36. A Season With Verona

By Tim Parks (447 pp)
This is a terrific book that very few people that I share books with would appreciate.  It's written by a British man who ends up living in Italy and following the soccer team in Verona. He decided to attend every home and away game for one season and write a book about it. It's about soccer fan culture in Italy. I LOVED it. At 447 pages it's very long and it felt long at times. But the soccer season is both long and not long enough. I went to my last match on November 24 and already have the pre-season matches in February on my calendar. Here's a quote that perfectly captures it: "Everybody is yearning for that stupid excitement of waiting for a goal, for or against, trembling on the edge of our seats, on the edge of euphoria or disappointment." I have to add, however, that near the end there is a scene of horrifying sexual harassment that goes on forever and was so disturbing I had to skip over it because it threatened to derail my feelings about the entire book. Overall for soccer fans: huge recommend.