Task #1: Read a book about sports.

[Julia]

I like YA sports books when the sports are sneaky and it is actually about something else like Booked and The Crossover by Kwame Alexander. Or Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge. Or the books of Chris Crutcher that are about a bunch of different sports like Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes swimming, Whale Talk a swim team, The Crazy Horse Electric Game baseball, Athletic Shorts: Six Short Stories various sports. I also like the Dairy Queen series where the teen works on her parents dairy farm and plays on the high school football team.

I have read Summerland by Michael Chabon, but it's not one of my favorites of his: it's about baseball, including being played in fairy land, but it's S-L-O-W. If you love baseball, it may be for you.

Maybe I'll read the follow up to Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs by Ron Koertge.

[[deleted user]]

i read, Touching the Void... it was in the sports section and i was able to read it in an afternoon.. will not be mountain climbing any time soon!

[Barb]

I am planning on reading Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod I think this would be considered sports? Thoughts?

[Hayley]

I'm thinking about reading The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold by Tim Moore. Would this book count? Can someone send instructions on how to link books that results in the name showing up and not the URL? Thanks.

[Julia]

Barb, Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod is definitely a sports novel, but if you live where it gets very cold, I'd put off reading it until spring or summer were I you. I read it during a snowstorm, and I felt cold for days and days.

[Rachel]

I'm leaning towards Losing Isn't Everything: Overlooked Lives and Lessons From The World of Sports for this one.

[Mark]

Hayley wrote: "I'm thinking about reading The Cyclist Who Went Out in the Cold by Tim Moore. Would this book count? Can someone send instructions on how to link books that results in the name showing up and not t..."

Just above the box you are typing your comment into there is a 'add book / author' hyperlink. Click that and search for the book you want to add. This will generate a goodreads link for you in your post.

[Lea]

I'm planning on reading both The Grind and Watching Baseball Smarter. Forty days until pitchers and catchers report. ❤ ⚾ ❤

[Lea]

Oh and probably Jessica Luther's Unsportsmanlike Conduct.

[Nancy]

Cheryl Daly wrote: "Would Shoeless Joe by W. P. Kinsella work for this category?"

Cheryl, I think it's perfect for this category!

[Nancy]

Julia wrote: "Anyone have any good recommendations for someone who has zero interest in sports?"
Julia, I thoroughly enjoyed Dara Torres' book Age Is Just a Number: Achieve Your Dreams at Any Stage in Your Life

[Tiffany]

Yair wrote: "I'm gonna go with the Art of Fielding. Since the plot mostly revolves around the sport. And even Amazon has it listed as a book about a sport."

I'm going with this as well. I've heard it is great and I'm sooooooooooooooooooo not at all a sports person.

[Tim]

If you like baseball, "The Glory of Their Times" by Lawrence Ritter is great baseball history. If you want baseball fiction, you can't go wrong with "Shoeless Joe" by W. P. Kinsella or "If I Never Get Back" by Darryl Brock.

[Laura]

There are lots of interesting ideas in this thread. I am thinking of going with Of Hockey and Hijab: Reflections of a Canadian Muslim Woman, since this was already on my TBR list.

[Bonnie G.]

Of Hockey and Hijab has nothing to do with sports, other that a reference to carpooling her kids to hockey practice.

[Kirsten]

I'm listening to The Art of Fielding this week for this. I've had it on my TBR for quite a while. Baseball is central to the story.

[Laura]

Bonnie wrote: "Of Hockey and Hijab has nothing to do with sports, other that a reference to carpooling her kids to hockey practice."

Oh, that's a shame! Thank you for telling me, though. I will be switching my pick to one of these: Too Many Men on the Ice: Women's Hockey in North America, Higher Goals: Women's Ice Hockey and the Politics of Gender.

[Asselka]

Road to Sparta by Dean Karnazes is my choice for sport book.

[Libby]

I'm thinking about Misty Copeland's autobiography. Ballet is a sport, right?

My first impulse would be a NA sports-themed romance, but I'm trying to get out of my comfort zone here.

[Kirsten]

It's athletic, but I'm not sure it qualifies as a sport. But the lines of sport seem to get blurred more and more. (After all, the players of bridge want it to be an Olympic sport.)

[Cathy]

I'm reading "Sweat Equity: Inside the New Economy of Mind and Body"

[Jennifer]

I read Ghost by Jason Reynolds. It's a middle grade novel about a boy who learns to deal with the struggles in his life after joining a track team. It was quite wonderful, and I highly recommend it.

[Bonnie G.]

Laura wrote: "Bonnie wrote: "Of Hockey and Hijab has nothing to do with sports, other that a reference to carpooling her kids to hockey practice."

Oh, that's a shame! Thank you for telling me, though. I will be..."

Those all sound interesting! BTW, I liked Of Hockey and Hijab and it might work for the immigration narrative.

[Barb]

Julia wrote: "Barb, Winterdance: The Fine Madness of Running the Iditarod is definitely a sports novel, but if you live where it gets very cold, I'd put off reading it until spring or summer were I y..."

