards and was shortlisted for the Costa Novel award. He also writes stage and screenplays, short stories, nonfiction and radio diaries. This formidable talent for writing across genres is reflected in his masterly 10th novel, which should reap similar plaudits. Based on a true story, and several real characters, My Father’s House opens in September 1943 with wartime Rome as its memorable backdrop. The city is occupied by German forces and the Gestapo commander, Paul Hauptmann, rules with an iron fist. (His torture chambers are housed in the former German Cultural Institute, “his favoured interrogation tool is the blowtorch”.) The one place he can’t control is the Vatican City, deemed a neutral, independent country. It harbours diplomats, as well as priests, several of whom dedicate themselves to helping Jews and escaped allied prisoners get out of Rome. A proud Kerryman, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty is the leader of one such escape line. Its agents call themselves the Choir, and meet in a former hospice for fever victims in the right arm of St Peter’s Basilica. Under cover of music they explore plans and escape routes, false names and addresses as they prepare for a major mission, codenamed the Rendimento. (Hauptmann and his Nazi thugs are closing in.) O’Connor has assembled a wonderful cast, which includes Contessa Giovanna Landini, mourning her husband; Delia Kiernan, wife of the senior Irish diplomat to the Vatican, a singer with the voice of an angel; Marianna de Vries, a freelance journalist; Enzo Angelucci, an Italian newsagent, and Major Sam Derry, an escaped British POW. His sources include O’Flaherty’s unpublished papers, letters, diaries, telegrams and journalism, as well as a joke borrowed from the late Dave Allen. O’Connor’s own distinctive phrases are imbued with a gleeful irreverence: a cardinal is described as “a long drink of cross-eyed, buck-toothed misery if ever there was, he’d bore the snots off a wet horse”, While a confident woman could “sell a double bed to the Reverend Mother”. This is a literary thriller of the highest order. The incarnation of O’Flaherty, the Irish Oskar Schindler, is sublime. What often elevates a writer is compassion, and O’Connor has it in spades – paying tribute to the courage of those who resist tyranny. Beautifully crafted, his razor-sharp dialogue is to be savoured, and he employs dark humour to great effect. The plot twists keep on coming until the novel’s coda, where a final joyful conceit is revealed.” I really enjoyed this story and its characters. I will try to finish book #2 for next week. Here’s a good review from Kirkus - https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/joseph-oconnor/my-fathers-house-the-rome-escape-line-trilogy-1/

How I Built This with Guy Raz  - HOKA: Jean-Luc Diard and Nicolas Mermoud. The “Clown Shoe” That Became a $2B Bonaza – As a life-long gym rat (I know, it doesn’t show…) I have always been interested in experimenting with different workout technology.  I remember when I first started noticing people using HOKA shoes (replacing New Balance, NIKE, etc) so of course I had to try them.  They really are an incredible product, if you are a runner and help (I think) in reducing the risk of injury (but don’t rely on this representation from me). Beyond the product, the story of the business and how it was built, was as is always the case on this PODCAST, a story of starting at ZERO and then building an empire.  Here’s an excerpt from the PODCAST itself, “In the late 2000s, two French mountain athletes set out to build a running shoe that captured the feeling of flying.  Jean-Luc Diard and Nicolas “Nico” Mermoud had spent decades inside the innovation engine at Salomon—where product was obsession. In 2007, as Nico recovered from a brutal ultramarathon around Mont Blanc, the founders fixed on a problem that Big Footwear didn’t care about: downhill running was destroying bodies. Their solution: make the shoe bigger, softer, and shaped like a rocker. At first, their prototypes looked like clown shoes. Runners who preferred minimalist footwear laughed at them. Retailers said no. But the founders kept doing the one thing that they knew could reverse things: they made people try them. HOKA went from under $3M in sales in 2012 to more than $2B a year—and in this episode, you’ll hear how it happened: the risky design, the early cash crunch, and the strategic partnership that helped them win the U.S. market. What you’ll learn: How to think of a shoe as a machine, not just a piece of apparel The go-to-market weapon that worked: relentless demo-ing Why outside money can’t always solve a cash flow bottleneck (and what does) How HOKA used performance proof to avoid being dismissed as a gimmick. Why HOKA partnered with Deckers—and why it wasn’t just about capital. How to keep a “rebel” mindset as competitors start copying you Timestamps: (Timecodes are approximate and may shift depending on platform.) [07:12] George Salomon’s leadership lesson: the CEO who sought advice from an intern[11:11] Nico’s first day at Salomon: testing ski prototypes on a glacier[18:42] The ultramarathon race where Nico’s legs crumbled (and why)[21:29] A breakthrough insight: performance changes with surface (leaves, lava, snow)[31:25] Designing a sneaker as if it were a car: engine, tires, seat[40:00] The “clown shoe” prototype—and the first successful run [47:22] Elite runners kickstart the brand [49:02] The hard part nobody glamorizes: factory minimums, bank demands, anemic cash flow[53:31] Deckers enters: the minority investment that unlocks the U.S. (without killing the brand)”: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/how-i-built-this-with-guy-raz/id1150510297?i=1000746402783

Thank you for your ongoing engagement and participation.

And remember to stay safe, stay healthy and to docket daily.

Jon