Scotland with a Stranger


Ninya - 2020
    One day, she received a message from a stranger. This woman offered to lead her on a self-healing trip hiking through the Scottish highlands.It seemed like a sign—a big sister sent when she needed one most.In this sometimes hilarious, sometimes terrifying, but always inspiring memoir, an introverted pollyanna is paired up with her polar opposite—a steamrolling, abrasive female with completely unorthodox healing methods. As they barrel through the winding one lane roads in a tiny rental car stopping to hike at breathtaking mountains and glens, an outrageous series of events forces Ninya to reclaim her power and find the strength to heal herself in one of the most beautiful places on earth.Readers of “Eat, Pray, Love” and “Wild” will love this memoir.

Bobby Moore: By the Person Who Knew Him Best


Tina Moore - 2014
    As the only English football captain ever to raise the World Cup, he was not just a football icon but a national one.Yet Bobby was an intensely reserved, almost mysterious personality. Only one person was his true friend and confidante – his boyhood sweetheart, Tina, whom he met at 17 and married soon after.Tina Moore’s story of her life with Bobby, the triumphs and crises of his football career, the break-up of their marriage and what happened afterwards, is a moving tribute to a national icon by the person who knew him better than anyone.

In Search of Duncan Ferguson: The Life and Crimes of a Footballing Enigma


Alan Pattullo - 2013
    A tall, lean striker with the world at his feet, Ferguson seemed destined to develop into one of Scotland's most successful exports, but anger, and a number of injuries, hampered his progress. Ferguson has scored the most goals of any Scot in the Premiership but also shares the record for Premiership red cards. In 1995, he became the first professional footballer to be jailed for an offence committed on the pitch. It earned him a three-month sentence in Glasgow's infamous Barlinnie Prison and a twelve-match ban from the SFA. Bruised by the experience, he walked away from the Scotland team and blanked the media from then on. Featuring contributions from numerous top players, this explosive biography uncovers the real Duncan Ferguson. The author delves into Ferguson's personal and professional life and reveals that there is more to him than the media portrayal of a Scottish hard man.

Messi


Illugi Jökulsson - 2014
    Donations cover the cost of registration and a uniform for a child in need. AYSO Soccer is a family experience and an opportunity to create memories for a lifetime. The positive environment of AYSO is the right place for kids to learn soccer, but it’s also where they learn important life lessons, social skills and get active.

The Kiln


William McIlvanney - 1996
    With school behind him and a summer job at a brick works, Tom had his whole life before him. Years later, alone in a rented flat in Edinburgh and lost in memories, Tom recalls the intellectual and sexual awakening of his youth. In looking back, Tom discovers that only by understanding where he comes from can he make sense of his life as it is now.

Finn McCool's Football Club: The Birth, Death, and Resurrection of a Pub Soccer Team in the City of the Dead


Stephen Rea - 2009
    Set against the dark backdrop of Hurricane Katrina, this luminous and infinitely inviting memoir traces the affecting stories of Rea and his hilarious and dynamic friends and teammates. Comprised primarily of ex-pats over the age of 35, Finn McCool's Football Club boasts a dynamic mix of idiosyncratic personalities. From Macca, the team's Scottish coach and a hard-drinking ex-professional player, to its outspoken South African landscape gardener/striker Benji, each character comes vibrantly to life in Rea's fresh and frank prose. Hilarious moments and poignant reflections shine with equal intensity throughout this multifarious work, which captures the individual experiences of the Finn's players in the wake of Katrina. A literary memoir, soccer story, and tale of survival and resolve, this work is an indefatigable tribute to a city and its residents who determined to play on after their lives were all but washed away.

A Time to Keep


George Mackay Brown - 1969
    First published in 1969, its 12 stories depict a vast cast of characters drawn from Orkney’s past and present, offering a range of emotions and incidents. They are elemental tales of the fishermen, crofters and farmers of the island and of the harsh, beautiful landscape in which they live.

Baseball Haiku: American and Japanese Haiku and Senryu on Baseball


Cor van den Heuvel - 2007
    Like haiku, the game is concerned with the nature of the seasons: joyous in the spring, thrilling in summer's heat, ripening with the descent of fall, and remembered fondly in winter. Featuring the work of Jack Kerouac, the king of the Beat writers, who penned the first American baseball haiku, and Alan Pizzarelli, a major American haiku poet, the collection also includes Masaoka Shiki, one of the four great pillars of Japanese haiku, who fell in love with baseball when he was a student in Tokyo. Baseball Haiku, a literary and baseball treasure, will make a marvelous gift for the baseball fan in your family."