Good advice as I am sitting here with a space heater aimed at me! :-)

[Pamela]

I am reading Above the Line by Urban Meyer. He has some excellent things to say. Some may say it's more about leadership than football but he talks a LOT about football (and I probably won't use the coupon cause I mostly read ebooks for portability) so I'm counting it. And having moved from Columbus within the last 2 years (including living there during the National Championship), it's fascinating to this still a buckeye just in another stater lol :)

[Shatterlings]

Listening to Forward by Abby Wambach, it's very good, she's so honest and actually sounds really emotional when she is reading it. You wouldn't need to know anything about her sport to enjoy this.

[Zara]

I just started Selection Day by Aravind Adiga - it's apparently about cricket (and it takes place in India, which is over 5000 miles from me!)

[Jennifer]

Sherri wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I read Ghost by Jason Reynolds. It's a middle grade novel about a boy who learns to deal with the struggles in his life after joining a track team...."

I loved The Crossover and Booked. I have so many students who think they don't like poetry and/or sports books that love those books.

[Lauren]

If the book doesn't need to be nonfiction, the Selection by Aravind Adiga is about cricket in India. It follows two brothers from the slums who are trying to become professional cricketers. This meets the sports challenge, the book where all point of view characters are people of color, and it takes place over 5,000 miles from where I live.

[Amelia]

Lisa wrote: "Would "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" count for this task?"

Wild would fit the travel memoir one more than sports, I'd think...

[Amber]

Going to read Malamud's The Natural... it's been on my to-read shelf for ages!

[Rebecca]

If anyone is looking for a YA book to read, I'll be reading The Foxhole Court by Nora Sakavic. It's been on my to-read for a while and despite being self-published, it seems to be fairly popular. The sport is fictional, but I don't see why it shouldn't count. From what I can tell, it also would count as an LGBTQ+ romance.

[Katie]

I love hockey, so for this I am going to read Boy on Ice: The Life and Death of Derek Boogaard.

[Yrinsyde]

I'm planning on reading The Curse of Lono by Hunter S Thompson and Ralph Stead. It's about the Honolulu Marathon.

[Lanae]

Does The Queen of Katwe: A Story of Life, Chess, and One Extraordinary Girl's Dream of Becoming a Grandmaster count? Is chess a "sport"?

[Christine]

I asked around for some suggestions from the sports fans / readers in my life and here are their suggestions:

1. The Sport of Kings (history of horse racing)
2. Baseball in the Garden of Eden (origins of baseball)
3. Red or Dead (the story of Liverpool football in the 1950s-60s)

I started #3 today - a bit of an unusual choice for me, but this is the Read HARDER challenge after all. So far I am really enjoying it!

[Jess]

Brooklyn wrote: "Thinking of going with The Crossover."

I was just coming here to recommend this! That is a great book!

[Kristen]

How about Pointe by Brandy Colbert? I was going to do Wild by Cheryl Strayed since I totally define hiking as a sport, but I'm lazy and don't like sports. But then I thought maybe Pointe would fit the bill as well?

[Michele]

Emily wrote: "What about Kwame Alexanders books? Either The Crossover or Booked? They´re about sports right?"
I certainly hope so, as I've counted The Crossover as my book about sports.

[Samantha]

Yair wrote: "I'm gonna go with the Art of Fielding. Since the plot mostly revolves around the sport. And even Amazon has it listed as a book about a sport."

It's a beautiful book. Great choice.

[Rachel]

I'm reading You Will Know Me. I have to say, sports are really not my thing at all, but this book is pretty good.

[Anna]

I'm intrigued by the reviews for Selection Day. It's about cricket.

[Oana]

Kristen wrote: "How about Pointe by Brandy Colbert? I was going to do Wild by Cheryl Strayed since I totally define hiking as a sport, but I'm lazy and don't like sports. But then I thought maybe Pointe would fit ..."

I loved Wild!
So if you count it related to sports it's definitely worth it!

[Kristen]

Oana wrote: I loved Wild!
So if you count it related to sports it's definitely worth it!
Maybe I'll do it anyway, then! It would be the excuse I've needed to read it for years anyway. :-) It would certainly count as a travel memoir, but I wanted to read Gorge for that task, which is why I'm trying to force Wild to fit as a sport. LOL.

[Ashley]

Sports are SO far out of my wheelhouse it's not even funny. And I totally get that the point of these reading challenges is to push ourselves to reading outside our respective "bubbles". For me, though, I use these challenges as a means to whittle down my ever-growing TBR shelf.
That being said, I'm going to stretch reeeeeally far and say I'll be reading Wolf by Wolf for this task. Part of the plot revolves around a motorcycle race, which according to some outlets (depending on who you ask) is considered a sport of sorts. If you disagree, just don't tell me and let me live in my bubble. Please and Thank you :)

[Bonnie G.]

Ashley wrote: "Sports are SO far out of my wheelhouse it's not even funny. And I totally get that the point of these reading challenges is to push ourselves to reading outside our respective "bubbles". For me, th..."

Motorcycle racing is absolutely a sport!

[Dana]

I'm going to try The Sport of Kings for this one.

[Erin]

Reading Derek Sanderson's Crossing the Line: The Outrageous Story of a Hockey Original for this challenge!

[Jillian]

I started Million Dollar Arm: Sometimes to Win, You Have to Change the Game tonight as my "gym only" audiobook. Interesting so far!

[Janna]

Lisa wrote: "Would "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" count for this task?"

I think so. Hiking IS a sport.