Uncle Wiggly in Connecticut

Just Before the War With the Eskimos

Reading J.D. Salinger’s

“Nine Stories”

Again

Is like listening to

“Revolver”

Again.

Although, I have to admit

I tend to skip

“A Perfect Day for Bananafish,”

Because I know how it ends,

And I don’t need to go there,

Especially with the onset of spring.

Salinger is kind of like

Barry Sanders

Or Buddy Holly

Or Andrew Luck,

What with his early departure

From the literary scene.

Just the four books,

And I will admit

That for many years

Every time I was in a bookshop

I would check to see if there were more,

Just in case.

Salinger

John McPhee’s

“Levels of the Game”

Is the best tennis book

Ever written

If you don’t count

“The Inner Game of Tennis”

Which is about tennis

But kind of not about tennis,

And if you don’t count

David Foster Wallace’s

“Infinite Jest,”

Of which I’ve never been able to get

Past the first hundred pages or so.

“Levels of the Game”

Is about a single match

Between Arthur Ashe

And Clark Graebner

in 1968,

And is as good as

”The Little Prince,”

Almost.

Ashe

Also, if you like

Books about sports

And outsized personalities

Read Leigh Montville’s books

About Babe Ruth

And Muhammad Ali

And Evel Knievel

And Manute Bol

And Russell and Chamberlain.

Montville

Also, Haruki Murakami

Is the best writer alive

Even better than Coetzee

Although

That’s just my opinion.

Murakami