Review of "Basketball and Football"

It isn't often I will finish two books in one day, but that was the case for today. Instead of waiting to write the second review, I thought I would just do so now.  This book was a great collection of satirical pieces and short stories on basketball and football.  Having read a boxing book by this author before, I thought it would be good and I was correct.  However - he sent me the book in August so this one makes the Blogger Shame list.  But...at least it now makes me on track for my Blogger Shame resolution to review at least two of these books that have been sitting on my shelf for at least four months.  Here is my review of "Basketball and Football".

Title/Author:

“Basketball and Football ” by George Thomas Clark

Tags:

Football (American), basketball, short stories, essays

Publish date:

August 16, 2017

Length:

298 pages

Rating: 

5 of 5 stars (outstanding)

Review:

With one of the simplest titles for a sports book, “Basketball and Football” by George Thomas Clark is a very entertaining collection of essays and short stories about those two sports.  Some of the stories are completely fictional, some are satire based on real football and basketball people or events and some even read like a newspaper account.

Something that was different about this collection was that there wasn’t a single story that I did not like. Of course, some were better reads or far more entertaining than others, but unlike other collections of stories or essays, this one did not have a single clunker in the mix.  Each one showcased the author’s writing talent, which is plentiful and beautiful to read.

Stories that are about the same person in the sport are grouped into a chapter and that chapter is titled with the name of the subject.  I thought these were the very best passages of the book as the humor and satire of these first person narratives were very entertaining and yet very true at the same time.  My favorites of these were the essays on LeBron James in basketball and former coach Bill Walsh in the football section.  A close second on the football side was the chapter on O.J. Simpson – which of course talks about not only his football career but also his notoriety later on in life for his famous murder trial.

Fans of these two sports will want to pick up a copy of this very entertaining book that is not only fun to read, it is one that once a reader stops, he or she will be done fairly quickly as it is a page turner that is hard to put down.

I wish to thank Mr. Clark for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Book Format Read:

E-book (Kindle)

Buying Links:

https://www.amazon.com/Basketball-Football-George-Thomas-Clark-ebook/dp/B074WH2QJ7/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1516469145&sr=1-1&keywords=basketball+and+football