BOOKS THREAD

I just picked up a funny new paperback called "The Egyptologist" by Arthur Phillips for a long flight and thoroughly enjoyed it, although it may not be to everyone's taste.

It's set among the 1920s craze for discovering Egyptian tombs (e.g. Howard Carter discovering King Tut's tomb), and told through journal entries and letters from various characters. He really nails the pompous tone of one self-important, and increasingly desperate, British explorer amongst the natives.

It's a mystery that has a lot of neat turns, the kind that slowly reveal themselves as opposed to sudden declarations of twists.

 

I just finished Catfish and Mandala : A Two-Wheeled Voyage through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam.

Author was born in Vietnam and came to the U.S. with his family right at the end of the war, after his father spent a couple of years in a prison camp. The book is many things -- funny, fascinating, disturning, enlightening -- and I was sorry when it ended.

The book is about a journey taken by a Viet kieu, which is a derogatory word the Vietnamese use for an immigrant returning home, to search for his roots, and the reasons for his family's many dysfunctions. He travels through Vietnam on his bike and is exposed not only to his native country and its people, but the contempt and sometimes outright hatred they have for people like him.

Still, he finds plenty of beauty in his native land, as well as answers to some of his questions.

 

The book I recommended when there WAS a book club -- BTW, sorry it sort of flickered out, I enjoyed it while it lasted -- Committed: Confessions of a Fantasy Football Junkie by Mark St. Amant, just came out in paperback with a new epilogue...so even if you read the hardcover (like I did) there's some new, funny stuff. Just re-read it on vacation, a great way to get psyched up for another fantasy football season.

VERY much looking forward to reading Killing Yourself..., just picked it up. Coincidentally, noticed that Klosterman and St. Amant have the same editor.

 

It's been a while since I checked in on this thread and I didn't go back through all the pages, so sorry if I'm dbing some stuff here.

I spent the last couple of months ripping through all of John Sandford's "Prey" novels. They're not the greatest of American literature, but if you enjoy a good police drama, they ain't bad. The one thing I look for in books is decent dialogue between the characters. Sandford does this as good as anybody, especially in his more recent books. The three or four "Kidd" novels he has out aren't bad, either.

Two other guys who I love are John Connolly and Brad Meltzer. Meltzer's books, in my opinion, are woefully underappreciated. That guy is as good at telling a story as Grisham or any of the other big, mainstream authors. Connolly is more about grabbing you through fear or shock. It's not Stephen King-type stuff, but he has a way of working in gritty, real, nasty situations. Example: The first page of his first book describes the murder of the wife and young daughter of the main character. I don't think I've hated any fictional villains more than the ones in Connolly's books.

 

Since Mark Felt outed himself as Deep Throat, I've been on a Watergate kick.

I've read All The President's Men and The Final Days. Now I'm starting The Secret Man.

 

Mark Felt's passing? When did that happen?

???

 

It didn't. I mistyped. My apologies.

 

I see Nick Hornby has been mentioned in this thread, but no mention of his greatest achievement "Fever Pitch." The best book ever written about being a fan. Period. Probably in my estimation one of the most influentual sports books of all time.

Simon Kuper's "Footbal Against the Enemy" is a personal favorite. A 22-year-old journalist (Kuper) travels around the world to get a taste of the global culture of soccer in the early 90s. Much more than a sports book, Kuper spends a great deal of time in former communist areas dealing with people who are soccer team administrators and nuclear arms dealers on the side. Also talks with former East Berlin residents who had could not go to the games of their favorite team because it was on the other side of the wall. The multiple chapters on the superstitious nature of African football is jaw-dropping.

Kuper's other book "Ajax: The Dutch, Football and the War" is perhaps better. A comprehensive history of soccer during WW2. Every bit as devastating as any holocaust book I've read, but this one hurts more because sport tends to put a more human face to the people...which in some cases include American Jewish soccer players who were executed by Nazi death squads.

 

I'll admit I never read this thread, so I apologize if I'm doing something wrong here. Anyway, is there a book on Steve Young or that focuses on him? I've always thought he was an interesting dude.

 

NoOne, if you liked that, you should check out "How Soccer Explains the World," by Franklin Foer. Pretty much the same idea, only more recent (I think he did the bulk of his research in 2003.)

 

I've heard it's really basic shit in that book. And it took a real bashing in 442 and When Saturday Comes.

I don't need another book explaining the Old Firm, Holland v. Germany, Why USA is a soccer dead zone, Belgrade derby, Boca v. River, Barca v. Real, why the eye-ties love defence....etc.

Here's a few of the many football books I've read...most rather quickly.

Among The Thugs by Bill Buford (If anyone really wants to know about hooligans from an American point of view...this is it.)
Miracle of Castel De Sangro by Bill McGuiness...Italy in all its splendor.
A Season with Verona...don't recall the authors name...but damn it's brilliant
The Glory Game by Hunter Davies...the novel about the inner workings of a professional team. Doesn't matter if it's soccer.
Ajax, Barcelona, Cruyff...Dutch genius Johan Cruyff interviews.
Brilliant Orange by David Winner...Dutch culture explained through soccer. Or why space matters in sports.

 

I was going to recommend this book when the other football soccer stuff came up. Just to make it easier to look up, it's "Miracle of Castel Di Sangro" by Joe McGinniss. Fascinating look at a low-level soccer team making magical jumps up the ladder while it is owned by a, er, olive oil exporter.