Hi, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Linda Holmes. Matthew Salis says something really

relatable, like achingly, deeply relatable to NPR's Lela Faddle about his book, The Sense of Wonder.

He's talking about how the book came to be about an Asian American NBA player named Juan Lee,

who becomes a phenomenon with the New York

Knicks. Sure, Salis says the book was influenced by the true story of Jeremy Lynn, who also

played for the Knicks. But see, in the book, Juan's girlfriend, Carrie, is a TV producer who's

obsessed with Korean television series, K-dramas.

And by the way, if you're not obsessed with K-dramas yet, you probably have a friend who is.

And one of the reasons K-dramas are in the book is one of the same reasons the NBA is in the book.

It meant that two of Salas' own passions could become his research.

Who can't relate to that?

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Korean American writer Matthew Salasis has turned his love of basketball and Korean dramas into a novel.

It's called The Sense of Wonder, with his protagonist, One Lee being dubbed The Wonder when he goes on a winning streak for the New York

Knicks. One Lee is the only Asian American in the NBA. Salis has told me he was partly inspired

by the Taiwanese American Jeremy Lynn, who captivated audiences back in 2012 when he played for the Knicks.

I, as a kid, wanted to be an NBA basketball player, and so it was a really huge moment for me.

And it seemed for maybe a week and a half that the world was kind of on Linside.

But the whole time, everybody was kind of holding their breaths and some wondering how

...