Nonfiction: There's Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib

As much as I would have loved to sit in on Hanif Abdurraqib's talk at this year's San Antonio Book Festival, I had just landed back in town less than 24 hours earlier from a trip to Tokyo, Japan, and the jet lag was too much. I managed to walk the festival grounds for a couple of hours that morning, and spend way too much money, but Abdurraqib's talk was later in the afternoon. So I bought There's Always This Year: On Basketball and Ascension, a few t-shirts, a massive barrel of lemonade (you read right), and went back home.

Genre, Themes, History: This is a nonfiction book in which Abdurraqib talks about his life and history with Columbus, Ohio, as well as his lifelong love of basketball, while also looking into the career of LeBron James, in particular his relationship with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Broken up into five sections, including the "Pregame" and then four quarters, Abdurraqib allows the clock to count down while remembering the kids he grew up watching: the ones that people filled high school gymnasiums to watch and proclaim were destined to be the next big basketball star. Using both poetry and prose, Abdurraqib also talks of his love of Ohio, even with its myriad of teams known for losing, and the moments of violence that extend back to the 1970s car bombings.

My Verdict: I will start off by saying that I love how the book is organized. I liked having the four quarters, with their time outs and intermissions, and the countdown worked well with Abdurraqib's language and movement. The narration is linear, while somehow also not, without being confusing or frustrating. If anything, it simply felt to me how memory works: Some things bring up other things, and that other thing reminds you of something that contradicts what you said about the first thing. Often apologizing, and then refusing to apologize, Abdurraqib tells the story of why he loves where he came from, and why he had no desire to ever 'make it out' of there.

Favorite Moment: I do not follow basketball the way I used to...not that I ever did all that closely. But it was one of those things I used to know a lot about because I watched it with my dad, and being able to recall personal memories of some of the events mentioned in the book is a point of pride. 

Recommended Reading: I recommend Boom Town by Sam Anderson. In this book, Anderson details the history of Oklahoma City, as well as its basketball team, the Oklahoma City Thunder.