"I used to joke, you know, about having a tombstone that read:
STEPHEN KING with the dates, and then below that, a single sock, and below that:
NOT IN MY LIFETIME. And below that:
NOT IN YOURS EITHER."

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That's it. Life as a Sox fan. Screwed again.

Not any more. The 2004 season reversed the curse as the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in the most hotly anticipated October in recent baseball history.

Two Red Sox addicts - notable authors Stephen King & Stewart O'Nan - cover the thrills of being Red Sox fans in this memorable season. With Boston's boys of summer entering the season under still new ownership, a fresh wunderkind General Manger, a new field manager, the additions of Curt Schilling & Keith Foulke, the memory of the heartbreaking '03 finish, and their ongoing and epic rivalry with the New York Yankees....Faithful had a lot of ground to cover.

O'Nan and King chronicled the season from spring training through the extraordinary comeback events of the fall. They went to some games together; each kept a diary. They argued and agreed about plays and trades, and the result is an unprecedented fan's notes for the ages. (It's amazing how loud you have to yell at the TV so the players can hear you.) "Like hardcore followers of any sport," says writer O'Nan in the introduction to Faithful,"Sox fans are expert at taking a game apart and examining its most intricate components -- especially when the worst happens."

The book began as an e-mail exchange last summer. O'Nan fired off a note to fellow fan, Stephen King, who responded with his thoughts:

Opening Day. April 4, 2004.
"Tonight, barring a stroke or a heart attack, I expect to be in until the end, be it bitter or sweet. And the same could be said for the season as a whole. I'm going to do pretty much what I did last year, in other words (only this year I expect to get paid fordoing it). Which is pretty much addiction in a nutshell: doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result."

"The idea of a book about this year's Red Sox by Stewart O'Nan/Stephen King is the best thing next to a season ticket to Fenway. I know no true baseball fan will be able to resist this classic book," said Susan Moldow, Executive Vice-President and Publisher of Scribner (and Red Sox fan).

Faithful is funny, smart and masterfully well-written. This combination of events you couldn't make up -- and great writers who love the game, make this book a must for all readers.

Written in a fashion where O'Nan provides the play-by-play and King (who better?) the color, this is a book to cherish for Red Sox fans, a sports fan or any connoisseur of clever writing.