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Guide to Practical Backpacking in Fictional Landscapes

All of us have wanted to transport to the fantastical, fictional places portrayed in our favorite books. Backpacking through Europe has nothing on these locations.

Posted by Christina Schillaci

NFL Teams Reimagined as Novels

Clear eyes. Full hearts. Can't lose (my page in this book). 

With autumn comes crisp winds, seasonal hot beverages, and the fiery frenzy of football season. Now the realms of literature and NFL football don't collide often—one notable exception being the Baltimore Ravens, who are named after Edgar Allen Poe's famous poem. Inspired by this fact, we thought, what if it was the other way around? What if novels took their cues from NFL team names? Here's what happens when you bring novels and the NFL to the line of scrimmage: 

Posted by Quirk Books Staff

Six Books for Women Who Love Football. Yes, We Exist.

I just won my Fantasy Football League. First time ever, though I’ve played for five years. (Thank you, Andrew Luck and DeMarco Murray!) I watch football every Sunday; I go to at least one Philadelphia Eagles game per year; I think the NFL RedZone Channel is amazing; and when I have a babysitter, I head to a bar for Monday Night Football. Yes, I’m a woman. And it turns out I’m not alone.

According to recent articles in The Washington Post and Bloomberg Businessweek, women make up 45 percent of the NFL’s more than 150 million American fans.

Between 2009 and 2013, female NFL viewership grew 26 percent. And in just 2013, fantasy football leagues included 6.4 million women, a 10 percent jump from 2012.

Yet, it is surprisingly hard to find football books geared toward women. Seriously. When I started writing this blog, I immediately thought of two books: Catching Jordan and Dairy Queen. But I write YA, so I figured that explained why teen books were front and center in my mind. There must be tons of adult novels featuring female characters who love football, right? Wrong.

So if you’re a chick and you love football, please take a glance at the list below. I hope I save you some time digging through the bookshelves. And if you’re a football-loving writer looking for the concept of a new book—well, I think I’ve found an untapped niche.

Posted by Diana R. Wallach

NFL Reads: An Infographic

When it comes to reading during the Superbowl, we are pros here at the Quirk HQ. Our own Blair Thornburgh dished out some handy tips last year

But what if you actually want to get into football, like all your pals at the Superbowl party you've been dragged to? The crew over at Ninja Essays whipped up this great NFL Reads Infographic, which we've embeded below. Lots of great books worth checking out! 

Posted by Eric Smith

Quoth the Caddie “Overclubbed”: Golf in Literature

The corpus of contemporary golf literature (All Fore Revenge and The Swinger being two notable players in this niche) attempts to fuse the masochistic game of inches with the human experience.

Whatever worth you might place on, for example, Golf in the Kingdom, know that it has literary links (hehe!) to works on par (hah!) with the green jackets (HA-HA!) of the canon. In honor of the summery pastime, here’s a list of some classics that feature the game of grass and iron.

Posted by Alex Grover

Worst-Case Wednesday: How to Play Out of a Water Trap

Many mishaps can occur on the golf course. Your golf cart breaks down. You hit the ball into a tree. Or sometimes, you get a little too into the game, maybe loosen your aim a little too much and you hit the ball square into a water trap. It happens to everyone, right? Right?

To fix it and still make your shot without just stepping in blindly, let The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Golf tell you how it’s done:

Posted by Marissa Stern