Books for the beach

[WickerBill]

A two-week nuclear (nucu-lar) family vacation planned for next month has been turned on its head, and now includes:

- my parents-in-law
- my brother-in-law, wife, and kids
- my brother-in-law's wife's mother, sister, and sister's partner


In other words, friends, I'm going to be spending a lot of time under an umbrella reading a book -- preferably with headphones.

My question: I'd like to burn through some really good books on sports. I am ashamed to say I've never really delved into the genre, so I know I need to read some classics like Ball Four. Would you be so kind as to list for me your favorite books on sports? They can be on events, teams, seasons, individuals, whatever.

[Don Quixote]

Season on the Brink is very good. I also liked the Boys of Summer, which is a personal story about the Brooklyn Dodgers before they defected to the west. Another classic is Paper Lion. Reading a good mindless book on the beach is about as good as it gets. :thumbup:

[dando]

Eight Men Out by Eliot Asinof about the Blacksox scandal is a must. If you care about golf, A Good Walk Spoiled is an interesting read by John Feinstein, who has also written several other very good sports books (such as the afore mentioned Season on the Brink about Bobby Night). George Wills' Men at Work is a good baseball read. Shoeless Joe is the book that was adapted into Field of Dreams. Friday Night Lights about Texas high school foosball. The Natural is a better book than the movie, which was pretty damn good. You can also pick up pretty much anything written by David Halberstam as a good read (Summer of '49, etc.). The Match and The Greatest Game Ever Played are also good books about golf that compelling even if you don't appreciate golf (The Legend of Bagger Vance, too).

You might also be interested in this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Sports-Illustrated-Brett-Favre-Tribute/dp/1603200223/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211985520&sr=1-8

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5166HHXP7pL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

:gomer: ;)

-Kevin

[WickerBill]

You might also be interested in this one:


:gomer: ;)

-Kevin


I'm no longer speaking to you.

:P <-- what's that? No raspberry smiley?

[dando]

I'm no longer speaking to you.

:P <-- what's that? No raspberry smiley?

:p

-Kevin

[IlliniRacer]

"I Was Right On Time." by Buck O'Neill

I second dando's recommendation of Shoeless Joe and would add The Iowa Baseball Confederacy also by H.P. Kinsella

I am also a HUGE fan of Roger Angell - any of his books are a must

[dando]

I am also a HUGE fan of Roger Angell - any of his books are a must

Forgot to mention him, but I couldn't pinpoint one book of his. :)

-Kevin

[TravelGal]

:p (that's a small 'p' WB although your disdain apparently merits a capital)

[Sean Malone]

Racing is a sport right? Grab one of your favorite drivers books and read how great they were. :)

[TKGAngel]

If you haven't already read it, I highly suggest "Rapid Response" by Dr. Olvey. The only downside is that its a little heavier than the typical beach book.

Also recommended:
- Boys of Winter (about the 1980 US Olympic Hockey Team)
- God Save the Fan (written by Will Leitch of Deadspin)
- Searching for Bobby Orr (a biographical look at Orr. Only downside is that none of Orr's friends & family contributed to the book)

[Gnam]

- Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer follows the 'Bama football team and the travelling RV caravan of fans that stalks the team every weekend. Good in a "at least I'm not that crazy" kinda way.

[cameraman]

A two-week nuclear (nucu-lar) family vacation planned for next month has been turned on its head, and now includes:

- my parents-in-law
- my brother-in-law, wife, and kids
- my brother-in-law's wife's mother, sister, and sister's partner

Books? Screw the books it sounds like you need this:

http://www.nightshop.ro/images/dewars_aberfeldy_21_yo_bott.jpg

[dando]

^^^ make that two of those (two weeks, ya see), and a set of these:

http://fstg.motosport.com/motographics/images/products/Metric/07helmets/Hearos_ExtremeEarPlugs.jpg

And one of these:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PRKG6EFXL._SL500_AA240_.jpg http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/prod_lrg_images/105/39824105.jpg


"If you could clone Brett Favre and put him in all the positions on the field, and then you played him against another team of cloned Brett Favres, I mean I think the universe would explode." - Frank Caliendo John Madden

:D

-Kevin

[Don Quixote]

Here's another one.

http://nfl.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/p4531919reg.jpg

[Don Quixote]

And one more.
http://a712.g.akamai.net/7/712/225/v964/www.espnshop.com/images/products/large/97821204_l.jpg

[Gnam]

...and now includes:
- my brother-in-law's wife's sister, and sister's partner

To promote family unity... ;)

http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/8807/51a7011dz6lsl500aa240yw8.jpg http://img178.imageshack.us/img178/8629/51jdp2byzilsl500bo22042sy9.jpg

At least you'll have someone to scope talent with at the beach. :p

[extramundane]

Books? Screw the books it sounds like you need this:

http://www.nightshop.ro/images/dewars_aberfeldy_21_yo_bott.jpg

Couple bottles of that and the audiobooks of John Cleese reading Dante oughta do the trick nicely. It won't be boring anyway.

[Insomniac]

David Halberstam has written a couple good sports books. You probably won't care much for this one though (even though it's pretty interesting). :)

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51TS1FWSE2L._SL500_AA240_.jpg

[Ankf00]

A two-week nuclear (nucu-lar) family vacation planned for next month has been turned on its head, and now includes:

- my parents-in-law
- my brother-in-law, wife, and kids
- my brother-in-law's wife's mother, sister, and sister's partner



ouch.

