Cricket books (or any related stuff) for Christmas

[The Red Telephone]

Looking to add to my cricketing library so have bumped this thread, has anyone read any of the following:

David Lloyd: Around the World in 80 pints
Duncan Hamilton: One Long and Beautiful Summer
Michael Henderson: That Will be England Gone

Had these recommendations from friends. Reviews and further recommendations welcome!!

Just ordered ‘Harry Pearson: The Farther Corner’ on a loosely related note too, couldn’t believe it had escaped my attention until now!

David Lloyd's book is OK

Duncan Hamilton's book is superb and as @Parkside says all of his books are.

Michael Henderson comes across as a bit of a snob and spends a lot of his time talking about classical music - fair enough I suppose but I wouldn't buy a book about Beethoven to then read about Geoffrey Boycott's forward defensive in it.

Other books I've read in the last year that I would recommend are :

Victor Trumper Stroke of Genius - Gideon Haigh
Sultan - Wasim Akram & Gideon Haigh
Elephant In The Stadium (England v India 1971)- Arunabha Sengupta
Almost Invincible (WI in England 1984) - Richard Sydenham
Sticky Dogs And Stardust - Scott Oliver
Being Geoffrey Boyctt - Geoff Boycott & John Hotten.
Blood On The Tracks (Ashes74/75) - David Tossell
Now I'm 62 - Stephen Chalke

 

[Cleadon Cricket Club]

Penguins stopped play, not out first ball & Unlimited Overs are all excellent short reads and good alternative to the ones that focus on the professional game

 

[The Red Telephone]

I also got Beyond a Boundary by CLR James. I got about 2 thirds of the way through and gave up, found it a real struggle tbh.

Glad I'm not the only one to struggle with it.

 

[Eggman]

Just bought “Stars on Sunday”, it’s a history of the John Player League 1969-1986, when there was a live 40 over game on BBC2 every Sunday afternoon

 

[The Breen Machine]

Glad I'm not the only one to struggle with it.

It just didn't engage me at all, almost seemed a bit of a pompous read at times.

 

[Parkside]

Glad I'm not the only one to struggle with it.

You certainly aren't. Can't say I was enamoured about Neville Cardus either but that might be because he wrote about players and matches I'd never seen.

 

[Aidan11]

Just bought “Stars on Sunday”, it’s a history of the John Player League 1969-1986, when there was a live 40 over game on BBC2 every Sunday afternoon

That's one I plan to buy.

Loved those Sunday games as a youngster.