I have a friend who isn't much of a reader, but he loves his sport(s). He was asking me for book recommendations, and I thought I'd ask for the wisdom on here, too. These are my personal picks, non-fiction and fiction, and reflect my personal biases (I'm a boxing and cricket fan mainly, I'd be interested to hear about any good books about North American sports, baseball etc).
Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing, Donald McRae. IMO, the best book about sport ever written. Mr McRae is a sports journalist, and this is a book about his fascinating encounters with various boxers in the 90s (Tyson, James Toney etc), and his love/hate relationship with the sport.
Full Time, Tony Cascarino. An extraordinary autobiography for a footballer. Full of remorse, self-doubt and honesty, and almost totally devoid of self-congratulation.
A Lot of Hard Yakka: A county cricketer's life, Simon Hughes. Had me laughing out loud more than once.
The Killings of Stanley Ketchel, James Carlos Blake. A novelisation of the life of a great middleweight in the early 1900s, which is more an outlaw novel than a boxing bio.
The Damned United, David Pearce. An interesting and amusing fictionalised account of Brian Clough's brief time as manager of Leeds United.
Two Ton: One fight, one night. Joseph Monniger. The true story of an overweight, balding bartender who fought the greatest heavyweight of all time at his peak (Joe Louis, a personal hero of mine), and even managed to knock him down.
Joe Louis: Hard times man. Randy Roberts. A bio of Joe Louis. I could go on at great length about the greatness of Joe Louis both as a man and a fighter, but I won't.
Geoff Boycott: A cricketing hero, Leo McKinstry. A man who was seemingly almost as unpopular off the cricket pitch as he was masterful on it. The gruffest of the gruff no-nonsense yorkshiremen.
Ghosts of Manila, Mark Kram. The story of the feud between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, by a man who witnessed it first hand. Fascinating, in that it doesn't automatically present Ali as a saint who is above criticism (Kram even compares Ali to Chancey Gardiner in 'Being There' - a simpleton whose gnomic statements are taken for wisdom). And the author's name is a palindrome, which is pretty cool.
The Last Great Fight, Joe Layden. The greatest upset in sporting history - the indestructible Mike Tyson is beaten up by 42-1 underdog journeyman Buster Douglas. It was considered such a foregone conclusion before the fight, that only one casino in Las Vegas was even allowing bets on it, and Tyson's cornermen hadn't even bothered to bring basic equipment to the ring, so convinced were they that Tyson would blast Douglas away immediately.
The Harder they Fall. Budd Schulberg. A novel about a boxing swindle - a huge Argentinean, who can't fight, is greased to the top. A gloriously grubby story about wise-guys and hard heads. Schulberg is probably most famous for writing the Marlon Brando movie 'On the Waterfront', but he was also a boxing aficionado.
Ringside, a treasury of boxing reportage. Budd Schulberg. Schulberg again, in non-fiction mode.
Taking Le Tiss, Matt Le Tissier. Because my dad is such a huge Saints fan that I feel like I know Matt Le Tissier personally.
The Fight, Norman Mailer. Mailer is Mailer. A book about the rumble in the jungle, Muhammad Ali v George Foreman, Zaire 1974.
Coming back to me, Marcus Trescothick. Just interesting to read about an international sportsman suffering from depression.
Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the last great era in boxing, George Kimball.
McIllvanney on Boxing, Hugh McIllvanney. A collection of his boxing reports from over the years.
If anyone has any recommendations, or just want to post your personal favourites, I'd be grateful. Thanks.
Dark Trade: Lost in Boxing, Donald McRae. IMO, the best book about sport ever written. Mr McRae is a sports journalist, and this is a book about his fascinating encounters with various boxers in the 90s (Tyson, James Toney etc), and his love/hate relationship with the sport.
Full Time, Tony Cascarino. An extraordinary autobiography for a footballer. Full of remorse, self-doubt and honesty, and almost totally devoid of self-congratulation.
A Lot of Hard Yakka: A county cricketer's life, Simon Hughes. Had me laughing out loud more than once.
The Killings of Stanley Ketchel, James Carlos Blake. A novelisation of the life of a great middleweight in the early 1900s, which is more an outlaw novel than a boxing bio.
The Damned United, David Pearce. An interesting and amusing fictionalised account of Brian Clough's brief time as manager of Leeds United.
Two Ton: One fight, one night. Joseph Monniger. The true story of an overweight, balding bartender who fought the greatest heavyweight of all time at his peak (Joe Louis, a personal hero of mine), and even managed to knock him down.
Joe Louis: Hard times man. Randy Roberts. A bio of Joe Louis. I could go on at great length about the greatness of Joe Louis both as a man and a fighter, but I won't.
Geoff Boycott: A cricketing hero, Leo McKinstry. A man who was seemingly almost as unpopular off the cricket pitch as he was masterful on it. The gruffest of the gruff no-nonsense yorkshiremen.
Ghosts of Manila, Mark Kram. The story of the feud between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, by a man who witnessed it first hand. Fascinating, in that it doesn't automatically present Ali as a saint who is above criticism (Kram even compares Ali to Chancey Gardiner in 'Being There' - a simpleton whose gnomic statements are taken for wisdom). And the author's name is a palindrome, which is pretty cool.
The Last Great Fight, Joe Layden. The greatest upset in sporting history - the indestructible Mike Tyson is beaten up by 42-1 underdog journeyman Buster Douglas. It was considered such a foregone conclusion before the fight, that only one casino in Las Vegas was even allowing bets on it, and Tyson's cornermen hadn't even bothered to bring basic equipment to the ring, so convinced were they that Tyson would blast Douglas away immediately.
The Harder they Fall. Budd Schulberg. A novel about a boxing swindle - a huge Argentinean, who can't fight, is greased to the top. A gloriously grubby story about wise-guys and hard heads. Schulberg is probably most famous for writing the Marlon Brando movie 'On the Waterfront', but he was also a boxing aficionado.
Ringside, a treasury of boxing reportage. Budd Schulberg. Schulberg again, in non-fiction mode.
Taking Le Tiss, Matt Le Tissier. Because my dad is such a huge Saints fan that I feel like I know Matt Le Tissier personally.
The Fight, Norman Mailer. Mailer is Mailer. A book about the rumble in the jungle, Muhammad Ali v George Foreman, Zaire 1974.
Coming back to me, Marcus Trescothick. Just interesting to read about an international sportsman suffering from depression.
Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the last great era in boxing, George Kimball.
McIllvanney on Boxing, Hugh McIllvanney. A collection of his boxing reports from over the years.
If anyone has any recommendations, or just want to post your personal favourites, I'd be grateful. Thanks.
