Megafans and sportsballs haters alike get swept up during the Olympics, that hotbed of triumph and joy and injury and loss in a controlled context. Perhaps that’s why we laypeople can relate so deeply to the stories and the excitement. Much has been said about NBC’s Olympic programming decisions and, specifically, NBC’s perception that their viewers, mostly female, are more interested in the journey than the result. Regardless of how you feel about that interpretation, we hope you’ll enjoy some of these novels and literary memoirs that examine sports in our everyday lives and the more philosophical and meditative aspects of exertion and competition. Some are love letters for the already-converted, some would warm even coldest of sports-hating hearts, and all will add layers of complexity and nuance to some of your favorite Olympic events.

Swimming

Swimming Studies by Leanne Shapton

Shapton’s training for the Olympic trials as a teenager taught her the discipline and focus that has made her into an award-winning writer and illustrator today. The act of swimming itself is meditative and often solitary, and Shapton brings that world to her readers.

Aquamarine by Carol Anshew​

​​​Originally published almost 25 years ago, Anshew’s concise gem of a novel imagines three different responses (and lives) for an Olympic swimmer whose heart is broken by her biggest rival -- who then beats her for the gold medal.

The Joy of Swimming by Lisa Congdon

Lisa Congdon is one of my favorite illustrators, and in her latest book she combines her love for swimming with her stunning colors and impeccable hand lettering.

Gymnastics

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott

Abbott brings her skill for crafting page-turning plots and compelling characters to the world of competitive gymnastics.

Tennis

Love Love by Sung Woo

A former tennis player and his sister are both struggling, and they look at how their histories have brought them to where they are and what it might be like to start from scratch. I love how the tennis metaphor of the title has so many layers.

Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace (or String Theory for his nonfiction writing and his stellar Roger Federer essay)

The sections on tennis, which DFW calls “chess on the run,” were my favorite in Infinite Jest -- they propelled me to get through the entire massive novel. And his nonfiction is equally stunning. His Roger Federer essay, “Both Flesh and Not,” is a perfect balance of entertaining and thought-provoking, and it highlights both how the game changes over time and how individual mastery can shape that evolution.

Running

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

Running brought Japanese master Murakami through a dark time early in his life and provided him with tools to cope and to become a better writer.

The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner by Alan Sillitoe

John Williams’ Stoner meets Billy Elliot in this 20th century British classic.

Soccer (Football)

The Damned UTD or Red or Dead by David Peace

In the most mesmerizing prose, Peace tells the stories of down-on-their-luck managers or down-on-their-luck teams in need of a savior in the drama-filled world of English club soccer.

Soccer in Sun and Shadow by Eduardo Galeano

Galeano’s style is truly unique, and in this book he shines his kaleidoscopic lens on soccer. He creates a patchwork of anecdotes on the history, politics, players, rivalries, and fans, and few have written about the game as lyrically as Galeano does.

“The Loneliness of the Goalkeeper” episode of the Radiolab podcast

Originally broadcast on BBC Radio and introduced to a wider audience by Radiolab, this is a short piece on the physical, mental, emotional, and even existential challenges and triumphs of goalkeeping, where one is both a crucial member of the team, and one who is guided by entirely different rules and skills.

Rowing

Safe Harbor by Radclyffe

While not about rowing per se, this romance novel set in Provincetown has a character who used to be an Olympic-caliber rower who was sidelined by an injury. Now, she rows every morning, and the descriptions of her captured the peace, the meditativeness, and the exertion and control necessary for rowing. They were some of my favorite paragraphs in the book.

Boxing

Creed, directed by Ryan Coogler and co-written by Coogler and Aaron Covington

I don’t even like boxing and haven’t seen any Rocky movies, and I thought this film was phenomenal—its fight sequences, its characters and the acting (Michael B. Jordan especially), and the relationships that expanded and contracted throughout.