[emjaya]

A two-week nuclear (nucu-lar) family vacation planned for next month has been turned on its head, and now includes:

- my parents-in-law
- my brother-in-law, wife, and kids
- my brother-in-law's wife's mother, sister, and sister's partner

Don't go. It will all end in tears. :(

[Dirk Diggler]

You could always get Hunter Thompson's The Great Shark Hunt. There are a few nice sections in there about attending sporting events...

Zanardi's book

"Graham," the Graham Hill autobiography (his wife does the last chapter after his accident). Quite a character, and one of the more bizarre career paths I've ever heard of.

"The New Formula One: A Turbo Age" by Lauda. His description of the unholy combination of 1,000bhp cars with full ground effects (with suddenly outdated concepts of suspension) is pretty eye opening! Little things, like once you turned into a corner the ground effects would more or less pin your front tires in postion and you couldn't turn the steering wheel...:eek:

[stroker]

If you haven't yet read "Stand On It" your racing education is not yet complete, young padawan...

[Napoleon]

David Halberstam has written a couple good sports books. [/IMG]

Halberstam (RIP) is my favorite author. You almost can't go wrong with him, His book on the Portland Trailblazers is suppose to be great (I think it is called something like "Breaks of the Game") but the only sports book of his I read was October 64 on the season leading to the Yankees/Cardinals World Series of that year. I liked it.

[Spicoli]

Its the beach, man. And the beach should be fun. Gonzo fun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson

start with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, then Curse of Lono, and go from there.


Your choice to ingest mind altering drugs whilst on said vacation is of course, entirely yours.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIyWkinCsMs

:llama:

[TravelGal]

Its the beach, man. And the beach should be fun. Gonzo fun.



Along that line, there is always "The Cat Who" series.

:rofl: :rofl:

[Dvdb]

I'd pick up "Best Sportwriting of....." Collection of mag/newspaper stories for a given year, edited by name sportswriters. Simple read, and makes the family interruptions a bit more tolerable

[oddlycalm]

Its the beach, man. And the beach should be fun. Gonzo fun. Sure, in-law time is always the perfect occasion for gonzo fun. :laugh:

oc

[WickerBill]

My vacation is winding down... so far I've read books on the Reagan, Johnson, and Eisenhower presidencies, The Majors by Feinstein, Boys of Summer by Kahn, Let Me Tell You a Story by Auerbach and Feinstein, and Ball Four.


I've been done for three days. Remind me next year to get more books.


The Majors is every bit as good as A Good Walk Spoiled (which I'd read before), but the cream of the crop was Let Me Tell You a Story. I'm no Celtics fan but it is really a wonderful read, and it made me hate the NBA less.

Go Pacers...

[dando]

My vacation is winding down... so far I've read books on the Reagan, Johnson, and Eisenhower presidencies, The Majors by Feinstein, Boys of Summer by Kahn, Let Me Tell You a Story by Auerbach and Feinstein, and Ball Four.


I've been done for three days. Remind me next year to get more books.


The Majors is every bit as good as A Good Walk Spoiled (which I'd read before), but the cream of the crop was Let Me Tell You a Story. I'm no Celtics fan but it is really a wonderful read, and it made me hate the NBA less.

Go Pacers...

See? I told ya to get the Favre book. :gomer: Damn, that's a ton of reading. I just can't do that these days with the tikes running about and causing mayhem while the mommies yak. :irked: The countdown to OCNJ continues..... :saywhat:

-Kevin

[racermike]

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21EVY7EJMBL._SL500_AA180_.jpg
Rapid Response - Steve Olvey

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/517YC5TQB6L._SL500_AA240_.jpg
Pineapple-head!

http://www.foa.se/upload/framsyn/05/nr2-05-generation-kill.jpg
Generation Kill - Evan Wright (GREAT reading)

What I am reading at this very moment ....

http://www.zooscape.com/dataimg/zoo1013/9/250/10139787.jpg
Emerson : The mind on Fire - Rob Richardson

Fantastic reading if your into Emerson at all

[nrc]

http://www.foa.se/upload/framsyn/05/nr2-05-generation-kill.jpg
Generation Kill - Evan Wright (GREAT reading)

HBO mini-series of this starts on Sunday.

I read Michael Shaara's The Killer Angels (http://books.google.com/books?id=5HskSLGlL_cC), which I'd been meaning to read for a while. Excellent historical novel about Gettysburg.

Also Philip K. Dick's A Maze of Death (http://books.google.com/books?id=0SgAAAAACAAJ) (not one of his best) and Andrew Exum's This Man's Army (http://books.google.com/books?id=klecEv-52csC).

This Man's Army was an interesting view of "the war on terror" from one officer's perspective but overall not as readable and insightful as Mike Yon's similar bio Danger Close (http://books.google.com/books?id=jNoMAAAACAAJ). Yon and Exum have in common the fact that they've both become respected voices on the situation in the Middle East largely through blogging about their own experiences there. Yon has spent more time embedded with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan than almost anyone and Exum left the service with a non-combat injury to pursue Middle East Studies in Beirut.