Matters of Life, Death, and MoreWriting on SoccerBy Aleksandar Hemon(FSG Originals; $2.99)"A sad fact of human existence is that an average life seldom contains more than twenty World Cups - our games are tragically numbered," writes Aleksandar Hemon in his essay "Happy Days Are Here Again." Keep the party going with "Matters of Life, Death, and More," Hemon's writing on soccer. Reading this entertaining, insightful book is like sitting at a bar with the smartest soccer fan you'd ever hope to meet. Ostensibly, she has come to help Giorgio with his English as he plans to leave Italy for better job prospects, but the reunion becomes an opportunity for her to reflect on the road not taken. Will she keep the American first edition of "Bleak House" that a man bought her 40 years ago, "an apology for going back to his wife"? What about the books she shoplifted under a hooded black cloak during her school days, or the review copies, the thousands of books that "multiplied ... swarmed ... seemed to reproduce themselves ... a papery population explosion?" Point LenanaBy Nicholas Best(Thistle; $1.99)From its opening line - "Two Americans found the body" - to its surprising conclusion, Nicholas Best's novella "Point Lenana" combines love story, war story and colonial clash into a swift-moving read that packs more than 50 years into 55 pages.
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