The Sports Bookshelf

NEW IN CRICKET BOOKS The Sports Bookshelf spotlights a selection of new cricket books published during the last month. Tuffers' Cricket Tales Author: Phil Tufnell Published by: Headline Phil Tufnell used to be known as The Cat for his fondness for dressing room naps, when not sneaking off for a crafty cigarette. These and other examples of an unorthodox approach to cricket turned him into a cult figure as a spin bowler for Middlesex and England. Now more commonly referred to as Tuffers, he has developed a second career as a broadcaster and reality show contestant.  "Tuffers' Cricket Tales" is a deliciously eccentric collection of his favourite cricket stories, featuring a cast of colourful characters he has encountered in dressing-rooms and commentary boxes and who have provided him with dozens of entertaining and insightful anecdotes, told with warmth and humour. The Plan: How Fletcher and Flower Transformed English Crick

TODAY'S TOP TEN BESTSELLING SPORTS BOOKS Click on the title or picture link to buy 1 - Tom Daley: My Story Author: Tom Daley Published by: Michael Joseph Tom Daley started diving at the age of seven. Specializing in the 10 metre platform event, he became the youngest British world champion in any sport. He represented Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he was Britain's youngest competitor, and won two gold medals for England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In 2007, 2009 and 2010, he was named BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.   In this, his first official memoir, illustrated on many pages with his own photographs, he shares the pressures, challenges and fascinating experiences of his career as well as glimpses into his life away from his sport in the build up to the London Olympics. 2 - Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2012 Editor: Lawrence Booth Published by: John Wisden & Co Ltd First published in 1864 and probably t

Already recognised for its outstanding quality by being crowned William Hill Sports Book of the Year last autumn, Ronald Reng’s brilliant biography of tragic German football star Robert Enke completed a memorable double when the judges at the 2012 British Sports Book Awards determined it to be the best in the Football Book category. A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke (Yellow Jersey), the story of the German national team goalkeeper who took his own life while suffering from depression, was voted top of the pile among a strong field that included former Manchester City player Paul Lake’s wonderful autobiography I’m Not Really Here and Ian Ridley’s assessment of the impact of the Premier League, There’s A Golden Sky. Cricket writer Chris Waters , meanwhile, scooped his third award when Fred Trueman: The Authorised Biography (Aurum Press)   was named Cricket Book of the Year. The Yorkshire Post cricket correspondent’s highly acclaimed life of the Yorkshire and Engla

BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2012 A wonderfully nostalgic tour of some of Britain's lost cricket rounds by the journalist Chris Arnot that probably deserves to be among the cricket books of the year and an awe-inspiring celebration of some of Europe's most challenging competitive cycle climbs are among the frontrunners for Illustrated Book of the Year at the British Sports Book Awards 2012. The Sports Bookshelf outlines the six shortlisted titles as the build-up to the announcement of the winners in all categories continues. These will be revealed at a black tie dinner at The Savoy Hotel in London on Monday (May 21), when Nick Hornby will also be presented with an award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing’ some 20 years on from the publication of Fever Pitch . The winners from the 10 categories will then be entered into an online public vote to find the overall British Sports Book of the Year. Each winning title will be promoted in a media and retail cam

BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2012 Books about Porsches, E-type Jaguars and Audis and the McLaren racing team are on the shortlist for the new Motorsports Book of the Year category of the British Sports Book Awards 2012.  Today The Sports Bookshelf outlines the six shortlisted titles as the build-up to the announcement of the winners in all categories continues. These will be revealed at a black tie dinner at The Savoy Hotel in London next Monday, May 21, when Nick Hornby will also be presented with an award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sports Writing’ some 20 years on from the publication of ‘Fever Pitch’. The winners from the 10 categories will then be entered into an online public vote to find the overall British Sports Book of the Year . Each winning title will be promoted in a media and retail campaign in the run-up to Father’s Day. The public vote will held on the official website – www.britishsportsbookawards.co.uk – the overall winner will be announced on June 11.

BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2012 The Rugby Book of the Year category of the British Sports Book Awards 2012 includes two of the favourites to win the overall Book of the Year award, which will be decided by a public vote. Engage: The Fall and Rise of Matt Hampson , by Paul Kimmage, is 4-1 with Ladbrokes, a long-standing supporter of the annual awards, who rate Racing Through the Dark: The Fall and Rise of David Millar as favourite at 3-1. Jonny Wilkinson's autobiography 'Jonny' is priced at 5-1 alongside William Hill Sports Book of the Year winner A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke. Gary Neville's Red: My Autobiography is 6-1, with The Breaks Are Off , by Graeme Swann, 7-1. Today The Sports Bookshelf outlines the six titles shortlisted for Rugby Book of the Year as the build-up to the announcement of the winners continues. These will be revealed at a black tie dinner at The Savoy Hotel in London next Monday, May 21, when Nick Hornby wi