What's the best fiction book of the past 25 years? TWFE has the answer

Over at that blog where people think about fried rice, Ian gave his thoughts about the NY Times Book Review article that says Toni Morrison's "Beloved" is the best work of American fiction over the past 25 years. Ian, in a thoughtful dissertation, agrees with the pick. Personally, I think they are all on the drugs. Or under the influence of the Oprah. I let Ian know as such.

So what, in my humble opinion, is the best American fiction of the last 25 years? Believe me, it's not "Beloved." Or even "Penthouse Forum." Definitely not the reports that there were weapons of mass destruction. The best, and my all time favorite, pure fiction book has got to be Mitch Albom's "Fab Five: Basketball, Trash Talk, the American Dream."

It's a riveting story about a major college basketball team that was on the out and outs, a program that was a thorn in the side of the athletic director. It was a team brought together by pure happenstance, lead by 5 naive freshmen, a wise auto worker with a love of cakes, envelopes, and numbers, and a coach with a heart of gold who sees only the best, and nothing else, in his prize recruits. They overcome all odds to shock the world, and play in 2 NCAA Final Fours. The recruits play, not for money, but only the love of basketball, each other, and their university.

Why Hollywood hasn't jumped all over this heartwarming story is beyond me. It'd be 10 times the movie compared to those other college hoop classics, Gabe Kaplan's "Fast Break" and Robby Benson's "One on One." This movie needs to be made, so today's up and coming hoopsters can be suitably inspired.