This week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic was a huge challenge for my horrible book memory. However, I was inspired by two of my favorite books so far this year (My Sunshine Away and The Unraveling of Mercy Louis) to find books featuring female athletes. I came up with a grand total of four (this is pathetic…why aren’t there more books about awesome girl athletes?! Or, maybe I’m just not looking hard enough.), so I expanded my topic to include novels (vs. nonfiction) featuring any athlete(s).
Ten Books That Feature Athletes
Tuesday Intro
Every Tuesday, fellow blogger Bibliophile By the Sea hosts First Chapter First Paragraph Tuesday Intros, where bloggers share the first paragraph of the book they are currently reading or thinking about reading soon.
I’ve got to be honest…I’m about a quarter through this one and I’m toying with putting it down.
Plot Summary from Amazon
Since childhood, Wylie Rose has been drawn to the charming, close-knit Bonet siblings. But none affected him more than the enchanting Cesca, a girl blessed with incandescent beauty and a wild, irrepressible spirit.
Growing up, Wylie’s friendship with her brother, Aurelio, a budding painter of singular talent, brings him near Cesca’s circle. A young woman confident in her charms, Cesca is amused by Wylie’s youthful sensuality and trusting innocence. Toying with his devotion, she draws him closer to her fire—ultimately ruining him for any other woman.
Spanning several decades, moving through the worlds of high society, finance, and art, and peopled with poignant characters, Girl in the Moonlight takes us on a whirlwind tour, from the wooded cottages of old East Hampton to the dining rooms of Upper East Side Manhattan to the bohemian art studios of Paris and Barcelona. As he vividly brings to life Wylie and Cesca’s tempestuous, heart-wrenching affair, Charles Dubow probes the devastating depths of human passion and the nature of true love.
Here’s the first paragraph of Chapter 1:
It had been in summer. I was a child of ten. We had driven over in our old Ford station wagon. This was when my father was young, just starting out. Before the money, but he had the confidence that one day he would be rich. He would have been one of Bonaparte’s lucky generals. Nothing had ever stopped him. My mother and I were going along with him when he went to play tennis with his old friend Roger Baum, whose family owned a large compound in Amagansett, complete with a clay court.
What do you think? Would you keep reading?
Can i add Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder? I haven’t actually read it, but look at the title!
Oh yes – I totally forgot about that one! I haven’t read it either, but it should obviously be on this list 🙂
I was also going to suggest Girl Runner, but Tanya beat me to it! But, you’re right, we’re seriously lacking in fiction about female athletes. Ugh.
I’m kicking myself..that one was SO obvious! Maybe I wasn’t thinking about it b/c I haven’t read it. And, I wish that wasn’t the case (fiction lacking female athletes) 🙁
Not sure about this one. The choppy sentences are jarring to me.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
There are several YA featuring girl athletes but none come to mind at the moment. 🙁 FYI: You convinced me to buy My Sunshine Away because I now have to read Sarah J. Maas. lol On Girl in the Moonlight, I would definitely keep reading. “Child of ten,” “old Ford station wagon,” and “before daddy was rich,” tell me this book is going to take me somewhere deep and possibly dark. I’m not familiar with the book, having not read the synopsis, but that paragraph is enough to tell me I might enjoy it.
That’s good to hear! I like that girls at an impressionable age are getting some female athletes in their reading 🙂 Glad I convinced you to ge My Sunshine Away and looking forward to hearing your thoughts!
Did you love The Art of Fielding? Gosh, I loved that book. And this new one…eh. I’m afraid it doesn’t sound good to me, at all; it doesn’t really sound like you, either – ha! You may have to move on. Hope you have a great day, Sarah!
LOVED The Art of Fielding…especially loved getting into the mind of an athlete. Ha – I dropped the new one last night…in the name of not being able to wait any longer to read The Shore. So far, I’m very pleased with my decision 🙂
The intro doesn’t really grab me, but I am curious. Thanks for sharing. And thanks for visiting my blog.
I’m not sure about your FCFPTI choice, but I do want to read My Sunshine Away. Thanks for reminding me. Enjoy your week.
I’ve not read ANY of these, but that’s why I love this series so much: so many new books to explore, so little time.
Actually, come to think of it, I’ve NEVER read a book about athletes. I think that needs to change ASAP!
Beth x
Ooh, Mercy Louis and My Sunshine Away! So much love for those books.
I know…I feel like a broken record constantly talking about them! But, they’re two of a very few shining stars for me this year! Did you feel like Mercy Louis didn’t get the love it should have?? I feel like there were only a very few of us talking about it…
I’m no athlete so can’t think of any to add to your top ten. I do like the intro to Girl in the Moonlight though, very much!
First, what else did that Charles Dubow write? Seems like there was a book I thought about reading, but didn’t. And this one, ehhh, maybe not for me.
Books about athletes – well, of those above I’ve read The Hunger Games and Prince of Tides. How about that book called Gold by Chris Cleave – Olympic runners, right? And then there’s the football one I mentioned in my 10 – Friday Night Lights. And was the movie Chariots of Fire based on a book? Like the creativity of everyone this week.
Now you made me curious about these books, thanks for sharing them with us 🙂
Some great books in your top ten today.
I’m not into sports, so I don’t read a lot of books about them, I guess. The series that comes to mind, though, is the Dairy Queen books by Catherine Gilbert Murdock. They’re about a high school girl who wants to play on the school football team. It’s a great series that I enjoyed even though I know nada about football.
Happy TTT!
Although the first paragraph didn’t wow me, I would keep reading as I have enjoyed this autumn the past.
I only read one in your Top Ten: The Art of Fielding. It was one of our book club’s top reads last year.
so loved The Art of Fielding and cannot believe it took me TWO years to pick it up! Did you love it?!?
I did love it! Loved the insight into an athlete’s mind.
Great take on this week’s theme. I’m way overdue for Pat Conroy and he’s way overdue for a new release. Wonder if he has anything in the works. I have not seen Girl in the Moonlight. It sounds good, although the cover makes me dizzy. 🙂