Summer Reading Recs: The World Cup Follow Up

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Red or Dead by David Peace 2

Red or Dead is the fictional biography of one Bill Shankly, working-class hero and legendary manager of the Liverpool Football Club. All this is true. But let’s be clear here: David Peace’s new novel is really about work. Hard work. The kind of hard work it takes to wake up every morning and perfect your craft. The kind of hard work it takes to become good or even great at something. The kind of hard work it takes to rise to each and every occasion. In hypnotic, incantatory prose, Peace explores the place where dedication, ambition, luck, and madness all converge: professional soccer. Read it between World Cup matches for maximum effect.–Hal Hlavinka, powerHouse Arena

If you’re anything like me, you try to pick one big bookworm for the summer–a book that you’d maybe never otherwise have time to tackle. Do I have the book for you! David Peace’s Red or Dead is a mesmerizing masterpiece of writing. It also happens to be about British football, the glories of the Liverpool Football Club, and one man’s vision. Whether or not you care about sports (I’d never heard of LFC when I picked this up), this one is absolutely worth your time. Peace will suck you in, change the way you look at the nature of community, ands leave glorious sentences ringing in your ears for days after.–Jenn Northington, WORD Bookstore

 

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