There are very good reasons to find The Art of Fielding a most endearing read, and quite a remarkable first novel. For any knowledgeable baseball fan the conflation of many great shortstops in the tangential, yet relevant, character of Aparicio Rodriguez, as well as the paragraphs describing the choreographies of the middle infield, fully justify giving The Art a chance. For American-lit fans, finding the references, explicit and veiled, to Melville and Moby Dick, also makes the book worth reading. Being more of a baseball fan than a Moby Dick one, I confess to enjoying it on both counts. This is a very recommendable book. As for being "the best of 2011," I humbly disagree with the New York Times.