Love Stories: A Literary Companion to Tennis [Hardcover]

Adam Sexton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2003

The love affair between the book world and the tennis world has become legendary. For years, great authors have lauded the storylike quality of this beloved sport. Like a great novel, tennis features a protagonist and antagonist; a clear conflict and resolution; and a beginning, middle, and an end. Love Stories, a literate and eloquent collection of short stories, excerpts from novels and screenplays, brings together some of the most evocative writing on tennis by the best of these masters.

Written by classic novelists like Vladimir Nabokov and John Updike, as well as rising young stars, many of these stories dramatize issues of class and status (to this day, competitors at Wimbledon are referred to as Ladies and Gentleman) as well as exploring issues of race and love and sex. These writings are arranged by topic with sections on men's and women's singles, mixed doubles -- even a round robin of on-court murders selected from tennis mysteries. Love Stories will engage all tennis fans and fiction lovers with sparkling reflections from such superstar writers as:
-- Ellen Gilchrist (from "The Land of Dreamy Dreams") on Country Club Competition
-- Martin Amis (from The Information) on Gentleman's Singles
-- Margaret Atwood ("The Man from Mars") on Ladies' Singles
-- John Updike ("Separating") on Match Point
-- David Foster Wallace (from Infinite Jest) on Junior Tennis
-- Anne Lamott (from Crooked Little Heart) on Cheating

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Citadel (April 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0806524383
• ISBN-13: 978-0806524382
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 8.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,126,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

More than fifty of my articles and short-stories have been published in the New York Times, the Village Voice, the Boston Phoenix, the Bellevue Literary Review, and elsewhere; and I have read from my work and/or appeared on panels at NYU, SUNY Binghamton, the Knitting Factory (N.Y.C.) and Pete's Candy Store (Brooklyn). I have lectured on writing and literature at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., Kelly Writers' House at the University of Pennsylvania, the Penn Club in New York City, and in Central Park. I have been interviewed about writing and literature by Time, the Washington Post, Poets & Writers, and npr.com, and one of my classes was broadcast on BBC radio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars True love, served up just right, November 11, 2006

By 

Anna Lefler - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Love Stories: A Literary Companion to Tennis (Hardcover)

This book is a delight for anyone who loves tennis...or literature...or both. Like a well-curated art exhibit, Mr. Sexton has assembled a fascinating collection of writing that, in one way or another, illuminates the sport of tennis and the worlds surrounding it. The array of authors could not be more broad, from Vladimir Nabokov to Owen Wilson and Wes Anderson (as well as a delightful piece by Mr. Sexton), and the variety of insights into the game and its players is highly satisfying. (My favorite is an excerpt from Anne Lamott's CROOKED LITTLE HEART in which, in the middle of a match, the adolescent Rosie chokes...and cheats.) This is a superb collection, made even more enjoyable by Mr. Sexton's entertainingly personal introduction.

4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely for tennis nuts, September 3, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Love Stories: A Literary Companion to Tennis (Hardcover)

The book is a delight. Some of these pieces such as those by Nabokov and Paul Theroux have been published in other collections but overall the material is fresh. You'll probably dip and dip again over the years to come.