LIst of Books for soccer reading.

[SparkeyG]

Last year, before a crash, I had posted a request for books to read on soccer. I went through the reply's and copied titles and authors. I found the list in a back corner of an email-box I rarely look at and thought some others may want the list as well:



Fever Pitch
Offside
The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro
Manchester United Ruined My Life - Colin Schindler
Among The Thugs - Bill Buford
Steaming In - Colin Ward
Faith of our Fathers - Alan Edge
My Favourite Year - Nick Hornby (ed)
Soccer in Sun and Shadow - Galeano (spelling?)
The Far Corner - by Harry Pearson
The Game of Their Lives - Geoffrey Douglas
The Beautiful Game: Sixteen Girls and the Soccer Season That Changed Everything -Jonathan Littman
FOR THE GOOD OF THE GAME
Football Against The Enemy by Simon Kuper.
Twenty-two Foreigners in Funny Shorts by Pete Davies.
The Glory Game, Hunter Davies
Faith of our Fathers - Footbal As A Religion Alan Edge
Morbo - The Story of Spanish Football Phil Ball
Brilliant Orange - The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football David Winter
The Geezers' Guide to Football - A Lifetime of Lads, Lager and Labels Dougie Brimson
Futebol - The Brazilian Way of Life Alex Bellos
Cherries in the Red by Trevor Watkins.
Hand of God - A biography of Diego Maradona by Jimmy Burns
"All Played Out - The Full Story of Italia '90" by Pete Davies
Dynamo: Defending the Honour of Kiev - Andy Dougan:
Grass of Another Country
London Fields," by Charlie Connelly
The Beautiful Team: In Search Of Pele & The 1970 Brazilians," by Garry Jenkins
Brilliant Orange--one of the best soccer books ever written.
Passovatchka--story of moscow dynamo trip to england after ww II
The Kop, the End of an Era, by Stephen F. Kelly
Barca: A People's Passion.
The Van, by Roddy Doyle
UNLUCKY by Dave Ungrady
The Girls of Summer - Longman
"The Good, The Bad, and The Bubbly". - George Best'
My Favourite Year - the Hornby anthology
White City Blue by Tim Lott
Full Time: the Secret Life of Tony Cascarino by Cascarino and Paul Kimmage
Dream On
Fathers and Sons by Colin Schindler
"The Great Divide" by Alex Fynn and Olivia Blair
"The Football Business" - David Conn
The Glory Game by Hunter Davies
Ultra Nippon: How Japan Reinvented Football
The Faber Book of Soccer
The Soccer Syndrome - Moynihan
The World Game
captain for life and other assignments - harke
Left Foot Forward - Gary Nelson
"Left Foot in the Grave - Gary Nelson
FIFA and the Contest for World Football - John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson
Great Balls of Fire, How Big Money is Hijacking World Football - John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson
Stamping Grounds
Only a Game? - Eamon Dunphy
The Mavericks - Rob Steen
The Games That Rate
Soccer Fever - Richard Lyttle
Sheilas, Wogs, and Poofters - Johnny Warren
The story of the World Cup by Brain Glanville.
Brillant Orange by David Winner
The Cassell Soccer Companion by David Pickering
The Making of an American Soccer Player" by Shep Messing
The Way it Was - Stanley Matthews

[Dr. Wankler]

Don't Give Up The Day Job, by Des McKeown.

It's the diary of a season in the life of a second-division Scottish player, a part time professional who's a full-time sales director for Glasgow's largest stationary company.

I think Shep Messing's book is called The Education of an American Soccer Player.

Also, FWIW, Eduardo Galeano has just published a new English-language edition of Soccer in Shadow and Sun, released this month.

[QPR Kevin H]

Thanks for posting that list. Im not sure if Im happy or scared by how many of them I have read.

[Norsk Troll]

Yes, good list, and thank you.

(but I can't help pointing out that you do have a few repeats in there - Brilliant Orange 3 times, Faith of our Fathers 2 times)

[SparkeyG]

Originally posted by Norsk Troll
Yes, good list, and thank you.