It's Been Emotional


Vinnie Jones - 2013
    Bold and frank, this is Vinnie laid bare. Born and bred in Watford, Jones represented and captained the Welsh national football team after qualifying through a Welsh grandparent. He won the 1988 FA Cup final against Liverpool before moving to Wimbledon and then Leeds United. He has also played for Chelsea. His celebrity status has grown over the years after appearing in the 2010 series of Big Brother and coming third, as well as the hugely successful British Heart Foundation CPR campaign. Vinnie's bad boy tag has followed him into the world of film where he has used his hard man status to secure roles in hugely successful Brit Flicks, such as Snatch and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Neymar the Wizard


Michael Part - 2014
    Neymar has taken Brazil and the world by storm and continues to inspire millions of fans around the world with his talent, heart, and winning smile. Following the international bestsellers, The Flea the Amazing Story of Leo Messi and Ronaldo The Rise of a Winner, by Michael Part, Neymar The Wizard is the heartwarming and emotional story of a father and son, who, against all odds, made the journey from the edge of poverty, to international stardom, through love, conviction, and a young boy s belief in himself.

The Red Machine: Liverpool in the '80s: The Players' Stories


Simon Hughes - 2013
    The resulting interviews, set against the historical backdrop of both the club and the city, provide a vivid portrait of life at Liverpool during an era when the club's unparalleled on-pitch success often went hand in hand with a boozy social scene fraught with rows, fights, and wind-ups. Former Liverpool players John Barnes, Bruce Grobbelaar, Howard Gayle, Michael Robinson, John Wark, Kevin Sheedy, Nigel Spackman, Steve Staunton, David Hodgson, and Craig Johnston, as well as first-team coach Ronnie Moran, all candidly recollect their memories of this exciting time in Liverpool Football Club's history.

The Greatest Comeback: From Genocide To Football Glory: The Story of Béla Guttman


David Bolchover - 2017
    Having narrowly dodged death by hiding for months in an attic near Budapest as thousands of fellow Jews in the neighbourhood were dragged off to be murdered, Guttmann later escaped from a slave labour camp. He was one of the lucky ones. His father, sister and wider family perished at the hands of the Nazis.But by 1961, as coach of Benfica, he had lifted one of football's greatest prizes: the European Cup - a feat he repeated the following year. Rising from the death pits of Europe to become its champion in just over sixteen years, Guttmann performed the single greatest comeback in football history.This remarkable story spans two visions of twentieth-century Europe: a continent ruptured by barbarism and genocide, yet lit up by exhilarating encounters in magnificent cities, where great players would strive to win football's holy grail. With dark forces rising once again, the story of Béla Guttmann's life asks the question: which vision of Europe will triumph in our times?

Jeffanory: Stories from Beyond the Videprinter


Jeff Stelling - 2012
    

Pep's City: The Making of a Superteam


Lu Martin - 2019
     Throughout that journey, the Spanish journalists Lu Martín and Pol Ballús have been embedded with the club, reporting this inside account of how a phenomenal team was constructed: from the recruitment of Guardiola himself, to the backroom staff that provide the platform for his team and the superstar players that have set a new standard in British football. No other sportswriter has had this kind of access to Guardiola and his team during their three seasons in Manchester. The result is exclusive, in-depth interviews and profiles of every key figure at City, and the inside stories on the decisions that have shaped the team, including the defensive transformation that saw Guardiola change his goalkeeper and full-backs ahead of his record-breaking 100-point season of 2017-18; the dinner date with Sergio Agüero that changed the course of the City striker's career; and close-ups on every big game in the thrilling finale to the 2018-19 title race.

Blood, Sweat and McAteer: A Footballer's Story


Jason McAteer - 2016
    But for eleven-year-old Jason McAteer, growing up in the shadow of Liverpool FC, football became the dream. After signing with Bolton Wanderers at the age of twenty-one, the call to the international scene followed with the Republic of Ireland and, soon after, to his beloved Liverpool FC. The dream had become a reality. From his time with the Irish World Cup squad of 1994 to those tumultuous days in Saipan in 2002; on through his decision to leave Liverpool for Blackburn Rovers; his move to Sunderland, and the depression he fell into after finishing his professional career with Tranmere Rovers, Jason McAteer looks back with characteristic honesty and humour on his life - the jokes, the matches, and the personalities.This is the real Jason McAteer: a little bit bruised, a little bit battered. But still fighting.