Here are 66 books that Outside the Lanes fans have personally recommended if you like
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I became a long-distance swimmer in 2020 and have swum around 70 different islands in Tampa Bay, Florida, and beyond. I was the first person to swim around St. Pete Beach in 2022. At the age of 62, my tandem swim partner, Ken Morgan, and I were the Oldest Male-Female Tandem Swim Team to complete 20 Bridges around Manhattan Island. I intend to swim an open water 10K in all 50 states and have completed 19 so far. I want to discover what my body is capable of. I’m a U.S. Army veteran, mother of six, grandmother, and author of 13 books.
Captivating story of the first person to swim 1780 miles around Great Britain in 157 days.
The extreme fitness and mental and physical stamina required to achieve this endeavor are inspiring. Some people might consider an extreme athlete unrelatable and in a class of their own, but I gained insights into how I can improve and seek excellence at my level.
'Incredible individual, incredible book, incredible story.' CHRIS HEMSWORTH
'A hero who is as humble as he is resilient... testament to a "never give up" spirit!' BEAR GRYLLS
'From reading this book, the message that comes shining through is this: you can achieve anything.' ANT MIDDLETON
Bestselling author and award-winning adventurer Ross Edgley has been studying the art of resilience for years, applying all he has learned to become the first person in history to swim around Great Britain, breaking multiple world records. Now Ross focuses on mental strength, stoicism and the training needed to create an unbreakable…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I became a long-distance swimmer in 2020 and have swum around 70 different islands in Tampa Bay, Florida, and beyond. I was the first person to swim around St. Pete Beach in 2022. At the age of 62, my tandem swim partner, Ken Morgan, and I were the Oldest Male-Female Tandem Swim Team to complete 20 Bridges around Manhattan Island. I intend to swim an open water 10K in all 50 states and have completed 19 so far. I want to discover what my body is capable of. I’m a U.S. Army veteran, mother of six, grandmother, and author of 13 books.
The determination required to complete elite swims, particularly the Oceans Seven, inspired me to consider possibilities.
Arguelles’ trials and triumphs, dreams, physical limits, and adaptation to challenging situations demonstrate verve and potential. At times, I felt I was along with him on his journey.
Well written and captivating, I read this book in a few days.
On August 3, 2017, Antonio Argüelles swam 35 kilometers from Northern Ireland to Scotland. When he arrived on the Scottish shore after a swim of nearly 14 hours through hypothermic currents wearing only a speedo, cap, and goggles, he became just the seventh person ever to conquer the Oceans Seven, an aquatic achievement on par with the Seven Summits. His feat made international news, in part because at 58 years old, he became the oldest athlete ever to complete the challenge. The Forever Swim illuminates key strategies anyone can utilize to pursue their own goals and reminds us that no…
I became a long-distance swimmer in 2020 and have swum around 70 different islands in Tampa Bay, Florida, and beyond. I was the first person to swim around St. Pete Beach in 2022. At the age of 62, my tandem swim partner, Ken Morgan, and I were the Oldest Male-Female Tandem Swim Team to complete 20 Bridges around Manhattan Island. I intend to swim an open water 10K in all 50 states and have completed 19 so far. I want to discover what my body is capable of. I’m a U.S. Army veteran, mother of six, grandmother, and author of 13 books.
Stories of 33 accomplished open water South African swimmers include history-making, record-breaking, courageous, outrageous, and sometimes dangerous swims. The stories show their preparation, training, why they challenge themselves, and how they completed the swims.
I couldn’t put the book down and read it within three days. I devoured each story. Kiki Marx swam across the Dead Sea. Herman Van Der Westhuizen swam several of the Oceans Seven routes and was close to drowning. He felt he challenged himself to the brink of his ability.
Harold Warrington’s advice on how to overcome fatigued muscles was to employ a 10-second rule: complain for 10 seconds and then no more.
This book features the accounts of 33 open water swimmers: their highs and lows, their successes and failures. There are stories of swims done all over the world - including the iconic English Channel and Robben Island crossings - and accounts of record-breaking swims. There are common threads that run through the narratives. From a physical perspective, there's the commitment to hours and hours of training, there the perseverance, tenacity and sometimes discomfort which goes along with that. More importantly, though, it's more often than not the mental aspect that is critical. How else do swimmers go the distance in…
This book is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station in the Svalbard archipelago when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to…
I became a long-distance swimmer in 2020 and have swum around 70 different islands in Tampa Bay, Florida, and beyond. I was the first person to swim around St. Pete Beach in 2022. At the age of 62, my tandem swim partner, Ken Morgan, and I were the Oldest Male-Female Tandem Swim Team to complete 20 Bridges around Manhattan Island. I intend to swim an open water 10K in all 50 states and have completed 19 so far. I want to discover what my body is capable of. I’m a U.S. Army veteran, mother of six, grandmother, and author of 13 books.
Comprehensive description of the Maui Nui, a 30-mile marathon swim endurance challenge over the course of three days.
