Olympics book recommendations (even if you don’t like sports)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ย. 2024
- The Olympics is here again! Two weeks of high drama across hundreds of sports that don't usually grace our screens. I love it, but I know it's not for everyone. That said, it's fun to read something thematically aligned to what's going on in the world, so here are some book recommendations that feature sports, but which you can enjoy whether you're a sports fan or not.
My full review of Headshot is in this video:
• Books I read in June •...
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Books mentioned:
📖 The Art of Fielding, by Chad Harbach
📖 Godwin, by Joseph O'Neill
📖 Carrie Soto is Back, by Taylor Jenkins Reid
📖 Grimmish, by Michael Winkler
📖 Chlorine, by Jade Song
📖 Stephen Florida, by Gabe Habash
📖 Kick the Latch, by Kathryn Scanlan
📖 Headshot, by Rita Bullwinkel
📖 Western Lane, by Chetna Maroo
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Thank you so much for watching.
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#books #booktube #olympics
If you’re an Olympics fan: what’s your favourite sport/event to watch?
I do rather enjoy the diving. And I love seeing the heptathalon unfold.
EDIT: How could I forget the velodrome events? 100% my favourites!!!
I’m currently finishing up a book about velodrome cycling as part of my Olympics reads. It’s Gold by Chris Cleave. It’s so…human. Compassionate, frustrating, heart rending, and joyful. Next on my Olympics reads is Dixon, Descending by Karen Outen - man who misses Olympics by hundredths of seconds decides, along with brother, to be first Black American men to summit Everest.
I love gymnastics!
Swimming for sure. But I love watching random sports and learning more about them. The diving is always a great watch!
'i admire the ambition' sounds like classic teacher feedback 😂
Will definitely be giving Godwin a go
I was trying to be nice 😂 Sadly it did seem a bit of a damp mess, and I ended up watching a few clips from the 2012 ceremony as a palette cleanser!
I have never heard of Kick the Latch, but I love vignettes so this may be my main takeaway! I do also have Headshot on hold at my library and looking forward to it
I just took my own advice and ready Kick the Latch... and it's *so* good. Incredible voice!
Get well soon Ben!! ❤Some interesting books. Headshot in particular does sound really good.
Thanks Charlie - hoping it’s a short-lived cold 🙏
Headshot is great! I expect more people will be reading it soon…
Panenka by Ronan Hession is a great read. Sport isn't front and centre in terms of action but the protoganist's career as a football player and the fallout from that is a key part of the plot. Highly recommend
Ooh that’s a good shout - I enjoyed that one too! It’s a very quiet and melancholy story, and I still need to get around to Leonard & Paul.
I loved Western Lane. Bravo for calling it out!
I think it might be a case of it being a victim of its own prize success. People are expecting so much from it and end up disappointed. But I think it’s a gorgeous little gem!
Anything baseball. Loved the Art of Fielding. Keep meaning to read Carrie Soto. Thanks for some new ideas
There is something so exciting about the drama of baseball, isn’t there! Thank you for watching 🙏
I loved The Art of Fielding -- read it twice. There's a new book on basketball that's gotten s lot of hype -- There's Always This Year -- haven't read it yet. And, I really liked the Opening Ceremonies yesterday spread across Paris!
I probably need to give The Art of Fielding another read - I’ve changed so much as a reader and I’d be interested to know if I love it all over again.
Glad you enjoyed the ceremony. I just found it a bit of a damp (sorry) squib!
If you like Stephen Florida based on those first few pages, I can tell you it only gets more so and more so and more so. Stephen goes full Stephen.. I loved it.
Thank you for the reassurance! It seems like it could be a great match for me 🙌
Love track, love the Equestrian events, love anything in the pool and love the Sailing. In Australia, we can't watch it on a non-commercial channel, it's the only time I tend to watch commercial TV, but not sure how much of it I will watch. That's an interesting selection of books. Thanks for sharing.
The track is lots of fun - absolutely love the atmosphere in the stadium!
Just thought another one might be The Union of Synchronized Swimmers by Cristina Sandu. It’s on my TBR and has Olympic tie in
Ooh good call. I didn't manage to find any that actually featured the Olympics!
I loved The Art of Fielding and have recommended it to loads of people. However, most of them lose interest when I mention it's about Baseball 😂
TJR is so readable. You didn't mention Daisy Jones, one of her best - after 7 Husbands? I liked the book very much more than the TV series.
Ahh that's a shame - I love the drama of baseball!
On TJR I was going off the Goodreads scores, which had Carrie Soto in second place... but I see Daisy Jones has the exact same rating! I haven't read that one but I did gift it to a friend and they really liked it.
Watching your videos cheers me up when my country's athletes lose😭
I've read Han Kang's The Vegetarian. The story is so gripping, and now I'm keen to read Chlorine.
Fingers crossed for some gold medals soon! 🤞🏻
My immediate reaction was to remember The Dreyfus Affair: A Love Story by Peter Lefcourt. 1992. I recommend tentatively since it's been 30+ years since publication and memories are fragile thing. But at the time it was quite the sensation: A baseball player falling in love with a teammate that is (was) funny and quite touching. And popular! I'm guessing it holds up, and your video has persuaded me to blow the dust off my old copy and give it a try. Thanks (as ever) for the jump start.
Hope it turns out to be worth the wait! Thanks for watching 🙌
Get the audio of Daisy Jones. It's exceptional!
I’ve heard good things - like it’s a very good audio documentary!
Stephen Florida sounds interesting. I know you're draw to it, at least in part, because of the cat on the cover. :)
Hope Vivek Oji is going well.
Ironically, I’m very allergic to cats 😂
Enjoying Vivek so far!
A Fan’s Notes by Frederick Exley. But it’s about American football, so it may be of limited interest. But, of course, it’s not really about sports.
I’m not a huge fan of American football, but it being the subject of a novel doesn’t put me off at all. Enjoyed those parts of Demon Copperhead, and really want to read Friday Night Lights. Thanks for the extra rec!
There is also a Refugee Olympics no one ever talks about unfortunately.
Is there a full Refugee Olympics? I saw the mentioned the Refugee Olympics Team during the opening ceremony!
@@benreadsgood Yes, sorry, forgot to type the word team. 😬 Oh, I did miss that they mentioned them.
I’ve been meaning to read The Berlin Boxing Club for over a decade now, maybe this is the time to read it. It’s based somewhat on Max Schmeling and his protections of Jewish youths during the rise of Hitler.
Interesting! For some reason that brings to mind another book I loved: Boxer Beetle by Ned Beauman. Very off the wall a Jewish boxer in 1930s Germany.
@@benreadsgood I was reminded recently that in the Book Thief my favorite character is obsessed with Jesse Owens after he shatters the myth of racial superiority Hitler and Leni Reifenstahl set out to build around the Olympics Games in Berlin. And non novel wise The Boys in the Boat about the US crew team is a fascinating read as well. There was an event movie about it that I think is now on streaming, though it sounds very Chariots of Fire rehash.