Olympic Reads | Darien

Author

Patterson, James

Description

Two years ago Jack Morgan---the head of the renowned worldwide investigation firm Private--was in charge of security for the World Cup in Bazil. During the championship final, the action nearly spilled from the field into the stands. Fortunately, Jack and his team averted disaster on football's biggest stage. Now he has returned to Rio to secure the Olympics. But before the torch is lit, the threats come fast and furious as Jack discovers that someone...

2) That summer in Berlin

Author

Cornwall, Lecia

Description

"In the summer of 1936, while the Nazis make secret plans for World War II, a courageous and daring young woman struggles to expose the lies behind the dazzling spectacle of the Berlin Olympics. German power is rising again, threatening a war that will be even worse than the last one. The English aristocracy turns to an age-old institution to stave off war and strengthen political bonds--marriage. Debutantes flock to Germany, including Viviane Alden....

3) Gold: A Novel

Author

Description

The latest novel from Chris Cleave-the award-winning and international #1 bestselling author of Little Bee. That asks: how much are we willing to sacrifice for the people we love? IT'S THE ULTIMATE TEST OF A MOTHER'S LOVE . . . IF your dreams pull you in one direction and your heart in another, which should you follow? This is the question that haunts Kate Meadows, a world champion athlete whose eight-year-old daughter Sophie is battling a recurrence...

4) Private games: [a novel]

Author

Patterson, James

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"Private, the world's most renowned investigation firm, has been commissioned to provide security for the 2012 Olympic games in London. Its agents are the smartest, fastest, and most technologically advanced in the world, and 400 of them have been transferred to London to protect over 10,000 competitors who represent more than 200 countries. The opening ceremony is still hours away when Private investigator and single father of twins, Nigel Steele,...

5) Fast girls: a novel of the 1936 women's Olympic team

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

This novel explores the real life history of female athletes, members of the first integrated women's Olympic team, and their journeys to the 1936 summer games in Berlin, Nazi Germany. It is a chronicle of three athletes who defied society's expectations of what women could achieve.

6) The happiest girl in the world: a novel

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook

Description

For Sera Wheeler, the Olympics is the reason for everything. It’s why she trains thirty hours a week, starves herself to under 100 pounds, and pops Advil like Tic Tacs. For her mother, Charlene, hungry for glory she never had, it’s why she rises before dawn to drive Sera to practice in a different state, and why the family scrimps, saves, and fractures. It’s why, when Sera’s best friend reports the gymnastics doctor to...

7) The Rat Catchers' Olympics

Author

Cotterill, Colin

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"1980: The Democratic People's Republic of Laos is proud to be competing in its first-ever Olympics. Of course, half the world is boycotting the Moscow Summer Olympic Games to protest Russia's recent invasion of Afghanistan, but that has made room for athletes from countries that are usually too small or underfunded to be competitive--countries like Laos. Ex-national coroner of Laos Dr. Siri Paiboun may be retired, but he and his wife, Madame Daeng,...

8) The night swim

Author

Description

"In The Night Swim, a new thriller from Megan Goldin, author of the "gripping and unforgettable" (Harlen Coben) The Escape Room, a true crime podcast host covering a controversial trial finds herself drawn deep into a small town's dark past and a brutal crime that took place there years before. After the first season of her true crime podcast became an overnight sensation and set an innocent man free, Rachel Krall is now a household name-and the last...

9) Running the rift: a novel

Author

Formats:

Description

Rwandan runner Jean Patrick Nkuba dreams of winning an Olympic gold medal and uniting his ethnically divided country, only to be driven from everyone he loves when the violence starts, after which he must find a way back to a better life.

10) Canary girls: a novel

Author

Chiaverini, Jennifer

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook, eBook, Kindle

Description

Early in the Great War, men left Britain's factories in droves to enlist. Struggling to keep up production, arsenals hired women to build the weapons the military urgently needed. "Be the Girl Behind the Man Behind the Gun," the recruitment posters beckoned. Thousands of women-cooks, maids, shopgirls, and housewives-answered their nation's call. These "munitionettes" worked grueling shifts often seven days a week, handling TNT and other explosives...

11) Carrie Soto is back: a novel

Author

Reid, Taylor Jenkins

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, Bag Book, eBook, Kindle, Large Print

Description

"In this powerful novel about the cost of ambition and success, a legendary athlete attempts a comeback at an age when the world considers her past her prime-from the New York Times bestselling author of Malibu Rising. Carolina Soto is undeniably fierce. She is determined to be the best professional tennis player the world has ever seen. And by the time she retires from the game in 1989 at the age of thirty-one, she is just that: the best. She has...

12) Sooley: a novel

Author

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook

Description

After seventeen-year-old Samuel "Sooley" Sooleymon receives a college scholarship to play basketball for North Carolina Central, he moves to Durham from his native, war-torn South Sudan, enrolls in classes, joins the team, and prepares to sit out his freshman season, but Sooley has a fierce determination to succeed so he can bring his family to America, working tirelessly on his game until he dominates everyone in practice, and when Sooley is called...

13) Catching Jordan

Author

Kenneally, Miranda

Formats:

Description

Miranda Kenneally's first book in the beloved sports romance Hundred Oaks series! Love is the toughest game to play...

Athletic superstar Jordan Woods is the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. Her teammates, including her best friend Sam, all see her as their leader and one of the guys, and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

But everything

...

14) The boys in the boat: nine Americans and their epic quest for gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics

Author

Brown, Daniel James

Formats:

Book, Audiobook CD, eAudiobook, eBook, Large Print

Description

"The University of Washington's 1936 eight-oar crew transformed the sport and grabbed the attention of millions of Americans. The sons of loggers, shipyard workers, and farmers, the nine boys, in the depths of the Great Depression, showed the world what beating the odds really meant. They defeated elite rivals from California and eastern schools to earn the right to compete against the German crew rowing for Adolf Hitler in the Olympic Games in Berlin....

15) Running for My Life: One Lost Boy's Journey from the Killing Fields of Sudan to the Olympic Games

Author

Formats:

eAudiobook, eBook

Description

Running for My Life is not a story about Africa or track and field athletics. It is about outrunning the devil and achieving the impossible faith, diligence, and the desire to give back. It is the American dream come true and a stark reminder that saving one can help to save thousands more.Lopez Lomong chronicles his inspiring ascent from a barefoot lost boy of the Sudanese Civil War to a Nike sponsored athlete on the US Olympic Team. Though most...

16) My greatest save: the brave, barrier-breaking journey of a world-champion goalkeeper

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook, eBook

Description

A World Cup-winning Olympic gold medalist and U.S. Women’s soccer goalie shares how she fought her way back from depression--and to herself--after a career-ending injury in 2010.

17) Holding her breath: a novel

Author

Formats:

Book, eAudiobook

Description

"A keenly observant and "whip smart" (Sunday Telegraph) debut novel, following a former competitive swimmer and granddaughter of a famous Irish poet as she comes of age in the shadow of her family's tragic past, perfect for fans of Sally Rooney, Lily King's Writers & Lovers, and Elif Batuman's The Idiot"--

18) Everything Is Possible: Finding the Faith and Courage to Follow Your Dreams

Author

Formats:

eAudiobook, eBook

Description

Jen Bricker was born without legs and with her heart on the opposite side of her chest. Shocked and uncertain they could care for a child with two birth defects, her biological parents gave her up for adoption. In her loving adoptive home, there was just one simple rule: "Never say 'can't.'" And pretty soon, there was nothing that this small but mighty powerhouse set her sights on that she couldn't conquer: rollerskating, volleyball, power tumbling,...