We’re counting down my ten most dog-eared, beaten-up, food-stained sports books — not necessarily the best or most important, just the ones I’ve gone back to again and again. Each day until September 10 (when I will be announcing my new book — four day away), I’ll share one of these beloved books (and, because why not, I’m also pairing each with a fountain pen from my collection).
Reminder: During the countdown, we’re offering 10% off at the JoeBlogs Store. PosCast merch! Now shipping internationally! Simply enter PENNANT10 as your discount code at checkout.
No. 5: Seabiscuit
Author: Laura Hillenbrand
Signs of wear: Cover torn to shreds and removed.
Just beat out: Boys in the Boat, Daniel James Brown; Shut Out, Howard Bryant; Bernie, Bernie Parent.
I’m going to make special mention of Bernie — the autobiography of legendary hockey goalie Bernie Parent — for two reasons, neither of them being that it’s a great book (It isn’t, though it’s entertaining enough):
It was my absolute favorite sports biography as a child, even though I essentially knew nothing about hockey. I found it in my local library one day and must have checked it out at least a dozen times.
It plays a pretty big role in my upcoming book! That’s a hint! Four more days!
Boys in the Boat is just an amazing story. That’s like the perfect book to take on the plane for a long flight. Howard’s Shut Out: A Story of Race and Baseball in Boston is outstanding because it feels so personal (Howard’s a Boston guy) and universal at the same time.
Here, to me, is the magic of Seabiscuit — it engulfs me every single time I read it. There’s a place I like to go — a place I imagine many, many readers like to go — where a book is so consuming that everything around you disappears. You lose track of time and space and your surroundings. You don’t even feel like you’re turning the pages. You’re just inside the book.
That’s such a rare thing … it’s not something I necessarily felt reading any of the other books on this list. Well, maybe No. 1. But I felt it the first time I read Seabiscuit, and I’ve felt it on subsequent readings too.
You probably know Laura Hillenbrand’s story. She suffers from chronic fatigue syndrome, and the effort it took for her to write Seabiscuit — and her terrific second book, Unbroken — was Herculean. You would rarely read any review of Seabiscuit that did not include her story as well, and that’s understandable. But that story of a little horse and the characters around him and America just lifting from the Depression and about to plunge into World War is so great on its own. This is one of the greatest sports books — and one of the greatest non-fiction books — ever written.
The Fountain Pen: Kilk Camera Laterna. This pen is just pure fun — it’s a movie theme pen with all sorts of cool features, including a little film can fidget spinner at the top. It also writes surprisingly well, very smooth.
