The Sports Bookshelf

Jonathan Wilson's position as the pre-eminent thinking man's football writer is likely only to be reinforced by his latest offering, which applies the formula he employed so effectively in The Anatomy of England for the first time to the history of a club. The Anatomy of Liverpool: A History in Ten Matches , which he has written in collaboration with another football writer, Guardian on-line's Liverpool-supporting Scott Murray, promises to be the first in a line of innovative club histories. As with The Anatomy of England , this examination of Liverpool's evolution is constructed around 10 games the authors considered to have had particular significance, even if they are not always the most obvious or famous games.  The England book, for example, examined the 1966 World Cup through the prism of the quarter-final against Argentina, rather than the final. "When I sat down with Scott over a meal to discuss which games we would include, we looked for a spread

London 2012 headline-makers Sir Bradley Wiggins and Lord Sebastian Coe -- and Olympic TV presenter Clare Balding -- are among the nominees for the 2013 British Sports Book Awards. A strong field for the 11th edition of the National Sporting Club's annual recognition of excellence in sports writing also includes a number of past winners, among them Duncan Hamilton, Anthony Clavane and Jonathan Wilson. Hamilton, who won best football book in 2008 for Provided You Don't Kiss Me and best biography in 2010 for Harold Larwood, is nominated in the best biography or autobiography category for The Footballer Who Could Fly , which focuses on his own upbringing in the north-east of England. Clavane, whose personal history of Leeds United, Promised Land, won best football book in 2011 and was voted overall sports book of the year in an online poll, is in the running again for best football book for Does Your Rabbi Know You're Here?, which examines of Jewish involvement in