What are the best sports novels of the past 20 years?
Beyond WP Kinsella and not counting non-fiction books like The Boys of Summer, what are the best fictional sports novels of the past twenty or so years?
- David J
Tags: Best Sports, Kinsella, Non Fiction Books, Novels, Summer Sports
April 8th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
For children, there is an author named Matt Christopher. He writes sports-based stories especially to catch the interest of younger boys who generally don’t enjoy reading. Although they aren’t going to win any awards, they are really good books for kids.
April 9th, 2009 at 2:12 am
Th Power of One by Bruce Courtenay
It’s about boxing
Friday Night Lights is also really good even though it’s nonfiction.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I just don’t know about FICTION in sports books, so I explored Amazon. First I just put in Sports fiction, and that gave me a long look at books for kids, like:
A series called “Sports Stories Series,” with individual books such as “Queen of the Court” (basketball) by Michele Martin Bossley
who also wrote “Trapped” (soccer) which won a ‘Canadian Children’s Book Center’ seal–
and “Rebound” by Adrienne Mercer… all for young people, even kids.
There is also a “Chip Hilton Sports Series” –books for ages 9-12 or so, by Clair Bee, Randall K. Farley and Cynthia Bee Farley. These also cover a variety of sports.
Also a kids’ series called “Matt Christopher Sports Fiction” –football, baseball, soccer, basketball. (guess the author…)
**One item there: “The Field: Truth and Fiction in Sports History” by Douglas Booth.
More, for kids… the “The Spirit of the Game Series” and “Orca Sports.” (the second by Sigmund Brouwer.)
Another for kids ages 9-12 is “The Edge” by Ben Bo, about an extreme sports kid who gets into all kinds of jams, apparently through a lot of the book… (a snowboarder).
**Then I tried putting in Adult Sports fiction:
There is a “Going for Gold” series for adults, with many of the books by Sean Michael. Olympics, as you may easily guess.
One more called “The Legend of Mickey Tussler” by Frank Nappi… an adult book also called a “crossover to young adult” –as it has a message behind its baseball story.
And if you want to, just follow the Amazon link above and put in the kind of information that will lead you to just the kind of books you want. I didn’t even look at all there may be for adults; my entry here is too long…
Hope you get more lists and an idea of what you want from them all. My personal favorite writer of true sports books is Robert Angell, who writes about baseball.
Luck–