Fast Girl by Suzy Favor Hamilton

Fast Girl by Suzy Favor Hamilton, 294 pages

Fast Girl is a fascinating biography written by former Olympian Suzy Favor Hamilton.  Suzy was a three time Olympian who was known for middle distance running.  The book details her journey to the Olympics and her fight to stay at the top of her sport.  Her story is fascinating as her high from running is replaced with a new high of dangerous sex exploits. How does a former Olympian and girl next door, married to her college sweetheart, become one of the highest paid escorts in Las Vegas?  Her brother's death from suicide that greatly affected Suzy leads to a diagnosis of bipolar disorder and the correct treatment.  Fast Girl is a very revealing story of a person's struggle to rebuild her life after a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier

The Lost Sisterhood by Anne Fortier - 608 pages

The Lost Sisterhood is a novel where historical facts are mixed with mythology to create a spellbinding story.  Featuring two storylines that collide at the end, the modern one follows Oxford scholar, fencer, and philologist Diana Morgan who embarks on an archaeological dig where a lost language has been discovered.  However once on site, trouble begins and she has a personality clash with the man in charge, Nick Barrain.  With Nick following and her archaeologist friend, Rebecca, joining they follow the trail of places where objects with the language have been found throughout Europe and Asia Minor.  Along the way, they become entangled in a battle between two groups:  one who wants the discover made public and one that wants it taken to the grave.

On the ancient storyline, readers follow Myrina.  After her village was destroyed while she was on a hunt  Myrina and her sister, Lilli, travel to the Temple of the Moon Goddess, eventually becoming initiates.  Soon tragedy strikes and takes them on a journey to Crete, Mycenae, and Troy and meeting with other historical/mythological figures, most predominately Paris of Troy.  During the course of this journey, the women are depicted in ways that place them directly within multiple Greek myths.

Overall, the story was excellently written.  Fortier, who holds a PhD in ancient history, clearly spent time researching her subject matter and found ways to link dozens of old myths into a believable ancient storyline that also provides the mystery and adventure that drives the modern one.

Freeze Frame: A Photographic History of the Winter Olympics by Sue Macy and Peggy Fleming

Freeze Frame: A Photographic History of the Winter Olympics by Sue Macy and Peggy Fleming, 96 pages

Freeze Frame is a fantastic journey through the history of the Winter Olympics.  And, it could not be a more appropriate time to read a book about the Winter Olympics.  Published by National Geographic, this was a fascinating read.  Having been a fan of the Olympic games most of my life, this book brought back some great memories as well as sad ones. For instance, before my time, I had not known that the entire United States skating team was killed in a plane crash in 1961 prior to the 1962 Winter Olympics.  It was a devastating blow to figure skating in the United States.  Then in more recent times, there was the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan fiasco.  Some more happier memories were Eric Heiden's win of five gold medals in 1980 and Dan Jansen winning in 1994.  This book contains history of all Winter Olympic games from the first one in 1924 in Chamonix, France to the last one in Vancouver, Canada.  National Geographic and the author did a wonderful job on this book!!

The Last Battle: When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe by Stephen Harding

The Last Battle:  When U.S. and German Soldiers Joined Forces in the Waning Hours of World War II in Europe by Stephen Harding - 223 pages

When I chose to read The Last Battle it was because I was interested in reading about the circumstances of how the United States and Germans teamed up.  However, I was unimpressed.  What is not clearly mentioned is that it was not truly the Germans who were participating.  Most of the so-called "German" soldiers were Austrians and they had joined the Austrian resistance long before the war ended.  The goal of this "last battle" was to protect a group of high-ranking French political prisoners (former ministers who opposed the Nazis) and kept at Schloss Itter, a medieval castle in the Tyrolean Alps.  Initially, after the true Germans guarding the prisoners leave, local Austrian-bred officers and soldiers plus one disgruntled former Bavarian SS Captain who deserted, Schrader,  help protect the prisoners.  Then one prisoner escaped to let the nearby American troops know what was happening and they came to the rescue in two waves.  The first is the focus of the latter half of the book, as the second wave is given only one paragraph.

Also a fact I disliked about the book was its focus on biographies over the actual event.  The first nearly one hundred pages were mini-biographies of the ensemble cast of about two dozen.  However, that same fact lets me unexpectedly claim this book towards this month's goal of sports and athlete related books.  One of the French prisoners was Jean Borotra, a world-renowned tennis champion and former Minister of Sports and Recreation, who was imprisoned for saying the Jews should be allowed equal opportunity to participate in sporting activities.  Also, the American soldier who led the troops to Schloss Ittler, John C. Lee, Jr., participated in swoardsmanship and horsemanship sports while enrolled in a military academy and played several seasons of semi-pro football after the war's end.  Both Lee and Borotra were the indispensable brains and brave souls whom without the battle never would have been won.