We’re treating you to Olympic hopeful (and heart-throb) Tom Daley on our cover tomorrow – I know we are SO good to you! So this week I’ve been reading some podium-topping books…
This week I’ve been reading:
Gold, by Chris Cleave, £16.99, Sceptre (Out Thursday)
Zoe and Kate are champion track cyclists, vying for gold in the velodrome at London 2012. They’ve raced against each other for the top position for the past 13 years, even bringing the battle into their personal lives as they’ve fought for the same man. Now in their 30s, this will be their last Olympics, their last chance of glory. They share a coach and are friends, but their relationship is complicated. Pretty Zoe is the poster girl for the Olympics, having already taken gold in Athens in 2004, while Kate took time out to raise her daughter Sophie with husband and fellow Olympic rider Jack. Zoe and Kate are at the top of their game physically, but mentally Zoe is less stable and refuses to deal with issues from her childhood, while Kate has Sophie’s life-threatening illness to contend with. With races won and lost by a tenth of a second, only one of them can take Olympic gold.
The verdict:
This is a book about winning and determination, about pushing your body to superhuman levels. It’s a book about losing and sacrifice, about the fleeting nature of success and fame. But above all it’s a book about the things that makes us all human: our capacity to love. I really enjoyed Chris Cleave’s two previous novels, but this definitely steps things up a gear. It’s the best thing I’ve read all year!
This week I’ve also been reading:
The Song Of Achilles, by Madeline Miller, £7.99, Bloomsbury
This week, Madeline Miller won the Orange Prize For Fiction for this brilliant retelling of the story of Achilles and Patroclus central to Homer’s Iliad. Now I’ll admit, I love the ancient world (hey, I’ve even got Harry Potter in ancient Greek) and this was right up my street, but this book is not just for Classics geeks like me. It’s a very readable modern-day love story that may just surprise you, so go on, give it a go…
I’d love to know what you thought of these books – and what else you’ve been reading this week. Tweet me @FabFrosty and come back next week for more of my top reads!
