Booking Through Thursday: Gold Medal Reading

This week's Booking Through Thursday asks:

You, um, may have noticed that the Olympics are going on right now, so that’s the genesis of this week’s question, in two parts:
First: Do you or have you ever read books about the Olympics? About sports in general? Fictional ones? Or non-fiction? Or both?
And, Second: Do you consider yourself a sports fan? Because, of course, if you’re a rabid fan and read about sports constantly, there’s a logic there; if you hate sports and never read anything sports-related, that, too … but you don’t have to love sports to enjoy a good sports story.(Or a good sports movie, for that matter. Feel free to expand this into a discussion about “Friday Night Lights” or “The Natural” or whatever…)

Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!

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What an interesting set of questions! I have never read a book about the Olympics, unless maybe in grade school I got a Scholastic book profiling a current Olympic athlete. In fact, I can't think of any sports-themed book I've read other than John Grisham's Bleachers. Are there a lot of sports-themed books? I've never thought about it!

So am I a sports fan? Perhaps vicariously. Dr. H. is definitely a sports fan, and I love football season because we have great snacks in the house and everyone either wears orange (for U of Tenn) or blue (for Tenn. Titans). Also, being a Tennessee Vols fan is pretty much requisite for living in East Tennessee. Since college I've been to one NFL game (Titans vs. Bengals) and a couple of UT games (1 football, 1 basketball). For me, going to a sporting event is all about watching the people in the crowd and the marching band. OK, I am a big nerd.

Of course I love watching my kids play sports, but that's because I love watching my kids. I was a swimmer in high school, and I do love watching swim meets. I even watch other kids than my daughter. And I have thoroughly enjoyed watching swimming and, of course, gymnastics at this year's Olympics.

I do have Friday Night Lights as an alternate on the New Classics Challenge, and I'm looking forward to reading other responses to this particular Booking Through Thursday. Perhaps I'll broaden my horizons a bit.