Jonathan is an excellent storyteller and takes us on a detailed journey of the trials and tribulations of the unpredictability and complexity of his open water challenge in Hawaii. Things don’t often go according to the original plan, and he shows how we must be flexible when the intended start time is delayed, the escort boat breaks down, or when the weather and water conditions are rough.
He shares the safe and unsafe challenges that may arise. This is all part of long-distance swimming. I appreciated the details he provided on feeds, logistics, successes, challenges, and teamwork.
Chasing Limits is the gripping account of an epic four day open ocean adventure known as the Maui Nui; three consecutive stage swims spanning 30 miles in the challenging and unpredictable waters of Hawaii. From the grueling physical preparation to the periods of self-doubt, this book explores the thought process of a relative newcomer to open ocean swimming, attempting to go beyond his comfort limits in order to achieve the impossible. With unforeseen challenges and fierce battles with Mother Nature, the reader will get a true sense of what hard work, commitment, and curiosity can lead to when faced with…
I’m a multi-award-winning picture book author of many types of books, from The Pumpkin Runner to Badger’s Perfect Garden. I’ve always been a reader more than an athlete, but throughout my life, I’ve enjoyed running - running down a dusty Kansas backroad, running to the pasture to call in the cows, running to the stream to climb a cottonwood. When I reached my sixties, I finally decided it was time to run a half-marathon. Partway through the race, I broke my foot! But I persevered. When I crossed the finish line, I felt a little like Joshua Summerhayes in The Pumpkin Runner.
One of the things I love most about this book is the foreword, which was written by Fauja himself – Fauja, the oldest person ever to run a marathon. Fauja was unable to walk until he was five years old and after he walked, he was still very weak. People were always teasing him and telling him he couldn’t do things. There’s a wonderful refrain that runs through the book: “But Fauja did not listen and Fauja did not stop.” At 89, he completed his first marathon. He ran marathons from London to New York to Toronto. The book ends with the Toronto Marathon, in which Fauja set a new world record as the oldest person to run a marathon.
Fauja Singh was born determined. He was also born with legs that wouldn't allow him to play cricket with his friends or carry him to school miles from his village in Punjab. But that didn't stop him. Working on his family's farm, Fauja grew stronger to meet his own full potential.
He never stopped striving. At the age of 81, after a lifetime of making his body, mind, and heart stronger, Fauja decided to run his first marathon. He went on to break records all around the world and became the first person over…
I’m a multi-award-winning picture book author of many types of books, from The Pumpkin Runner to Badger’s Perfect Garden. I’ve always been a reader more than an athlete, but throughout my life, I’ve enjoyed running - running down a dusty Kansas backroad, running to the pasture to call in the cows, running to the stream to climb a cottonwood. When I reached my sixties, I finally decided it was time to run a half-marathon. Partway through the race, I broke my foot! But I persevered. When I crossed the finish line, I felt a little like Joshua Summerhayes in The Pumpkin Runner.
Running was magic to Kathrine Switzer. But she grew up in a time when most people thought women were too fragile to run a race, especially a 26.2-mile marathon. The illustrations are vibrant and the text well-written, with a “Pat, Pat, Pat” refrain which expands as Kathrine runs faster and faster. The story revolves around how Kathrine entered the Boston Marathon in 1967 when it was a race for men only. She was almost stopped during the race by an angry Race Director, who also believed women should not run a marathon. Kathrine persevered and finished! Since 2008, more than 10,000 women have officially entered to run the Boston Marathon.
Kathrine Switzer changed the world of running. This narrative biography follows Kathrine from running laps as a girl in her backyard to becoming the first woman to run the Boston Marathon with official race numbers in 1967. Her inspirational true story is for anyone willing to challenge the rules.
The compelling collage art adds to the kinetic action of the story. With tension and heart, this biography has the influential power to get readers into running. An excellent choice for sports fans, New Englanders, young dreamers, and competitive girls and boys alike.
Tina Edwards loved her childhood and creating fairy houses, a passion shared with her father, a world-renowned architect. But at nine years old, she found him dead at his desk and is haunted by this memory. Tina's mother abruptly moved away, leaving Tina with feelings of abandonment and suspicion.
I get it, to most people running isn’t fun, but its simplicity can be deceptive. To some, running (especially when done in nature) can be a spiritual act. To others, it (along with its cousin jogging) should’ve been included in the Geneva Conventions. Me? I’ve been running since the third grade and watching running for even longer. Growing up, the Olympics were required viewing and an interest in running naturally flowed from it. Fortunately, you don’t have to be a runner to enjoy the great many books out there about runners and their impact on sports, culture, and world events.
