Books like A Month of Sundays — picked by fans

This book is an absolute classic and should be in the library of every golfer who has ever touched those extraordinary moments we call the zone or flow. Murphy’s encounter with the enigmatic teacher Shivas Irons, has him questioning reality as he understands it with his logical mind. As their encounter unfolds, Murphy begins experiencing an opening of his perception to a deeper and more profound awareness of the forces and energies that can align to help create the perfect shot. This book shows how important it is to ‘get out of your own way’ and find your inner swing. 

Dan Jenkins (1928-2019) was a quintessential sportswriter who wrote for newspapers in his native Texas as well as for Sports Illustrated and many others. In 1974, he published this ribald classic about the pro golf tours, starring Kenny Lee Puckett, a down on his luck pro who has more luck getting in trouble with the ladies than he does making tough putts.

If you don’t laugh while reading this book, then you need a humor transplant.

I suspect more people saw the movie (starring Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron and Jack Lemmon in his final role) than read the book by Steven Pressfield. Too bad, because the book’s pretty good.

It tells the entirely fictional tale of a 36-hole showdown match during the Depression between Bobby Jones, Walter Hagen, and a local hero named Rannulph Junuh and his caddie, Bagger Vance. Grantland Rice and O.B. Keeler are there (famous sportswriters in the 1920s), and, of course, there is a femme fatale. But there is an underlying respect and honor for the game, which makes this novel a keeper.

J. Michael Veron is a trial lawyer and avid golfer who has written a trilogy of legal thrillers (he’s been called the John Grisham of golf) that all have a strong golf theme. The Greatest Player was the first, featuring a summer intern at an Atlanta law firm who finds an old file of correspondence between the legendary Bobby Jones (who was, when not winning most of the golf tournaments between 1920 and 1930, when he retired from tournament golf, an Atlanta attorney) and a fictional teen-aged golf prodigy named Beau Stedman.

There’s a murder mystery and a court case and a lot of golf from the Golden Age of the sport.

This slightly fictionalized but largely autobiographical book is adapted from the author’s childhood diary pages and reconfigured into a sharp, beautiful, and honest narrative about a fifteen-year-old’s coming of age.

Gloeckner treats her protagonist with the kind of respect and dignity that young women are rarely afforded, and the result is an incredible account of youth, sexuality, abuse, and growing up that honors teenage girls and all they are capable of. 

I recommend Lost Memoirs for finally giving us a love story from an author we all have enjoyed since 5th grade. A true artist in “putting us in her life,” Syrie James accomplishes this while giving us readers the feeling of friendship with Jane Austen within these pages of her lost memoirs...

This book is of the recently found letters and diaries of Jane Austen of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility fame in not only books, but movies made over the years. It begins with the Austen Family Tree, which revealed that Jane had not only her sister, Cassandra, but six brothers, all either clergymen or military men with titles and at least a modicum of wealth. This was quite enlightening to me, who has read her forever, but somehow I’d missed this important aspect of her life, which gives her insights into the minds of men, better… show more.

Written in diary format, presented as something for kids and teens, this was another novel my mum would be for me as a birthday present. Written by Ellen Emerson White, thirteen-year-old Margaret Ann Brady’s innocence immediately captures your heart. When she and her brother are orphaned at a young age, her older brother leaves her on an orphanage’s doorstep while he finds work. Eventually, he makes it to America, where he saves for his sister’s passage. Margaret, in a turn of fate, is offered passage on the Titanic when Mrs. Carstairs requires a companion to travel with her to America. The novel is peppered with real-life facts, with Margaret interacting with JJ Astor and Thomas Andrews (fun fact: when I read this novel as a child, I loved that JJ Astor’s dog was named “Kitty.” I thought it was the perfect name for a dog, and as a result, I… show more.

I’ve read this book several times and absolutely loved the protagonist, a 16-year-old orphan who joins the army because he is hungry. The story unfolds through the company journal entries that James is charged with writing.

I was amused by his down-home spin, youthful complaints, observations, and humor, which gave the reader a glimpse into the swing between a soldier’s boredom and excitement. Of course, given that it is written in the vein of a young teen, I didn’t have to look up a single word, making it a fairly quick read.

Bridget turns private humiliation into public comedy without ever giving up on her bruised heart.

I like to kid on that I read the classics, and Fielding's book is a true modern classic. Bridget Jones is the uber-loser turned winner. I remember reading this and feeling that delicious shock of recognition: my terrible choices, my doomed self-improvement plans, the way one bad decision always blossomed into five.

What I still love is how Fielding catches the gap between who Bridget thinks she ought to be and first-rate hopeful hot mess.

I first met Anne Truitt when we were both guest artists at the Yaddo Colony in upstate NY. Later, we became good friends.

I admired not only her sculptures and paintings but also the three elegant and poignant published journals of an artist’s life. My favorite is the third published Journal, Turn.

Known as a superb artist and sculptor, Turn is Truitt’s third journal revealing the woman and journey of a true artist and unique individual. A husband’s suicide leaving the author and artist to raise three children and pursue her art, creates a unique memoir timeless in the chronicles of the resilience of single women artists.