Third Man: Recollections from a life in Cricket

Author – V Ramnarayan

Genre – Autobiography, Sports, Cricket, Ranji Trophy

Source - Print

Rating - 4

Read - Sep-October 2015

Sporting Autobiographies / Biographies: The types I hate:
1. Heavily ghostwritten works, where you do not find the sportsperson, only the ghostwriter (e.g. Arsene Wenger's biography, and way too many others)
2. Ones that play it safe and are over-complimentary to everyone and their grandmothers (e.g. those of most currently playing sportspeople. Andrew Flintoff's)

3. Ones that are just intent on settling scores (e.g. Alex Ferguson's)

4. Ones that go on and on about personal milestones, and have no stories or interesting anecdotes to tell (e.g. Peter Roebuck's Sometimes I Forgot to Laugh, unfortunately. Especially because Roebuck is my favourite cricket writer. Read Roebuck's It Never Rains, instead. It's the journal of one cricketing season, and is absolutely excellent)

5. Ones that lack enthusiasm, humour or warmth (e.g. Sachin Tendulkar - Playing It My Way) 

6. Ones where the sportsperson comes across as a proper ass (e.g. eh... Nope. Many examples, but no names, alright?)

This is none of the above. Stellar stuff. Recommended. The book has its blemishes, but none are significant. The good things about this book, on the other hand, are numerous - the opposite of the six points above, to start with. And many more.

One Summer: America, 1927

Author – Bill Bryson

Genre – History, Journalism

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 4

Read - July-October 2015

This is how the book ends.

"Babe Ruth hit 60 home runs. The Federal Reserve made the mistake that precipitated the stock market crash. Al Capone enjoyed his last summer of eminence. The Jazz Singer was filmed. Television was created. Radio came of age. Sacco and Vanzetti were executed. President Coolidge chose not to run. Work began on Mount Rushmore. The Mississippi flooded as it never had before. A madman in Michigan blew up a school and killed 44 people in the worst slaughter of children in American history. Henry Ford stopped making the Model T and promised to stop insulting Jews. And a kid from Minnesota flew across an ocean and captivated the planet in a way it had never been captivated before. Whatever else it was, it was one hell of a summer."

And all that in Bill Bryson's flowing, humorous prose. And in Bill Bryson's voice. It's a treat! I loved this book.

Inverting The Pyramid

Author – Jonathan Wilson

Genre – Football, Sports, History, Journalism

Source - Print

Rating - 5

Read - September 2015

There are some books for which the one-minute book review is insufficient - not because you are full of things to say and you cannot do it concisely (that is YOUR problem, reviewer), but because there are so many things to write about. 

There are so many things to write about in this book. To the commoner, Cricket is the game of detailed tactics, and football is the game of hit and run. They cannot be further from the truth. Cricket is essentially a game of skill. Football is essentially the game of strategy. And this strategy, which took the last hundred years to develop, is detailed in this book - in crisp, clear, precise, journalistic language and quite phenomenal depth of research. @jonawils is quite a special football journalist, as any regular reader of The Blizzard and The Guardian (and even ESPNCricinfo) will attest - and this will, I think, remain his pièce de résistance.

And you, readers of this blog, know that I sometimes recommend sports books to non-sports fans. This is not one of those books. But if you are a lover of the beautiful game, you have to have this book.

Best Football Books of all time, as suggested by Football365

This is target, and I will scratch the ones that I have already read. Only scratch out the first word of the books that I have but have not read yet.

The Ball Is Round - David Goldblatt - The bible. The best football book I've ever read, documenting the game from ancient times until the present day around the world. Meaty, but wonderful

The Miracle Of Castel Di Sangro

How To Score - Ken Bray - Scientific look at football

Inverting The Pyramid - Jonathan Wilson - The tactics bible

Brilliant Orange - On culture and history of Dutch Football

Calcio - The same on Italy

Tor - The same on Germany

Feet of the Chameleon - Sameish on Africa

Morbo - Same on Spanish.

La Roja - Another same on Spanish

Futebol - Same on Brazil

Behind the Iron Curtain - Same on Russia

Bamboo Goalposts - Same on China

Teambuilding - Rinus Michels - The famous coaching guide

Why England Lose - Stats and science on England

The Manager - Barney Ronay

A season with Verona - Tony Parks

Those Feet - David Winner

The football men - Arthur Hopcraft

Dick Kerr's Ladies - Barbara Jacobs

World Is A Ball - John Doyle

Once In A Lifetime - Gavin Newsham

The Last Game - Jason Cowley

Beautiful Game? - David Conn

Left Foot Forward - Garry Nelson

Floodlit dreams - Ian Ridley

Broken Dreams - Tom Bower

Only a game - Eamon dunphy

The Glory Game - Hunter Davies

The Nowhere Men - Michael Calvin

Football Against The Enemy - Simon Kuper

Football Business - David Conn

Fever Pitch - Nick Hornby

My Father and other working class heroes - Gary Imlach

Bios and Autobios

Paul McGrath

Robert Enke

Cantona - Philippe Auclair

Bergkamp - Stillness and Speed

Garrincha - Rui Castro

Keeper of Dreams - Ronald Reng

Duncan Edwards: The Greatest

Paul Lake

Netherland

Author - Joseph O'Neill

Genre - Cricket, New York, Society

Source - Audiobook

Rating - 5

March 2013

This is incredible. This book tells me that I am relevant. Best book I read this year.

Kidnap Kande'y Koko

কিডন্যাপ কান্ডে কোকো

Author – Sabyasachi Sarkar

Genre – Sports, Children, Thriller, Detective, bengali

Source – PDF

Rating- 3

Mar 2012

Why England Lose: and other curious football phenomena explained

Author - Simon Kuper; Stefan Szymanski
Genre - Society; Sports

Source - Audiobook
Rating - 4

Mar 2012

Noni'da Not Out

ননিদা নট আউট

Author - Mati Nandi
Genre - Sports, Children, Bengali

Source - Book
Rating - 4

Jan 2012

Moneyball : The art of winning an unfair game

Author - Michael Lewis
Genre - Sports ; Strategy

Source - PDF
Rating - 5

Jan 2012