Some Heated Rivalries

Good sport in novels: a discussion

Hello to all my new subscribers, I’m so glad you’re here. I’ll be back in the bookshop on Friday, and I’ll tell you all about it in the free Receipt from the Bookshop then, but in the meantime today’s post is for my paid subscribers. The Book Club choice for May is here, the discussion thread will open next week. If you enjoy reading my work please consider a paid subscription to access everything. You can interview me for that promotion here. All Shares, Restacks and Recommendations are really appreciated. Now let’s get to it…

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The only sport I play is writing. The worst of all sports. Like a lot of people who spend too much time with words, I am not a naturally physical or competitive person. A writer’s tendency is towards procrastination and cosiness - I don’t enjoy the generalisation, but I find it to be true. If reading and writing are your favourite things in the whole world, then the exercise is a compromise. We are all being told to look after our bodies to ensure we can cope with old age; do squats now so that you can lower your own self into your arm chair when you’re 92, settling in to read in silence for four hours, if you can stay awake. That said, fitness is still high enough in my priorities that I make time for it on a regular basis, and even though it’s always fun to have a good excuse not to do it, I am capable of enjoying it. I was a devoted boot-camper for many year until my class disbanded. Now I am member of a small hotel gym that has a swimming pool that is only ever populated with the odd glamorous pensioner. I am working on my crawl.

All this to say, even when I joke about hating exercise, I agree that actually doing it feels great. And while there have been times in my life where it has been my number one priority - to overwork (and underfeed) my body - I no longer feel the drive to compete with myself. I am not obsessed with this aspect of me anymore. I walk, I run, I swim, I lift and I row to get myself home to my desk - this is my prime now, my best flex - here, hunched over my keyboard ready to hoist some sentences in to the air. I do crunches so I can curl up with a book. But I love to read about people moving their bodies in ways that I no longer feel compelled to move mine. In fact, it is one of my very favourite things to read about- or watch films about- people who are obsessed with something that doesn’t really concern me at all; sports.

Tell me about your favourite sports novel. Here are mine: