Confessions of a She-Fan

Starred review from February 15, 2009
Enough with the books that write about sports with the assumption that women are outsiders even as fans! Popular chick-lit author Heller ("Princess Charming") proves that she's not just a hilarious writer, but a serious and highly informed fan of the Yankees, as she sets out to follow her team, literally, from game to game during the 2007 season. Her perspective lends the book its special character, seasoned with salty language and lots of authentic conversation. Guess which 2007 Yankee took the time to talk with her? For all public libraries.

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2008
In May and October 2007, Heller published two charming op-ed pieces in the New York Times: on whether it was possible to divorce your team and on falling back in love with it. This book was written in between while she followed the Yankees (whom she has loved since growing up in Westchester) for half a season. Her book, however, is not about baseball or the Yankees as much as it is about Heller herself. She reports on the highlights of every game but fits them in between recounting how hard it was to get hotel rooms, flights, and tickets and how she never did get press access. The awkward locution of the title is reflected in a lot of the language (calling weak players pussies and Papelbon, of the Boston Red Sox, Pap Smear kind of collapses her feminist credentials). Still, she speaks thetruth when she notes that the old Yankee Stadium was ugly and uncomfortable but for its beautiful emerald field and distinctive facade, and while she is crying and screaming and carrying on, one can hear the faint heartbeat of a true fan.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)