If you liked the Goldfinch I would read The Nightingale. I would put them in somewhat similar categories. I liked the Nightingale quite a bit more.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

If you like Once a Runner, you may enjoy “Varsity Seven: An American Rift Valley.” I ran into the author at a race expo this past spring and randomly bought a copy. I’m about half way through and have enjoyed it. It’s really cool to read about a high school and college careers of some great runners of the 60’s and 70’s (Gerry Lindgren, Rick Riley, Don Kardong, etc) from the Spokane area. Some cool pictures and stories from their races as well (several of them ran with or against Pre, Shorter, Liquori, etc). The last half dives into one family of who had half a dozen siblings run cross country in Spokane over the course of the 17 years.

All in all I thought it was very well researched and interesting. Makes me long to travel back and run high school cross country again.

https://www.amazon.com/...-ebook/dp/B07D3NLX3N

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Matt

Unbroken...amazing true story. Mixes in some running history etc. but really a story of survival etc.Louie Zamperini is Olympic runner, POW, etc. Really great.
Endurance...not an athletic story at all but another amazing story of the will to survive and endure. William Shakleton's attempt to be the first to cross Antarctica on foot.

Endurance is great, but 'Shackletons forgotten men" the story of his simply team on the other side of Antarctica is am even better read

I really liked "Bowerman and the Men of Oregon" as well as Chrissie Wellington's book. Tyler Hamilton's book "The Secret Race" is really good.

For inspiration of men under fire, "Red Platoon" by Medal of Honor winner Clint Romesha is excellent.

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Taco cat spelled backwards is....taco cat.

Anything by either Fotheringham (they've covered most of the cycling greats) Matt Rendells Death of Marco Pantani, or Anthony Beevor's WWII works are amazing- difficult at times, esp the Eatern campaigns, but great nonetheless.

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Swim. Overbike. Walk.

The Boys in the Boat.

Second for Boys in the Boat, and Unbroken. Also, Born to Run, and Running with the Buffaloes. Lots of recommendations for fiction too, if you want....

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Colorado Triathlon Company, CO2UT 2021, Crooked Gravel 2022, Steamboat Gravel 2022

North, by Scott Jurek.

Barbarian Days, A Surfing Life by Bill Finnegan is one of the best sports books I've ever read. He won a Pulitzer for the book.

Four that quickly come to mind for me:

"The Sports Gene" by David Epstein

"Endure" - by Alex Hutchinson

"Gironimo" - By Tim Moore (Extraordinarily funny)

"Shoe Dog" - Phil Knight (more a business book read - but covers the birth and early days of Nike VERY well)

I'll second the Phil Gaimon reccos. I just finished his first book and will get into his "Draft Animals" sometime soon.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Eat and Run-Scott Jurek

War and Peace..good long read and a classic

 
A Life Without Limits (Chrissie Wellingtons book)

The Boys in the Boat (again)

Did you mean The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt? In which case scrap all other recommendations and read The Secret History. Her first novel, outstanding, and her subsequent novels don't even come close to touching it.

Speaking of touching. You mentioned Into Thin Air. I'll see you and raise you Touching The Void (if you don't know the story you will be speechless. The documentary contains the immortal line ' 'oh my god' I thought, 'I'm going to die to Boney M.' )

An indicator of my age... but I recently enjoyed Andre Agassi's "Open".

I recommend An Honorable Run. It is a bio on the author about his days as an intense high school runner and than running as a walk on for Colorado. I liked it because it shows both the highs and lows of a typical high school runner trying to make it in a big time college program.

I am addicted to those kind of books, in the past year or so have read:

• Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts
• In the Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides
• Frozen in Time: An Epic Story of Survival and a Modern Quest for Lost Heroes of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff
• Lost in Shangri-La A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff

I reluctantly read the first few chapters of the Goldfinch, was hooked at some point and ultimately amazed. On that point alone I'll put the Nightingale on the list, but the Goldfinch may have been a one-of-a kind experience for me!

Scott

We can all agree Once a Runner is One of the Best Books Ever.

I'm in Seattle, so interested in the PNW connection and the good old days of DK. Varsity Seven is now on the list!

Scott

Good recommendations! I've read Unbroken and Endurance and agree both are good reads.

Scott

As a WSU alum, I've passed on Boys in the Boat out of principle.

However, a win Friday may give me enough inner peace to pick it up.

Go Cougs,

Scott

Hard to ignore a recommendation like this. On the list!

Scott

I reluctantly read the first few chapters of the Goldfinch, was hooked at some point and ultimately amazed. On that point alone I'll put the Secret History on the list, but the Goldfinch may have been a one-of-a kind experience for me!

Touching the Void scares me.....I know the premise. How deep do I want to go into that story?

Scott

Why read 10 books when one will do?

Scott