The Art of Fielding. By Chad Harbach.

Simply put - What a great novel.  When was the last time you read a novel with multiple characters and were moved by ALL of them?  The Art of Fielding is a novel about the beauty and complexity of baseball, about friendship, love and romance, about perseverance and real human emotion and interaction.  Chad Harbach's writing evoked such a vivid picutre in my mind's eye of the characters and their world, and his storytelling was so compelling that I was right there with each character as they muddled through their connected lives.  Admitedly, you will read more thorough reviews of this book, but this is a Must Read and Chad Harbach deserves every success with his amazing debut novel.