Apart form its current publications, John Blake Publishing has a sizeable back list of acclaimed sporting titles. These include biographies of stars such as Roger Federer, WG Grace, Fernando Torres and Frankie Dettori. For more information, visit www.blake.co.uk
Sports Books of the Year
The shortlist for the sports book of the year contained
half a dozen excellent books, but naturally, there could
only be one winner. In previous years, it’s the
winning author who ended up receiving the accolades, the
profile and the money, but we think that if a book was
good enough to make it to the shortlist, there is still
a good chance you will want to read it.
We have reviewed some of the titles in full but provide
a synopsis of each book below.
List Price:£20.00 Our Price: £10.00 You Save: £10 (50%)
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Like almost every boy his age, Charlton grew up besotted by football. Playing the game for as long as parents would allow was the norm in the Northumberland mining village of Ashington, as it was everywhere else across Britain up until the mid-seventies. Games involving almost every boy in the street were not unusual, but even among these unwieldy matches, it soon became apparent that young Bobby, together with his older brother Jack, were endowed with a rare talent... (read review)
Release date: 14th December, 2007 Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
List Price:£20.00 Our Price: £12.00 You Save: £8 (40%)
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That any area of modern life could justify having such a weighty tome pitched to a wide consumer audience is doubtful. In recent times, perhaps only Margaret Thatcher’s The Downing Street Years could have afforded to run beyond 350 pages and still be considered to have mass appeal. (read review)
List Price:£7.99 Our Price: £5.59 You Save: £2.4 (30%)
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Duran’s tales reads like a Hollywood movie. Brought up by his mother in extreme poverty, he learned his trade on the streets. The story goes that as his mother went into labour, his maternal grandmother went looking for his father, then womanising in a nearby bar, and laid him out with a single punch before returning home to assist with the labour. Aggression was clearly in Duran’s genes.
(read review)
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £10.99 You Save: £8 (42%)
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Carragher’s performance a certain balmy night in Istanbul has become part of Anfield folklore and while Liverpool’s improbable success has been deemed ‘sport’s greatest-ever comeback’, Carra is not a belated attempt to re-live an outrageously famous victory in print... (read review)
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £7.69 You Save: £5.3 (40%)
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Roberts is a genuine football fan and this marvellous memoir is a must read, not just for those who ignore the top flight siren calls to follow their local club, but also for fans who might just be getting a little tired of the Premier League’s achingly dull repepetitveness... (read review)
Release date: 07th May, 2009 Publisher: Headline Books
List Price:£7.99 Our Price: £4.99 You Save: £3 (37%)
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For this week's competition and an opportunity to win 'Winning Is Not Enough', simply answer the following question: What was Sir jackie Steart's last Formula One win? Email us your answer no later than 26th June 2009 (read review)
Release date: 26th June, 2009 Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £8..59 You Save: £4.99 (38%)
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Bad Blood is a wonderfully well-paced book (easily read in a day), at times as steady as the peleton, on other occasions fast enough to resemble a sprint finish; it rarely plods, which makes it absolutely gripping.... (read review)
Release date: 22nd November, 2008 Publisher: Pan Macmillan
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £10.99 You Save: £8 (42%)
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To win a copy of True Colours, simply answer the following question: Before the start of the current (2009)series, how many times had Australia won the Ashes? Email your answers to us as Sportsbookofthemonth.com (read review)
Release date: 06th October, 2009 Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
List Price:£20.00 Our Price: £13.00 You Save: £7 (35%)
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To win a copy of 'Players', simply answer the following question: Who was the IOC President prior to the election of Jacques Rogge?
Email your answers to competition@sportsbookofthemonth.com (read review)
Release date: 18th October, 2009 Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
List Price:£18.99 Our Price: £13.29 You Save: £5.7 (30%)
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Yet did boxing ever enjoy a golden age? It’s a question thoughtfully considered by Kevin Mitchell in this wonderful book which, had it been published a few months earlier, would be a serious contender for sports book of the year.
(read review)
Release date: 18th October, 2009 Publisher: High Stakes Publishing
List Price:£9.99 Our Price: £8.99 You Save: £1 (10%)
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The volume’s instructional pages (for stud and draw) are few, and fairly basic. Its real value lies in the tautly written anecdotes of rural poker in turn-of-the-century America, with players who literally ‘bet the farm’, and sophisticated, cosmopolitan games in the Far East during World War II, where spies of opposing nations crossed swords at the poker table. (read review)
List Price:£7.99 Our Price: £4.69 You Save: £3.3 (41%)
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Murakami was already an established novelist when he realised that his rather sedentary existence was making him fat. His response was to take up running and he has since tackled more than twenty-five marathons, too many half-marathons to mention and one particularly gruelling 100 kilometre ultra-marathon, the peculiar spiritual benefits of which are described here in satisfying detail. (read review)
Release date: 04th January, 2010 Publisher: Simon & Schuster
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £8.98 You Save: £9.01 (50%)
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To win a copy of Beware of the Dog,simply answer the following question: how many caps did Brian Moore win for the British Lions?
Email your answer to comp@sportsbookofthemonth.com (read review)
List Price:£17.99 Our Price: £8.49 You Save: £9.5 (52%)
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To win Born To Run, answer the following question:
What is the name of the home-made corn beer brewed by the Tarahumara people?
Send your answer to comp@sportsbookofthemonth.com no later than 4 April 2010.
Winners will be advised by email. (read review)
Release date: 10th July, 2010 Publisher: Yellow Jersey Press
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £8.09 You Save: £4.9 (37%)
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Laurent Fignon is one of the giants of modern cycling. Twice-winner of the Tour de France in the early eighties, he became the star for a new generation. In 1989 he took part in one of the most fiercely-contested Tours of all time. Over the course of 3,285 kilometres he lost out to his American arch-rival, Greg LeMond, by an agonising eight seconds on the final Parisian time trial. He died from cancer, aged 50, on 31 August. (read review)
List Price:£12.99 Our Price: £6.49 You Save: £6.5 (50%)
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“A fascinating subject and Syed is a dazzling writer.” - The Times.
Answer our quiz question and win a copy of 'Bounce!'
At what sport did Matthew Syed become Commonwealth champion?
Answers to: comp@sportsbookofthemonth.com
(read review)
List Price:£20.00 Our Price: £9.13 You Save: £10.87 (54%)
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He is one of the most beloved athletes in history and one of the most gifted men ever to step onto a tennis court – but from early childhood Andre Agassi hated the game. (read review)
