The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

I know this will rattle some, but I don't particularly care for baseball. And to upset you more, I could care even less about the Red Sox.

Growing up my favorite pastime was watching basketball and hearing my grandfather (R.I.P.) cheering on the home team (Boston Celtics) or grumbling when they lost. All sports seem to have that emotionality to it, and it's why I was so able to connect to and enjoy this short novel by Stephen King.

King found a way to make Trisha McFarland, the heart wrenching and gutsy 9 year old at the center of the Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, almost an everyman/everywomen character. She is lost in the woods, separated from her bickering and broken family. And as our heroine bravely fights the elements of the forests, something imagined or real is after her. It's goal: to be her demise.

Never a dull moment in this King novel. I couldn't put it down. It has King's trademark for suspense mixed with poignant moments outside the forest as Trisha struggles to find a way out.

Though I'm not as fanatical as Trisha with her love of all things Red Sox and Tom Gordon, I can relate to the passion she expressed for the sport she loved even at her darkest hours. No matter what sport you choose, at the end of it all, we all bleed red.