What an interesting video on the wide world of collecting antiquarian books and documents!
The above YouTube video highlights "inside the secret world where the rarest books on Earth are bought and sold."
I am not a soccer fan, nor did I watch any of the 2026 FIFA World Cup games. With the 2026 FIFA World Cup happening, I decided to search for books that discuss soccer in some way. My hope is to inspire readers who are also soccer fans to read more books on a topic they like.
One of the books I discovered was Over the Line by Tom Palmer. Tom Palmer is a new to me author. Initially what attracted me to Over the Line by Tom Palmer was the fact that it features a large chunk of its subject matter to soccer. I soon learned that this children's/middle school novel is a work of historical fiction set in Europe during World War I. The events are inspired by real life events, which makes for good reading.
So, within a few minutes after learning about Over the Line by Tom Palmer, I downloaded and began listening to the unabridged audio version. Essentially, I finished listening to this book 2 hour, 10 minutes in one sitting.
The writing is good and so is the storyline for Over the Line. I was impressed with how much I enjoyed Over the Line. Perhaps, I'll have to give another one of Tom Palmer's novels a try in the future.
Tom Palmer has a YouTube page. I watched the following short video of Mr. Palmer reading a section from his novel, Over The Line.
Below is the publisher's summary for Over the Line by Tom Palmer found on the Goodreads website:
Based on a true story of a sporting hero's experience in the trenches. Jack is to make his debut as a professional footballer, but it's 1914 and the world is at war. Talk of sportsmen's cowardice leads to the formation of a Footballers' Battalion and Jack has little choice but to join up. Jack and his team-mates will have to survive a waking nightmare if they are ever to play again.
I am giving Over the Line by Tom Palmer a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 stars.
Until my next post, happy reading!!
Below is the publisher's summary for When I Arrived at the Castle by E. M. Carroll:
"A castle, a killer, and prey all bound and blurred by lust and blood."I am giving When I Arrived at the Castle by E. M. Carroll a rating of 2 stars out of 5 stars.
Like many before her that have never come back, she's made it to the Countess' castle determined to snuff out the horror, but she could never be prepared for what hides within its turrets; what unfurls under its fluttering flags. Emily Carroll has fashioned a rich gothic horror charged with eroticism that doesn't just make your skin crawl, it crawls into it.
Last week, I made a post about discovering a 'sharing library' at the Oakland Airport. I found it very cool to see a reading library within a coffeehouse near a Southwest Airlines gate.
Since making this post, it got me thinking about whether other airports across the nation have Little Free Libraries within them. Sure enough, there are other airports that have Little Free Libraries!
Check out the following article titled, Books Fly Off Airport Little Free Library Shelves by Sarah Nelson to discover which airports contain Little Free Libraries.
I'm not a soccer enthusiast. Nor have I been watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup. However, I thought it would be fitting to make a post pertaining to books which feature soccer in some fashion.
Checkout my list below of books featuring soccer.
1. For Whom The Ball Rolls by Ian Plenderleith
2. Over the Line by Tom Palmer
3. Papers in the Wind by Eduardo Sacheri
4. Paris 75 by Billy Morris
5. The Hope That Kills Us by Adrian Searle
6. The Blinder by Barry Hines
7. Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
8. The Striker and the Clock by Georgia Cloepfil
9. Golazo by Andreas Campomar
10. How to Watch Soccer by Ruud Gullit
Are you watching the 2026 FIFA World Cup?
UPDATE: I decide to listen to unabridged audio version of Over the Line by Tom Palmer. I finished it in one sitting. Excellent read! Full review to come.
A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds in this terra incognita is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her own civilization has taught her.
Lauren Groff’s new novel is at once a thrilling adventure story and a penetrating fable about trying to find a new way of living in a world succumbing to the churn of colonialism. The Vaster Wilds is a work of raw and prophetic power that tells the story of America in miniature, through one girl at a hinge point in history, to ask how—and if—we can adapt quickly enough to save ourselves.
