Author: Sherry Helms

A sports carnival has started worldwide with the opening of Olympic Games 2012 in London, bringing the umpteenth of pleasure for sports enthusiasts. With an intent to add more colors in this celebration, we have brought forth for our sporty readers a list of Books featuring about different sports and their legends. The following titles are the ones that have received high acclamation from their readers, and that we suppose would be the best read for those sports as well as book lovers who haven’t read them yet.

Here’s the list:   

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand - This is the heartwarming story of a racehorse, Seabiscuit, who was one of the most electrifying and popular attractions in sports history and the single biggest newsmaker in the world in 1938, receiving more coverage than FDR, Hitler, or Mussolini. With his smallish stature, knobby knees, and slightly crooked forelegs, he looked more like a cow pony than a thoroughbred. But, the painstaking effort of his owner, trainer and jockey made him to stand against his bad fortunes and become a legend in American Sports history.

Author Laura Hillenbrand brilliantly re-creates a universal underdog story that would be a feast for the souls of the horse racing fans.

Moneyball: The art of winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis – If you are a baseball aficionado then Moneyball is a fuel to your interest. This book is a quest for something as elusive as the Holy Grail, something that money apparently can’t buy: the secret of success in baseball. It sheds light on how to win in the Major Leagues with a budget that’s smaller than that of nearly every other team.

In a narrative full of fabulous characters and brilliant excursions into the unexpected, Lewis shows us how and why the new baseball knowledge works. He also sets up a sly and hilarious morality tale: Big Money, like Goliath, is always supposed to win . . . how can we not cheer for David?

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis – The bestselling author of “Moneyball” and “Liar’s Poker” delivers a multidimensional story that traces the upbringing of a young boy through to young adulthood, all through the lens of sports and his community of support. In this book, Lewis takes a statistical X-ray of the hidden substructure of football, outlining the invisible doings of unsung players that determine the outcome more than the showy exploits of point scorers. This bestselling epic has also made a successful movie of the same name in 2009.

Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H.G. Bissinger - With frankness and compassion, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist H.G. Bissinger’s national bestseller chronicles the dramatic 1988 season of the Permian Panthers of Odessa – the winningest high school football team in Texas history. This bestselling book shows how the town’s single-minded devotion to the team shapes the community and inspires (or shatters) the teenagers who wear the uniforms. Written with great style and passion, this volume offers an American snapshot in deep focus; the picture is not always pretty, but the image is hard to forget.

Ball Four by Jim Bouton – This is one of the most controversial books of the time, which every sports fan should read. When first published in 1970, Ball Four stunned the sports world. The commissioner, executives, and players were shocked. Sportswriters called author Jim Bouton a traitor and “social leper”. Baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn tried to force him to declare the book untrue. Fans, however, loved the book. And serious critics called it an important social document. Today, Jim Bouton is still not invited to Oldtimer’s Days at Yankee Stadium, but his landmark book is still being read by people who don’t ordinarily follow baseball.

The Race: A Novel of Grit, Tactics, and the Tour de France by Dave Shields – The white-knuckle pace of a bicycle race drives this novel about a young American’s opportunity to compete in the Tour de France. Complex relationships with teammates, personal and professional obstacles, and a terrible disaster cause the young cyclist to redefine his limits. An insider’s perspective on the world of professional bicycle racing reveals that the required tactics and skills create a culture in which pain is the ultimate currency and endurance is the most powerful force. The intense pressure the competitors experience offers an instructive look at personal formation beyond the sports world.

Tags: Books for Sports fans, books on sports, Sports Books

This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2012 at 12:53 pm and is filed under Books. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.