Ryan is accustomed to loss. Her father passed away five years ago, she doesn’t relate to her best friends anymore, and she is a Cubs fan. The anniversary of her father’s death happens to land on opening day, so Ryan skips school to go to the game. This is where she meets Nick. Another Cubs fan and also a new kid from her school. Thus, starting their friendship.

Nick’s friendship and the Cubs good fortune transform Ryan into the person she was before she let herself be dulled with grief. Nick reluctantly tells Ryan why his family really moved to Chicago. Ultimately, through facing Nick’s illness, Ryan realizes what her father had tried to teach her about life and baseball. It’s now about winning or losing, but having the courage to continue to the play the game no matter what is thrown at you.

I don’t know why I didn’t read this book sooner! If I had realized how much I was going to like it I would have. I of course was initially drawn to the book because of the Cubs, but what really drew me in was the story itself. Smith is an extraordinary writer and I expect great things from her in the future. Her writing is simple yet powerful. This book is beautifully written, the language is so genuine you can’t help but be held captive to it. I found myself admiring Ryan’s character and empathizing with her throughout the entire story. I loved the history about the Chicago Cubs, although I knew most of it. Other readers might find that part tiresome or boring, but I really think that is adds to the story as a whole. I highly recommend The Comeback Season, it is a heartwarming story that will not be soon forgotten.

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If you took seven years to compose a 614-page opus about the Vietnam War, it would probably be incredibly grating to read reviews employing the word quagmire. All apologies to Denis Johnson, then, because after reading his novel, Tree of Smoke, that’s the first word that comes to my mind.
To be clear, Smoke is impressive, a layered, rich, sweaty accomplishment of massive proportions, a novel whose first three pages are nothing short of perfect. But Johnson is a meticulous writer, and if anything, the next 611 pages suffer from an overabundance of care. Smoke isn’t just set in the tropics, it exudes them — Saigon, yes, but also Manila, Honolulu, and Damulog, their unfamiliar smells and persistent moisture clinging to the story like a fog. And even as I was marveling at Johnson’s narrative gifts, I was staggering under the heft of his ambition. Two decades of story lines tangle into a web of epic relationships, until I no longer bothered to flip back four chapters to remember how one character knew another —I just assumed a part of my brain had retained the information, and pressed on.
On the most basic level, this is the story of Skip Sands, a CIA officer straight out of Graham Greene’s arsenal — a fact that has not escaped Skip’s attention. He’s nominally in the employ of his uncle, Francis Xavier Sands, a.k.a. the colonel, a whiskey-swilling survivor focused only on turning the theater of war to his advantage. Countless characters swirl around the colonel: doomed GIs, loyal locals, assassins, and double agents, each carrying his or her own lovingly painted agenda, most of who fall by the wayside eventually. There are fewer pages of jagged action than there are of philosophy, though the Tet Offensive is recounted with particular vigor. Sands gets a small, tragic love story, which would have been novel enough for Greene. And there’s an obvious point at which the book should end but does not, instead slogging deeper into the jungle (literally) for another 10 years and hundred pages, on a desperate march toward an unclear conclusion.
It’s easy to lose interest in Smoke at this point, but that’s okay; Johnson’s point has largely been made anyway. Not surprisingly, it’s the same moral offered by everyone from Coppola to Creedence — i.e., war is bad, and Vietnam in particular really sucked. Tree of Smoke is a mammoth portrait of humanity in conflict, less about the message than the journey, which leads inextricably to one of the few uniquely American truths: People seem to get stuck in Vietnam. Only Johnson’s extraordinary literary gifts permit the tentative recommendation to join him there. “B”

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David Sedaris’ latest book, When You Are Engulfed in Flames, is a must read. For those unfamiliar with Sedaris’ previous work, the author specializes in hilarious stories of his family and anecdotes about every day life. Each story brings with it a familiarity; these characters are just like the characters you know in your own life. Well, maybe not JUST like them, but Sedaris brings out the humanity in each of the people he writes about so that you can love them or spite them right along with him.

His most recent novel includes anecdotes about a crotchety neighbor, vacationers in France and Sedaris’ own battle with quitting smoking. These stories are told with such brilliant wit that there is no way to stop reading. I’d go into more detail, but I’d hate to ruin a punchline by trying to prove myself right.

I started this book waiting in an airport for our plane to begin boarding. My husband, listening to his iPod, repeatedly admonished me for laughing so hard I was shaking his seat. I’m sure others around me may have wondered what was wrong with me, but I didn’t care. The joy of this book is entering a world where you don’t care what others think, you just get to sit back and observe the idioscynchracies of life.

- Kristin
Diverxtrme

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