What I have been reading lately #38

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

Fever Pitch is Nick Hornby's account of being an Arsenal fan from 1968 to 1992, when the book was written. It is definitely the best book ever written about being a sports fan; it is probably the best book ever written about sports; it may be the best book ever written. I have read it five times-- 1998, 2002, 2005, 2008, and 2009.

Since 1989, I have kept a list of all the books I have read. Here are the books I have read more than twice*:

Books I have read three times:

• The Long Night of Francisco Sanctis by Humberto Constantini
• My Last Sigh by Luis Bunuel
• Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
• Ball Four by Jim Bouton
• Confessions of a Raving, Unconfined Nut: Misadventures in the Counter-Culture by Paul Krassner

Books I have read four times:

• Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
• The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test by Tom Wolfe
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Books I have read five times:

• Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby

* The number of books I have read twice is at least sixteen, if not more.

What I have been reading lately #27

I just finished reading Dave Roberts' book The Bromley Boys: The True Story of Supporting the Worst Football Team in Britain.  This book is a fine example of a genre that they don't really publish here in the United States-- fan memoirs.  Roberts writes all about the 1969-70 season for Bromley, a time when he was 14 years old and completely obsessed with the local amateur squad.  

Checking back through my records, I count five separate books that I have read that fall into the category of football fan memoirs.  Here is my ranking of these five books.

1.  Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby.  I know that this book is quite well-known (even here in the USA), is all about Arsenal, and was even made into a movie about the Red Sox!  But it's still a fantastic book-- any fan of any sport could relate to Hornby's account of the completely ridiculous interconnection between his own personal life and the success (or not) of his team.

2.  My Favourite Year, edited by Nick Hornby.  This collection was published by When Saturday Comes a number of years ago and consists of short essays by a number of writers about their favorite seasons of their favorite teams.  I picked this up for a few dollars in a remainder bin at the University of Washington bookstore a few years back, and it has gone on to be one of my favorite books.  Because of this, I now spend way to much time scouring through remainder bins at bookstores hoping that lightning will strike twice.

3.  The Bromley Boys by Dave Roberts.  He makes my sports obsessions seem mild in comparison.

4.  Manchester United Ruined My Life by Colin Shindler.  A great title, obviously, but it was hard to have a lot of empathy for a Manchester City fan (and a whiny one, at that).

5.  Believe in the Sign by Mark Hodkinson.  This book is about a young man obsessed with Rochdale, his local, hapless Division 4 team.  I actually really liked this book when I first read it.  In fact, I liked it so much I contacted the author via email.  But when I pointed out an inconsistency involving the television mini-series Roots, Mr. Hodkinson claimed that it was part of a "fantasy sequence."  I'm not really interested in reading fantasy sequences in fan memoirs.