SPORT IN LITERATURE

Fever Pitch is both an autobiography and a footballing bible rolled into one. Nick Hornby pinpoints 1968 as his formative year: the year he turned eleven, the year his parents separated, and the year his father first took him to watch Arsenal play. But the book quickly moves way beyond fandom into an extreme obsession that has dominated Hornby's life, loves, and relationships.

Fever Pitch is the classic football memoir written with self-deprecating humour and demonstrating a genuine passion for the game. Hornby muses on the destructive nature of the game, the escape it offers, the opportunities for bonding all within the context of his obsession with Arsenal and a brief flirtation with Cambridge United.

A satirical novel based around England's attempts to qualify for the World Cup. By a bizarre series of events, a Nottingham plumber becomes England's manager and thereby embroiled in a threat to the future of English football. An absurd and engaging plot combined with some perceptive comments on the state of the game makes Atkinson for England an enjoyable and laugh-out-loud read. 'Atkinson for England shows that satire is still not totally dead.' The Daily Telegraph

Dan Kavanagh is the pseudonym of Julian Barnes and this is his third novel featuring the bi-sexual detective Duffy. Duffy is called upon to investigate the troubled world of England's Third Division football and at the same time is forced to confront his potential HIV/AIDS status.

A. L. Kennedy travels to Madrid, Seville and Granada, the heartlands of Spanish bullfighting, to dissect the spectacle of ritual death that Spain is so famous for. An intelligent, multi-layered and almost impartial account of this graphic, controversial and passionate sport.

Within the context of the Dutch football club Ajax, Kuper explores the stories of the survival and persecution of members of Amsterdam's Jewish population. He also examines the role of football throughout Europe in the years both leading up to and following on from World War II.

A tense thriller about a Lakeland fellrunner who attempts to run home to England across Nazi-occipied Europe. With an SS Officer hot on his heels and a sinister mystery waiting for him at home in the Lakeland Peaks, this is a taut examination of endurance, stamina and resilience.

Wobble to Death is a Victorian mystery in the Sergeant Cribb series. This time the down to earth Sergeant Cribb and his long suffering constable, Thackeray, are sent to investigate the murder of a champion walker during a walking contest at the agricultural hall in Islington. With evocative descriptions of Victorian London, Wobble to Death also explores the nature of competitive personalities.

Rob and Jamie were close childhood friends who discovered a passion for climbing together but have since become estranged. However, Rob is devastated to hear of the death of Jamie in a climbing accident. So begins a trawl through their past as the novel delves into the potent and fateful lure of climbing for both families.

Hugh McIlvanney is one of the most revered and highly regarded sports journalists in Britain. This superb anthology contains McIlvanney's writings on football, drawn from articles that originally featured in a range of publications including The Scotsman, The Observer and The Sunday Times. Profiling classic managers, outstanding players and following world cup games from 1966 to 1994, this is a stunning and eloquent collection.

The dying words of an alcoholic tramp set Jack Laidlaw onto the trail of a certain Tony Veitch, a young Glasgow student who he discovers has been missing for several days. This book is the sequel to Laidlaw.