My Favorite Year: A Collection of Football Writing

by Nick Hornby and Alexandria House

Book Overview

Roddy Doyle's account of the Republic of Ireland's triumphant journey through Italia '90 is just one of the many first-class pieces in this anthology of original football writing. Contributors include... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0753814412
• Release Date: August 2001
• Publisher: Orion Publishing
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.7" x 0.9" x 5.1"

Customer Reviews

Quintessential Reading for all Soccer/Football Supporters

It's just fantastic. Great collection of various writers illustrating their favorite memories of their clubs.

Great for soccer fans, but still okay for the less obsessed

The greatest strength of this collection of essays/reminiscences is its diversity. In wonderfully varied pieces, "My Favourite Year" captures a broad band of moods and shows just how multi-faceted our reactions to soccer--and, at a deeper level, our approaches to remembering--are.For someone not acquainted with the world of (mostly) English football (there are inclusions here as well of Scottish, Welsh, and Irish teams), some of these essays may be a tough go. I'd be tempted to say that the best pieces here are the most widely accessible ones--that is, the ones that cater to a more general public--but that wouldn't be true. The elation of Roddy Doyle's opening salvo could capture anyone's attention, since it seems less about soccer than about infectiously good memories. But some of the most interesting and powerful glimpses here will be impenetrable to those with little knowledge of the inner workings of club politics in England; Ed Horton's amazing probing of the woeful and criminal mismanagement of Oxford United is both engaging and important, but I confess that some of its finer points were lost on this American reader, despite the fact that I know a fair amount about the background.So, unlike Hornby's "Fever Pitch," which manages to make itself about life-in-general masquerading as life-in-soccer, this collection might be a little harder to penetrate for the casual observer of the beautiful game. If you're a bigger fan of the sport, I highly recommend it, especially during the upcoming World Cup year 2002. "My Favourite Year" is a great hors-d'oeuvre for a month-long World Cup meal of soccer at its best.

The passion of passions

Books about sports tend to be "subliterature". "My favourite year" would definitely be an exception to this rule - if it was a book about sports, or, more specifically, about football. But this collection of short stories is much more than that, utilizing events and facts related to football to describe human passion in its rawest and most exacerbated form. No matter the country, team or period, the stories reflect the kind of love (passionate, unilateral, unjustifiable, absurd, unconditional, etc.) that football fans all around the world know very well. Even with two or three less inspired stories, it is a highly enjoyable read throughout.Among many smiles and memories, it can even at moments bring tears to the eyes of the more emotional fans like myself.

Exellent view of a traditional football supporter!

Being a football supporter myself I understand the stories put into this book. If you are a football fan read it because it is about us. There is alot of emotional, joyfull and sad scenes in this book and somehow they all revolve around football. Cracking book alex ross

Excellent anthology!

A great selection of football writing for the thoughtful soccer fan (if that's not an oxymoron), filled with the same humor and passion that made Fever Pitch so much fun to read.

Soccer, the chess of the green field

You've probably tuned into this page because of your Nick Hornby-admiration. If so, ther is a few things that has to be mentioned. This book is a collection of football (soccer) writing, it's not a Nick Hornby-extravaganza. The different stories are contributed by a number of british autors, who also have a great interest in football. Therefor, if you've read Hi Fidelity and loved it, but are hesitating about Fever Pitch, because of its sporty content, then you'll probably hate this one. On the other hand, if you. like me, love the true game (football (soccer)), then this is a compilation better than the most. There are a mixture of humour, tears, anger and joy, when the authors are describing their favourite teams during a given season. Especially one story, by Harry Pearson, about Middlesbrough should be pointed out. The irony of the team's recess is extraordinary british and makes you a very proud owner of the book. Nick Hornby himself has also contributed with one of the better stories, but surprisingly not about Arsenal.