ImageCredit...Édouard Manet/Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Larned Coburn Memorial Collection

By Molly Young

Dear readers,

This week’s theme is “short and sweet”: Short sentences, short stories, a sweet spot of a prose pair, and that’s all she wrote.

Enjoy!

—Molly

“End Zone,” by Don DeLillo

Fiction, 1972

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DeLillo is one of the great prophets of American ridiculousness, a twisted king of comedy. Revisit him now — or book your first ticket with “End Zone” if you’ve never voyaged to DeLilloland. His second novel concerns two forms of combat: college football in West Texas and nuclear weapons technology.

Gary Harkness is the narrator, a running back whose higher learning includes Mexican geography (“traditionally a course for football players”) and Aspects of Modern War. He arranges picnics for his girlfriend, Myna, runs plays, acquires injuries, delves into the meat of existence. There are belly laughs in every chapter. This is DeLillo simultaneously indulging and spoofing his oracular tendencies, and with a rhythm almost danceable.

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