oints in 15 minutes in his second game of the season. Meeks only played three games last season for Detroit d

There are at least two types of book readers. (I refer to the people who read books and not those new-fangled devices.) The first type read their books in one go, rarely pausing for rumination, reflection or any handwork with pencils or highlighters. If at all, they reflect on the book after theyre done reading.Then there is the rare type - those who cannot read a book without obliterating it with dog ears, notes in the margin, underlined passages and bookmarks. They convert the reading experience into a process. Perhaps they even stop every few minutes to tweet out interesting lines.If you are one of the latter, you will take days to get through young Sri Lankan author Shehan Karunatilakas Chinaman. That is even if you really want to finish this brilliant book as quickly as you possibly can. With clever lines on every page, Chinaman is the most tweetable book Ive ever read.In hindsight it appears to me as if Karunatilaka wrote the book with a checklist in his mind: Thats one more page done. Do we have a joke? Check. A brutal dig at cricket? Check. An irreverent swipe at Sri Lankan culture? Check.A superb work of fiction blended with non-fiction that makes you sit up night after night reading it? Double check.Chinaman is, mostly, the story of a Sri Lankan journalists hunt for a long-forgotten, and fictional, Sri Lankan cricket player called Pradeep Mathew. Mathew has a brief, meteoric cricketing career in the late 80s and early 90s that sees him achieve superhuman bowling records. But he vanishes as quickly as he appeared.As the curious, and increasingly obsessive, journalist, Karunasena, begins to peel back the layers of Mathews life he realises something is amiss. Mathew has vanished not just from the cricketing scene, it appears he has ceased to exist. His existence has even been expunged from the record books. And there is something disturbingly Orwellian about it all.Yet Karunatilakas book is equally about Karunasena. I wish I knew more about the author to see how self-referential this character is. Or maybe they just share Karunas. But the character of the 64-year old journalist is a wonderful device to place the topic of Sri Lankan cricket within the larger themes provided by Sri Lankan society and history.So on the one hand there is the obsessed, alcoholic journalist, well into the twilight of his career, going in search of a human mirage. But on the other there is the very real world that this journalist occupies. One of his friends is a diplomat who may have an ugly secret that involves little boys. Yet another is a member of Sri Lankas Burgher minority, who is as obsessed with cricket as Karunasena is. And somewhere in the final third of the book a bomb explodes at a train station. It happens casually, the death toll described as if in an afterthought.Most of all Chinaman is a book about cricket. Karunatilaka has crafted a thinly veiled version of modern cricket, complete with reviled commentators, horny cricketers, loose women and big, bad money.Did I say the veil was thin? I meant to say it is almost transparent. One of the books minor characters is the Turbanned Indian Commentator. Mentioned frequently enough so that after a while he is just referred to as TIC. Earlier in the book there is a beefy English cricketer, whose idea for a documentary is what really kicks off the hunt for Pradeep Mathew. His name is, but of course, Tony Botham.Karunatilaka skewers cricketers old, new, good and bad, all in style. And with prose that is infectious. Once you get past the first 50 pages, which are the slowest but not by much, the book is - no cliché intended - unputdownable. The mysteries of Pradeep Mathew, combined with the brutal dissection of cricket and the delicious morsels of cricketing trivia come together to form one of the strongest, most immersive plots in a sports novel, or indeed any novel, I have read in a long time.The book is not without its gimmicks. There are a few towards the end that are particularly laboured. And there are a few occasions where the dialogues seem too smart by half. But all good innings have room for a few hoicks over slip. And Chinaman is a Test match-winning innings-at-the-death watch-over-and-over-on-Youtube kind of a book.At least one commentator has called Chinaman the first great Sri Lankan novel. Perhaps it is. It certainly is a superb novel. For all cricket fans, especially those from the subcontinent, it is a compulsory addition to their library.And if you cant stand cricket, this is still a book well worth reading. For sheer scope, ambition and inventiveness. Karunatilaka has smashed this out of the park.Chinaman: The Legend of Pradeep Mathew by Shehan Karunatilaka Random House Currently available in Sri Lanka and online. An Indian edition of this book, due out in January 2011, will be available across the subcontinent Cheap Ray Ban Aviator Sunglasses . