Subtitled "Inside the Cubs' Quest for October," this is a disappointing book about a disappointing team.

George Castle has served as the Cubs beat reporter for The Times of Northwest Indiana. Entangled in Ivy is less an examination of the disappointment of the Andy MacPhail era as it a autobiography of Castle's coverage of the MacPhail era and his retrospective observations. Which is by no means a bad thing, in and of itself.

Unfortunately, there is little new in this book for longtime followers of the Cubs. Castle does provide a nice overview of the problems of the MacPhail era. He writes of MacPhail's philosophy of trying to be "competitive" rather than trying to win the World Series, the lack of position player development, the lack of hitters' patience at the plate, and a too-small front office team (the Cubs have an assistant general manager -- Randy Bush -- this year for the first time since the Cubs hired MacPhail). In the process, though, Castle puts blame on minor issues. He argues that Wrigley Field is too old to have necessary amenities for the players, and the last few pages of the book are devoted to the supposed perils of day games at Wrigley.