My 11 year old son is a sports nut. My late dad was also a sports nut. My son's been devouring his grandfather's old books, but it's sort of funny–all my son's knowledge is concentrated on about 1950-1990 since that's the era of my dad's books. So he knows a lot about Johnny U but almost nothing about Ray Lewis (I'm showing my own age there).
I'd love to get my kid some updated reading, things my dad would have liked. My dad didn't discriminate–loved all sports more or less equally, loved trivia and loved a good story best of all. My son is similar.
Thanks for any suggestions!
by snungler
7 Comments
Open, by Andre Agassi
I don’t suppose he might be interested in paintball as a sport? *Private Owens: A George Owens Novel* is some good paintball fiction. I dunno about nonfiction.
I love The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro by Joe McGinnis beautifully written, heartwarming and poignant.
It’s not that recent, but Friday Night Lights by HB Bissinger is one of my favorite books of all time.
faithful by stewart o’nan and stephen king is one of my favorite sports books – i’m extremely biased because i grew up a red sox fan (i had a red sox shirt at 2 months old, i was NOT escaping the team) but 2004 was truly a magical year of baseball in boston. if your son likes sports history and baseball, and he loves a well-told story, faithful fits the bill. it’s written as a journal between the two authors covering the season and their feelings on a day-to-day basis, and how they were so sure the sox would win it all for the first time in 84 years while simultaneously being sure their season would end in september and the playoffs were a pipe dream.
I’m going to recommend some football (soccer) books because that’s the sport I follow the closest
– Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby is a great memoir of being a fan of Arsenal.
– A Season with Verona is a similar book but set in the Italian league.
– Inverting the Pyramid is the quintessential book on the evolution of football tactics
– Soccernomics is a fun look at interesting stats and observations about the sport
The Breaks of the Game by David Halberstam is my favorite NBA book. A portrait of a team in the aftermath of victory.