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Ray Ban China . Jordan Lynch, the all-purpose Heisman Trophy finalist from Northern Illinois, failed to make it into that exclusive club. http://www.salerayban.com/ . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL. Discount Ray Ban . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. Cheap Ray Ban Free Shipping . Malkin got tangled up with Detroits Luke Glendening early in the third period and his left skate took the brunt of collision with the boards behind Pittsburghs net. AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- For about ten minutes on Sunday night, it appeared the Detroit Pistons had solved the Orlando Magics lock-down defense.Like the rest of the NBA, they will have to keep searching for answers.Orlando gave up 27 points in the first 9:30 but then shut the Pistons down in a 98-92 victory.Im proud of our guys, because that team was averaging 118 points their last three games, and that was on the road, Orlando coach Frank Vogel said. We held them to 92, and most of that was our second-half defense. They were at home, and they got 42 points on 37 percent shooting in the second half.Serge Ibaka scored 21 points and blocked four shots, while Nikola Vucevic added 16 points and eight rebounds.The Magic have held 10 of their last 11 opponents under 100 points.We just changed our mindset, Ibaka said. We knew we could play defense, and now were playing for each other on offense. We knew we could play this well. We just had to keep working.Pistons guard Reggie Jackson made his season debut after missing Detroits first 21 games with knee tendinitis. He had 18 points in 23 minutes. Marcus Morris led Detroit with 21 points.I felt good out there, but I wish we could have gotten a win out of it, Jackson said. I think there might have been a little rust, but I was able to do everything I need to do. I wouldnt be out there if I was going to be physically limited.Orlando won for the third time in four games while Detroit had its three-game winning streak snapped.We were terrible on defense, Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. Our offensive numbers were good enough to win, especially against that defense, but we didnt guard anyone. We just didnt want to put in the effort.On Jacksons first possession, the Pistons went to their bread-and-butter play -- he and Andre Drummond running a high pick and roll. Jackson came off the screen and hit a 3-pointer, bringing a cheer from the small crowd. Jackson played the first 5:50 of the quarter as Detroit built a 16-10 lead.Morris had 14 points in the first 7 minutes but didnt get much support from his teammmates.dddddddddddd. The Magic scored 35 points in the second quarter to take a 58-50 halftime lead. Orlando shot 62.5 percent from the floor in the half to Detroits 51.2 percent and only turned the ball over four times.Were starting to see the value of the pass on the offensive end, Vogel said. If we pass with good timing, good intent and good delivery, it will help us shoot the ball, and weve got good shooters.The Magic led by 11 late in the third, but the Pistons narrowed the gap to 78-73 at quarters end. Orlando moved the margin back to double figures with nine minutes left, with the Pistons struggling to get open looks against one of the NBAs best defenses.Ibaka ended a Pistons run with a 3-pointer to make it 90-80 with 5:32 to play, then blocked Drummonds dunk attempt at the other end.Kentavious Caldwell-Pope hit a 3-pointer with 40 seconds left to pull the Pistons within 95-90, but Jeff Green clinched the game with a turnaround jumper.TIP INSMagic: Former Piston Jodie Meeks had seven points in 15 minutes in his second game of the season. Meeks only played three games last season for Detroit due to chronic foot problems.Pistons: Jackson spent most of the game matched up against D.J. Augustin, the main player given up by the Pistons in the three-team trade that brought him to Detroit in 2015.TROUBLE FROM THE LINEThe Pistons were 0 for 5 from the free-throw line in the first half, with Drummond missing four in a row. He came into the game shooting 47.4 percent from the line after setting a league record at 35.5 percent in 2015-16.RARE STREAKThe Magic have won two straight road games for the first time this season. They beat the Philadelphia 76ers 105-88 on Friday.ONLY A SINGLE-DOUBLEVucevic fell two rebounds short of his seventh straight double-double. He had a nine-game double-double streak in 2012-13.UP NEXTMagic: Visit the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night.Pistons: Host the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night. ' ' '