Other books that might interest you

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  Fringes - Life on the Edge of...

  Ben Mercer

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  LONGLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR PRIZE 2020 
  Sports books tend to detail extraordinary achievements, triumphs against the odds or commemorate World Cup winning captains. 
  This book does not do that. 
  For many, playing professional sport is the Dream Job. Few manage it, very few make it to the top and for the rest, life is very different. This is their story. 
  In Fringes, Ben Mercer invites you to witness life at the outer edges of professional rugby. This is a first hand account of what life is like as a journeyman professional athlete. You play, but to the wider public you don't exist. You earn but you don't drive a flash car. You sometimes pack out a stadium but sometimes, you play in a deserted park. This is the story for the majority of sports professionals. Only the minority taste the top, only one person gets to lift the cup or win the medal, only 15 get to play for England at any one time. For the rest, that’s not the case. 
  Ben Mercer is a former professional rugby player who after becoming disillusioned and uninspired plying his trade in the English Second Division, accepted an offer out of the blue to go to France and do something different - help an amateur team turn professional. This is a first hand account of what life is like in the lower reaches of professional sport - where your employment status is as precarious as your health and barely anyone will know your name. 
  If you've wanted to know what life is really like as a professional athlete, on the Fringes, away from the glitz and glamour of the international game then look no further.

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  The Gran Tour - Travels with my...

  Ben Aitken

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  'Both moving and hilarious' Spectator, Books of the Year
  
  'A tale of gloriously eccentric British pensioners. Aitken rivals Alan Bennett in the ear he has for an eavesdropped remark ... boy, can he write.' Daily Mail, Book of the Week
  
  FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE ACCLAIMED A CHIP SHOP IN POZNAN.
  
  One millennial, six coach trips, one big generation gap.
  
  When Ben Aitken learnt that his gran had enjoyed a four-night holiday including four three-course dinners, four cooked breakfasts, four games of bingo, a pair of excursions, sixteen pints of lager and luxury return coach travel, all for a hundred pounds, he thought, that's the life, and signed himself up. Six times over.
  
  Good value aside, what Ben was really after was the company of his elders - those with more chapters under their belt, with the wisdom granted by experience, the candour gifted by time, and the hard-earned ability to live each day like it's nearly their last.
  
  A series of coach holidays ensued - from Scarborough to St Ives, Killarney to Lake Como - during which Ben attempts to shake off his thirty-something blues by getting old as soon as possible.

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  You and Me - Travel...

  Michael S. Ryan, Kristen Herrington

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  A fully immersive audiobook featuring original music and sound effects, “You and Me” is a laugh-out-loud compilation of travel stories written and narrated by husband and wife creatives, Michael S. Ryan and Kristen Herrington. From the textured rainforest of Costa Rica to the streets of Bangkok, this book is about the journey of falling in love, at times beautifully evocative and at others wildly amusing. The authors give tips for wary travellers, and show quite definitely how wandering down the street following your nose is better than following the guidebook every time. Ryan and Herrington are true adventurers unafraid of diving right into the spontaneity of the moment. They don their back packs to hike a volcano in flip-flops, sprint through airports, encounter foreign drug dealers and take you places you’ve never imagined. This book is a perfect fit for readers who want to learn the art of people-watching and get out of resorts and into the busy marketplace. It is a gem for anyone planning their first trip overseas or simply wanting to escape into the myriad of destinations without leaving their armchair.

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  The Eighty Years War - The...

  Kelly Mass

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  The war between the protestant Netherlands, mostly led by William of Orange, and Catholic Spain, was one of the marks in Dutch history. This war has determined the beliefs of many people who now live about the three rivers that go through the country: Most of the people north of the rivers are protestant, and most of the believers below them (even throughout Belgium as well) are Catholic. This is no coincidence. 
  The war in the 1600s has become a symbol of Dutch resistance, independence, and the royal family (of Orange). In that sense, traditions date back hundreds of years, some them that have their roots in this century. Learn more about what caused the 80 years of war between these two countries, how France was involved, and how it helped form the boundaries and borders of those countries today.

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  One Hundred Miles from Manhattan

  Guillermo Fesser

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  A unique tour of the US: “Who better than a kind-hearted foreigner to help you marvel at our own land and learn something about your fellow Americans?” —Bloomberg Businessweek   In 2002 Guillermo Fesser quit his morning radio talk show in Madrid, and moved with his family to Rhinebeck, NY, for a sabbatical year. Finding himself in a rural community 6,000 miles from home and 100 miles from New York City, Fesser began to discover an America he had never imagined existed.  One Hundred Miles from Manhattan is a fresh, funny, positive and affectionate portrait of life in small-town America—and beyond. This book is filled with the stories of the people Fesser met, the places he visited and the things he learned during his year in Rhinebeck, from the German neighbors who welcome in the New Year by jumping back and forth from the couch to the coffee table to a Texan rancher who follows Native American traditions in the raising of bison; from a guide who leads fishing expeditions into Alaska’s Kuskokwim Mountains to the engineer responsible for the steam conduction system in Manhattan’s underbelly; and from a former follower of Reverend Moon turned track coach to the man who created Big Bird.

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  Sicily: Land of Love and Strife...

  John Julius Norwich

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  In Sicily: Land of Love and Strife, A Filmmaker's Journey, the process of capturing the island nation on film is revealed. A country rich with natural beauty and historic sites, and a people distinguished by their passion, struggles, philosophy, and the depth and diversity of their culture, has unfortunately been overshadowed by its association with organized crime. Spano invites the listener to follow him on his journey to celebrate the real Sicily, and to change the public perception of his family’s homeland.

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