Curl up this winter with a book
Editors compile shopping list of the most compelling releases of 2016
Looking for just the right Christmas present for your favourite family member or friend? If they like to read, a good book makes the perfect gift. As with every year, a number of great sports reads hit the shelves in 2016. Postmedia editors have come up with this list to consider for your holiday purchases.
The McDavid Effect: Connor McDavid and the New Hope for Hockey Marty Klinkenberg Simon & Schuster
The veteran, Edmonton-based sports journalist followed Connor McDavid through his first season in the National Hockey League — the ups, the downs, the injury — but this book is about much more than the league’s most hyped prodigy since Sidney Crosby. It’s about Edmonton, the former City of Champions, and it’s about hope: hope that this teenager can reinvigorate not just the Oilers but the city. An easy read, it’s based on dozens of interviews not only with McDavid but with hockey stars past and present.
99 Stories of the Game Wayne Gretzky with Kirstie McLellan Day Penguin Random House Canada
In an interview with Postmedia, the Edmonton Oilers legend was asked what he hoped readers would take away from this book, which was written to mark the 99th anniversary of the NHL. His answer? “This was just an opportunity for me to write about how wonderful and beautiful this game truly is. I just want people to realize how great of a game hockey is.” What makes this book worth reading is the fact it’s filled with the thoughts and memories of the greatest player the game has ever seen.
Change Up: How to Make the Great Game of Baseball Even Better Buck Martinez with Dan Robson HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
You can almost hear the voice of Buck Martinez — longtime Blue Jays play-by-play announcer and former Major League catcher — as you read this book. And that’s a good thing. This is one knowledgeable and passionate baseball lifer’s take on America’s Pastime: what works, and what doesn’t, touching on everything from salaries and showcase skills to farm systems and team chemistry. He backs up his opinions with examples, many of them pulled from his days around the Blue Jays, making it particularly interesting for Canadian fans.
2016 World Series Champions: Chicago Cubs Major League Baseball McClelland & Stewart
The only keepsake of the Cubs’ World Series win produced by Major League Baseball, it features a spectacular selection of photos — more than 200 of them in total, some never published before. It includes game-by-game recaps of the Cubs’ post-season run, profiles of team members and highlights from the 2016 season. Considering the 108-year wait between titles, it’s the perfect gift for fans of not only of the Cubs but the game of baseball.
The Games: A Global History of the Olympics David Goldblatt Tobaccoathletic Limited
Compared with some of the other books on this list, The Games is not the easiest read — it’s a long book, with more than 400 pages, plus footnotes. But it should be an enjoyable read for Olympic fans, particularly those whose interest goes beyond the sporting events themselves. Written chronologically, this book acknowledges the Olympics as a sports competition, touching on the Games’ greatest athletes from Jesse Owens to Usain Bolt, while also examining its social and historical significance. From race relations and gender politics, to doping and soaring costs, Goldblatt pulls no punches.
The Mannings: The Fall and Rise of a Football Family Lars Anderson Ballantine Books
The blurb on the inside of the cover clearly sets the tone for this book: “What the Kennedys are to politics, the Mannings are to football.” An exposé it is not (sexual harassment allegations from Peyton Manning’s days at the University of Tennessee, for example, are confined to four pages and readers are left with the impression it was a college prank gone bad). But Anderson, who spent 20 years writing for Sports Illustrated, knows how to tell a story and this is a very engaging book about football’s first family, packed with wonderful anecdotes and insights about Archie, Cooper, Peyton and Eli, as well as a handful of photos. The Mannings are football royalty and have deserved a telling of their family story such as the one Anderson has provided.
Belichick and Brady: Two Men, the Patriots, and How They Revolutionized Football Michael Holley Hatchette Books
Of course, no year with a book on Peyton Manning would be complete without a book about Tom Brady. Holley, a veteran Boston sports writer and radio host, has written two other books about the Patriots — Patriot Reign and War Room — and according to those who’ve read all three, there is some repetition. But this book focuses on the relationship between the two men and how, together, they were able to achieve success like no other coach/quarterback duo while also weathering scandals such as Deflategate. Holley could be accused of writing from the perspective of a Patriots fan, but it’s a well-researched and well-written book that should entertain football fans of all nations.
Chasing Perfection: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the High-Stakes Game of Creating an NBA Champion Andy Glockner De Capo Books
The Washington Post headlined its review of this book, “How data geeks are taking over basketball.” Indeed, this book takes Moneyball, last decade’s baseball bible by Michael Lewis, to an entirely new level with a new set of acronyms. It may be too much for the casual fan, but for the stats geeks and basketball diehards out there, it offers an interesting examination of how camera-tracking technology has allowed teams to collect data in real time to better manage all aspects of the game.
Long Road to Boston: The Pursuit of the World’s Most Coveted Marathon Mark Sutcliffe Great River Media
The Ottawa-based writer and broadcaster self-published this book, which chronicles his quest to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Sutcliffe beat the qualifying standard by just 22 seconds, and this book is written from the perspective of a regular runner, rather than an elite. The book is in part a runner’s journal, but it includes history and details about the Boston Marathon while offering life lessons, too.
The Original Six Lew Freedman Sports Publishing
The Original Six is subtitled How the Canadiens, Bruins, Rangers, Blackhawks, Maple Leafs and Red Wings Laid the Groundwork for Today’s NHL. Such a subtitle hints at the possibility of new ground within its pages, but instead the reader is mostly taken through a cavalcade of NHL profiles from the days when guys named “Dit” played. Plenty of historical facts on each of the original NHL franchises, as well.
Miracle Moments in Montreal Canadiens History Jim Hynes Simon Schuster Canada
Miracle Moments in Montreal Canadiens History is the “first book of a new sports series” by Montreal native Jim Hynes. The author creates a fascinating profile of the NHL’s most successful and storied franchise by drawing on 24 specific moments in the team’s history. The book opens with a detailed summary of the team’s first season in 1909, including Joe Malone’s five-goal debut, and closes with a heartfelt recounting of the night the team celebrated its centennial. Well written. Fun to read bit-by-bit or front-toback. Wonderful old photos printed on high-grade stock.