For much of the 20th century, women were banned from taking part in some of running’s biggest races, because of misogynistic beliefs about supposed female fragility. A few women were brave enough to challenge this sexist idea by competing in the same arena as men. By 1967, some women had managed to sneak in to run the Boston Marathon, then all-male, but Kathrine Switzer was the first to officially receive a race number by registering with only her initials. Yet her run wasn’t without drama, as Switzer explains firsthand in her book. A race official noticed Switzer running and attempted to force her off the course. Press photographers captured the whole confrontation. When the resulting photos ran in newspapers, it pushed forward the movement for women’s equality in sport.
Katherine Switzer ran the Boston Marathon in 1967 where she was attacked by one of the event's directors who wanted to eject her from the all-male race. She fought off the director and finished the race. From the childhood events that inspired her to winning the New York City Marathon in 1974, this liberally illustrated book details the struggles and achievements of a pioneering women in sports.
I’m a multi-award-winning picture book author of many types of books, from The Pumpkin Runner to Badger’s Perfect Garden. I’ve always been a reader more than an athlete, but throughout my life, I’ve enjoyed running - running down a dusty Kansas backroad, running to the pasture to call in the cows, running to the stream to climb a cottonwood. When I reached my sixties, I finally decided it was time to run a half-marathon. Partway through the race, I broke my foot! But I persevered. When I crossed the finish line, I felt a little like Joshua Summerhayes in The Pumpkin Runner.
Marathon Mouse is a fun story for our littlest runners. Most of the mice living under the bridge between Brooklyn and Staten Island didn’t like the commotion of Marathon Day. But Preston did. Preston braved the crowds and big shoes to run the Marathon himself. And near the finish line, his family, who had told him races weren’t for mice, were there cheering him on.
Marathon Mouse is the only one of my book recommendations about an animal marathon runner. But, as with the books here about people, Preston, the Marathon Mouse, has perseverance and determination and feels joy when he’s running.
The mice of New York City dread the day of the New York City Marathon more than any other-the crowds, the large shoes, the noise. All of them, that is, except for Preston. He and his family live underneath the starting line on the Verrazano Bridge and every year Preston has dreamed of joining all the other runners in the marathon. This year, Preston is determined to make his dream come true, even though his family tells him that mice are not fit to run marathons. He trains hard leading up to the big day and when the race starts,…
When I became a minimalist, I found that having less made my household chores so much easier. Before then, I thought I was a loser who lets dirty dishes and laundry pile up. But when my environment changed, what I had believed was my personality also shifted. Once my apartment was tidy, it became a habit to do the dishes right away and vacuum the floor before going out, and my life became consistently enjoyable. But other habits were harder nuts to crack, like quitting drinking or exercising regularly. In Hello, Habits I write about my journey of acquiring these habits through a process of trial and error.
What really fascinates me about Haruki Murakami is not his body of work per se, but the process through which he rose from anonymity and became a world-renowned author. Until he was 29, he’d never imagined he had the talent to write a novel. Before his rise to fame, novelists were known to live a wild and intemperate existence, drinking lots of alcohol into the wee hours and getting started on their manuscript past deadline. Murakami, however, broke this stereotype as someone who wakes up early, works out every day, and has run multiple full marathons. I have no doubt it was the power of his habits that made him a world-famous author. He even says his motto is to turn himself into “a creature of habits.”
A compelling mediation on the power of running and a fascinating insight into the life of this internationally bestselling writer. A perfect reading companion for runners.
In 1982, having sold his jazz bar to devote himself to writing, Murakami began running to keep fit. A year later, he'd completed a solo course from Athens to Marathon, and now, after dozens of such races, he reflects upon the influence the sport has had on his life and on his writing.
Equal parts travelogue, training log and reminiscence, this revealing memoir covers his four-month preparation for…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
I think that we’re all a Work In Progress whatever our relative levels of success so I’m drawn to people who share that belief, are way out there and are still working on their own stuff. Especially if they’ve managed to do so without becoming a righteous arse in the process.
‘Cos I want reasons to be reminded how incredible it can be to use as much of what we’ve been given and be ALIVE in every sense of the word. I want to keep learning and growing and getting stronger and faster and more bombproof and compassionate and connected as I moved through my fifth decade and beyond. These books really resonate with me – I hope they will for you too.
Britain used to be a hotbed of marathon talent that ruled the world over 26.2 miles decades before Lottery funding. This is a collection of 21 interviews of men and women who left their mark on the sport often by force of will alone. For those of us who grew up watching these people – and I was one - this is the how and why they did it which at the time was the bit that was never really in the spotlight. So it squares the circle for me. And for those of you who came later – welcome to Old School…
After the running boom of the 1980s, British marathon running standards gradually started to decline. This was despite the continued advancements in scientific backup, training methods, equipment, full-time professionalism and sponsorship. As a consequence, in the late 1990s, Gabrielle Collison decided to research the factors as to why this was happening and conducted interviews with some of the top British marathon runners from the previous era. Interviewees include London Marathon winners: Hugh Jones, Mike Gratton, Veronique Marot and Joyce Smith; Olympic bronze medallist, Charlie Spedding; and several other "Big City" marathon winners. The stories about their lifestyles and training make…