(but I can't help pointing out that you do have a few repeats in there - Brilliant Orange 3 times, Faith of our Fathers 2 times)
Your welcome, but I can't help but think which is worse, the repeats in the list of dozens, or the fact that you found them. :)

[Norsk Troll]

Call me a nut, but I had to go through the list with a fine comb to make sure that they were all either already on my bookshelf, or else on my wishlist.

So now we need a DVD list.

[The Cadaver]

"Among the Thugs" should be required reading. I know it no longer accurately reflects the English game, but it is a disturbing picture of what was and what could be again.

[QPR Kevin H]

Originally posted by The Cadaver
"Among the Thugs" should be required reading. I know it no longer accurately reflects the English game
???

95 arrested in Sunderland last night, Turkish fan buses attacked - tires slashed.

[The Cadaver]

Originally posted by QPR Kevin H
???

95 arrested in Sunderland last night, Turkish fan buses attacked - tires slashed.

That's sad.

I guess I was reflecting on the difference between league matches in the 1980's, when I felt lucky to leave a game unmolested, with league matches the last few years, where I always felt reasonably safe and comfortable.

[PZ]

I didn't see 'Dynamo' on your list (or maybe I just missed it)

Great book...especally for those of you who are also WWII buffs. Story is about a game between a bunch of surviving players and an SS team during the German occupation in Kiev.

Excellent read. Can't remember the author but I know you can find it on Amazon. I actually came across it in my local Barnes and Nobel. Pick up a copy, you won't be disappointed.

[um_chili]

Just finished Miracle of Castel di Sangro--friggin' brilliant book. Great perspective on il calcio, and Italian life, from a rare perspective.

Also wonder if someone could help me out on something--way back in 98, around WC time, i bought and read a book in Australia that was a first-person account of a hooligan. Seemed to be fictional but based on real life. Anyone know which one this might be? I totally forget the title.

[skipshady]

Originally posted by SparkeyG
Fever Pitch
Football Against The Enemy by Simon Kuper.
Ultra Nippon: How Japan Reinvented Football I've only read these three. I read parts of Futebol - The Brazilian Way while I was killing time at the bookstore the other day. So far so good.

[soccerfan220]

My favorite soccer books I've read are the Miracle of Castel di Sangro and Fever Pitch.

[pething101]

A Season in Verona.

Which I have not read but will pick it up when I see it in soft back.

[Bonnie Lass]

I feel kinda dirty for posting this here, but ...

Mia Hamm -- Go For the Goal

Anson Dorrance -- The Vision of a Champion: Advice and Inspiration from the World's Most Successful Women's Soccer Coach

Michelle Akers -- The Game and the Glory

==

And of course, there's tons of others, but these are more personal accounts than just training, kiddie books or babbling about the '99 WWC.

[um_chili]

One to add:

Fear and Loathing in World Football (Armstrong & Giulianotti, eds.). Just started this one; it's a collection of essays about sectarian rivalries, along the lines of Kuper. BUT (and I didn't realize this before I bought it) it's really academic, meaning that some of the essays are absurdly jargon-choked, with every "other" "word" in "quotation marks." [eye-rolling emoticon] But some of the essays are informative and pretty good, such as the one about Rangers/Celtic. I wouldn't race out and buy it though. There are certainly better soccer books out there.

[Bill-DC]

Is Captain for Life worth plunking down 7.95 for? I see it on the bargain shelf occasionally. Is it worth the time?

[QPR Kevin H]

Originally posted by um_chili
such as the one about Rangers/Celtic.
Reminds me of another book not on the list...

The Old Firm in the New Age - Bill Murray

Good if you're really interested in the rivalry.

[andygus]

Hopefully you will add another in a few months. 23 Days in Korea, An American at the World Cup. I have finished writing it and am in the process of editing it. It should go to the publisher in the next week or too. Look for it in June.

Cheers,

-- ---Andy Gustafson

[pething101]

Now that is a book I would like to read.