Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: A Season with Verona: Travels Around Italy in Search of Illusion, National Character, and...Goals! by Tim Parks ISBN: 1-55970-628-7 Publisher: General Pub. Date: 10 June, 2002 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $26.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.82 (11 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Fanatic Read
Comment: I am crazy about this book. Tim Parks achieves the perfect most compelling balance between passion and reflection. He has captured the voice of a true fan and presents all his feelings and emotions as they surely must be during a game etc. But what I loved so much was how he also had the ability to step out of the stadium and see the game, Italians and especially himself in a more rational and cerebral way. One without the other would have turned this book either into a raving, unfocused cheer for soccer or just another brainy analysis of contemporary culture and sports. But Tim Parks has written such a compelling book about the nature of being a fanatic as well as a dialogue on the what that might mean for him and even us. He is insightful about himself, the game, Italy and blinded about it all at the same time which makes for such exciting reading. I travel to Italy every year for the summer, and this book gave me such wonderful insight as well as a longing to be there a part of it all. I loved this book and now am looking for some team here in the states to become hopelessly a fan for and see if I can lose myself in the game.
Rating: 5
Summary: Life on the "curva sud" with a real fan
Comment: An English academic, living and teaching in Northern Italy for the past twenty years, Tim Parks offers a colorful, rich, detailed account of a year (2000-01) following his historic local football club, Hellas Verona. This is a week-by-week, blow-by-blow account, up close and very personal. He starts as an interested observer and becomes a believer.
Better that this is written by a man of letters than by a journalist or a sportswriter, Parks at times becomes perhaps literate in studying the passion behind the football fans who seem to live and die by the fortunes of their favorites. Best of all, Parks chose a season that provided a riveting conclusion to a season of ups and downs. Sadly, a quick look at Italy's Serie A standings in early 2003 finds Hellas mired in mid-level Serie B.
Hellas fans are, at times, boisterous, irreverent, profane, vulgar, and, among the hard core, loyal to a fist fight and to a fault. Seeing them week by week, after a crazed introduction on the first, mind numbing rod trip to the south, Parks offers the insight of an Englishman not unfamiliar with football hooligans but also willing to try to understand the mind and life of the devoted Hellas fan.
Enjoy the passion.
Rating: 5
Summary: You'll be gripped from start to finish
Comment: Without doubt this is the best football book that I've ever read. Right from the start Tim Parks actually draws the reader into the unfolding drama and story, rather than it just being a case of you reading a book and just taking information in. You'll find yourself eagerly flicking pages to find out what happened next, sometimes I read this book deep (and I mean, deep!) into the early morning rather than put the book down.
Basically this book is all about Hellas Verona football club in Italy, and their battle to stay in the top division in Italy, Serie A. They are one of the most, if not the most, unfashionable clubs in Italy to support, due to the media's overblown coverage of the club's racism problems.
In this book you'll find out about many interesting fans and the sometimes hilarious, sometimes appalling, things they got upto throughout a tense season. It's a totally factual account and that makes this all the more intriguing. If you thought you knew everything about Italian football then take a read of this, you'll be surprised at what really goes on. You thought rivalry was bad in English football!
Not only did Verona have to battle the media and their reputation, but added to that was the fact that they did not have the resources of huge clubs like Inter Milan and Juventus.
Tim Parks wrote this book extremely well, never baffling the reader or losing the plot. It's very enjoyable and added to that you'll learn snippets of the Italian language and all about the Italian way of life.
A superb read.
 |
Title: Italian Neighbors by Tim Parks ISBN: 0802140343 Publisher: Grove Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2003 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
 |
Title: The Miracle of Castel Di Sangro by Joe McGinniss ISBN: 0767905997 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 06 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
 |
Title: An Italian Education: The Further Adventures of an Expatriate in Verona by Tim Parks ISBN: 0380727609 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
 |
Title: The Far Corner by Harry Pearson ISBN: 0349108374 Publisher: Trafalgar Square Pub. Date: May, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.99 |
 |
Title: The Glory Game by Hunter Davies ISBN: 0809293323 Publisher: McGraw-Hill/Contemporary Books Pub. Date: 03 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
