Sportswriter Jim Gorant takes readers on a different trip in Fanatic: 10 Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die. Gorant sets off on a one-year mission to experience 10 signature sporting events the Super Bowl, the Final Four, the Masters and Wimbledon, among others. What makes people endure subfreezing temperatures to watch the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field? What sort of community arises in the small city of RVs inside the oval at Daytona or the shaded stands of Churchill Downs? Questions like these turn Gorant’s story into far more than simply a description of sporting events. Instead, he has combined an engaging travelogue with a study of human nature and a tale of internal exploration. Along the way there are moments of true friendship, excessive bacchanals and the discovery of what sports really mean to the fans, far beyond the momentary heroes and soon-forgotten scores. Fanatic is a worthwhile exploration of both sport and life.
Valiant Women is a vital and engrossing attempt to correct the record and rightfully celebrate the achievements of female veterans of World War II.
