A book for the Beach ?

[Easy 10]

I've just bought "Full Time - the secret life of Tony Cascarino". Its come highly recommended, and it looks like being a cracking read, so it probably won't last me long. I must continue to feed my brain though, while I burn.

Any other recommendations for a decent holiday book ? Doesn't HAVE to be football, but I am quite partial to biographies generally...

 

[Braders]

tony cascarinos book is Quality , won't ruin it but its a good read!

have you read George Bests 'Blessed' its what i'm reading at the moment , very good so far

 

[Rambo]

I read Frank Skinners Biography last year on the beach, twas quite entertaining.

 

[graz126]

lenny maclean's book is a very good read.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Anbody out there not yet read 'Gullhanger'?

You should do.

Quality beach book

 

[Lush]

just been on hols where i read these books innit.

The Pedant In the Kitchen by Julian Barnes - excellent if you do cooking and stuff and agonise over whether a tablespoon is a heaped tablespoon, a rounded tablespoon or a flat tablespoon and have met your Chocolate Nemesis.

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre - well-written romp about a fictional high-school killing but IMHO is a teenage boys fantasy without any trace of irony.

The Curious Tale of the Dog in the Nighttimethingummy - easy (one or two days at most) not uninteresting read and will enable you to strike up conversations with thirty-something females on the beach who will all be reading it too.

Goulds Book of Fish - Richard Flanagan - original challenging (without being hard work) modern-day classic. Highly recommended if you want your brain stimulated.

 

[SussexSpur]

Cascarino's book a treat.
Just finished reading Jonathan Coe's "What A Carve Up" - last of his books I've read, all very funny.
On a football theme - just started David Thomas' "Foul Play", all about the Grobbelaar trials - amusingly written.
And, of course, The Glory Game by Hunter Davies is a must-read for any football fan! Whether Spurs fan or otherwise, it's a really revealing insight into how a football club operates - with plenty of parallels as well as stark differences you can probably relate to football today.

 

[Easy 10]

Yup, I've read Frank Skinners, Rambo. That was quite good. The blokes obsessed with anal sex though, isn't he.

Gullhanger - read that a couple of years ago on holiday, couldn't put it down, and finished it in 2 days. Mike Ward gets a lot of stick on here, but I thought that book was superbly entertaining.

Blessed and Damon Hill - sounds interesting. I'm not a big F1 fan, but I still like reading stuff like that, getting the nitty-gritty bhind the scenes.

Cheers so far chaps....food for thought.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

And, of course, The Glory Game by Hunter Davies is a must-read for any football fan! Whether Spurs fan or otherwise, it's a really revealing insight into how a football club operates - with plenty of parallels as well as stark differences you can probably relate to football today.

I used to love that book, right down to the photos of the author hanging out like a spare part in the dressing room with the big tweed jacket and the sideburns. He'd never get that kind of access nowadays.

 

[Easy 10]

just been on hols where i read these books innit.

The Pedant In the Kitchen by Julian Barnes - excellent if you do cooking and stuff and agonise over whether a tablespoon is a heaped tablespoon, a rounded tablespoon or a flat tablespoon and have met your Chocolate Nemesis.

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre - well-written romp about a fictional high-school killing but IMHO is a teenage boys fantasy without any trace of irony.

The Curious Tale of the Dog in the Nighttimethingummy - easy (one or two days at most) not uninteresting read and will enable you to strike up conversations with thirty-something females on the beach who will all be reading it too.

Goulds Book of Fish - Richard Flanagan - original challenging (without being hard work) modern-day classic. Highly recommended if you want your brain stimulated.

Bloody hell Lush, where'd you go on holiday - the library ?

 

[Wilko]

Agree with Lush - Vernan little God and certainly Curious incident are both great reads - both are now out in cheap paperback too

 

[SussexSpur]

I used to love that book, right down to the photos of the author hanging out like a spare part in the dressing room with the big tweed jacket and the sideburns. He'd never get that kind of access nowadays.

Sure, but I have gone off him since I read he now has season tickets at both Spurs and Arsenal, and lets his kids support the Goons.

As a kid the only bit I would read was the questionnaire at the back, asking all the players things like did they see football as a hobby/indulgence/job, etc (most said job), what papers did they read, who did they vote for, etc. And how most said either Tory or "don't care", except for the barely-out-of-his teens Steve Perryman who launched into a fervent "Labour, of course. Isn't that what all the others said?" and an impassioned rant about tax and how "it's GOT to be paid". . .
At the time I read it, I think he was our 35-year-old veteran captain. I was youthfully outraged when he was given a free transfer - have met him a couple of times since and am happy to confirm he's a top man as the book suggested all those years ago!

Amazing how the book describes the Spurs team travelling to away games at places like Leeds - on the same train (albeit different carriages) as the Spurs fans.
Different era indeed. . .

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Bloody hell Lush, where'd you go on holiday - the library ?

Blimey Lush! Isn't there some kind of EEC Directive which states you can only pack yer kids off to the children's club for a maximum of 45 hours a week? Or did you make them sign the opt-out clause?

 

[Lush]

Blimey Lush! Isn't there some kind of EEC Directive which states you can only pack yer kids off to the children's club for a maximum of 45 hours a week? Or did you make them sign the opt-out clause?

Oiiiii! It's the only chance of a bit of intelligent thinking I get all year!

Books are GREAT.

 

[Braders]

have you read cloughies 'walking on water'?

 

[Muzzman]

Left Foot Forward and Left Foot in the Grave are both highly acclaimed books written by Gary Nelson

 

[Gwylan]

just been on hols where i read these books innit.

The Pedant In the Kitchen by Julian Barnes - excellent if you do cooking and stuff and agonise over whether a tablespoon is a heaped tablespoon, a rounded tablespoon or a flat tablespoon and have met your Chocolate Nemesis.

Vernon God Little by DBC Pierre - well-written romp about a fictional high-school killing but IMHO is a teenage boys fantasy without any trace of irony.

The Curious Tale of the Dog in the Nighttimethingummy - easy (one or two days at most) not uninteresting read and will enable you to strike up conversations with thirty-something females on the beach who will all be reading it too.

Goulds Book of Fish - Richard Flanagan - original challenging (without being hard work) modern-day classic. Highly recommended if you want your brain stimulated.

Vernon God Little - a cracking good book. I still have to get round to Curious Tale.

I normally like Julian Barnes but I was disappointed with the extracts of the Pedant that the Guardian published - it seemed a bit Islington cliquey for me.

Currently reading The Smoking Diaries by Simon Gray, which is very funny; an autobiography with a difference.

 

[Rangdo]

Not sport related but Michael Moore's books are pretty good especially if you don't like Mr Bush. Stupid White Men was very good and he uncovers some interesting facts about Bush's past and his election "victory".

 

[coach03]

Mentioned it on here before but try 'The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro' by Joe McGinnis (sp).

Top quality true tale of Italian football...

 

[Brighton Breezy]

The Curious Tale of the Dog in the Nighteasy (one or two days at most) not uninteresting read and will enable you to strike up conversations with thirty-something females on the beach who will all be reading it too.

I read this and quite liked it. Very cleverly written and I loved the bit where the boy tells of the Math expert who got ridiculed for her comments abouta game show but then proved her theory right. That really got me thinking.