FEATURED: Snooker Books

Happy New Year! Hope 2019 will be a good year for everyone!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and you received a lovely range of presents. For many of you who haven’t a clue and received money and vouchers instead, then look no further!

There are many books that every man and his dog seem to have read that I haven’t: Jimmy White’s Second Wind, Say Goodnight JV by John Virgo, Interesting by Steve Davis and one of the more recent books Simply The Best, which is a biography of Ronnie O’Sullivan by commentator Clive Everton. There’s plenty of reading.

Below are the books I’ve read so far, ranging from autobiographies, fact books and compilations. These books are from my perspective and I’ll try and be as accurate as I can. Read and then spend, spend, spend!

The Crucible’s Greatest Matches: Forty Years of Snooker’s World Championship in Sheffield (Hector Nunns – 2017)

The Crucible’s Greatest Matches describes 20 Crucible matches from journalist Hector Nunns’s perspective since 1979. Of course, I would love to know the backstory of Dechawat Poomjaeng vs. Stephen Maguire (2013), but oh well.

The book delves into each and every match in brilliant depth. It lists why it’s important, how the match panned out and the aftermath in great detail. We have the iconic Dennis Taylor vs. Steve Davis (1985), watched by 18.5 million people. We have the heartbreak of Stephen Hendry vs. Jimmy White and how the Whirlwind managed to recover from such a devastating loss. Then we have the clash of heads in Peter Ebdon vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan (2005). Finally, we have the match that got me into snooker in the first place: Judd Trump vs. Ding Junhui in 2011 – of course, that match is the highlight for me.

What is also interesting is that it slowly brings about any controversies outside of the green baize and how that had any impact. The match between Steve Davis vs. John Higgins (2010) lead to the events of the match-fixing scandal in Kiev with undercover reporters from News of the World. That made his 2011 World Championship victory even sweeter with that story in the background. The fact that these matches are linked together well shows how well this is written.

It’s always a refreshing read come Crucible time and almost warms you up to what you might expect every year. More importantly, it sums up why we all love snooker so much over the years – the intrigue, the passion, and the glory. All happening at snooker’s greatest stage!

Running (Ronnie O’Sullivan – 2014)

Ronnie O’Sullivan wrote a fair few books. His first one was published in 2004 and then went on to write a trio of novels known as the Soho Nights series, for some odd reason. But I am talking about his second autobiography he released before those novels, Running.

The book gives insight into his life, both as a snooker professional, where he talks about the highs and lows of his career and as a family man, such as his relationships with his father, his children, and his ex-partner. Though it gives a general overview of his life, it mainly details between the time he won the 2012 World Championship and announced his sabbatical to when he defended his crown the following year. In his book, he described that period as the craziest 12 months of his life.

Then comes the main theme – running. It talks about his motivations for running; how it became his religion; and why he says it saved his career. Being a runner, this really interests me. There is a fair bit of psychology of it and where running took him, in terms of meeting people, participating in races and more importantly, keeping his mind sane, with the help of Dr. Steve Peters of course. It’s a seriously good read and gives plenty of good advice on running and how to focus on the more important aspects of life and to not let things overwhelm you again.

Me And The Table (Stephen Hendry – 2018)

You know Stephen Hendry as a cold and unforgiving character on the green baize? You know Stephen Hendry as a person who hates losing and is driven only to win and be the best in the world? Well, after reading Me And The Table, you couldn’t be more right.

What is fascinating about this autobiography is how he shaped himself to be this way. What was his drive? How did it grow stronger under the guidance of manager Ian Doyle? How much did he have to sacrifice to learn his craft to get to the top? What did he learn from the previous dominant force of the game Steve Davis? How did he cope with being No. 1 in the world for eight consecutive seasons?

As we delve deeper through the pages, we understand Stephen Hendry’s decline. When did his dominance begin to slip away? Why did he retire? How does he feel about it now?

This is a brilliant book with refreshing yet brutal honesty from the King of the Crucible while he talks about what it took to be a legend in snooker but how the sport can unravel you either physically or mentally. It’s an easy read of 300 pages which isn’t too bad but it’s a must for every snooker fan.

The Little Book Of Snooker (Sean Boru – 2010)

If you need a small book full of random rules of snooker, the history of snooker, quotes and anecdotes, then you are in luck.

Sean Boru was an accomplished actor and author. He was the ghost writer for an edition of Alex Higgins’s autobiography, which was published in May 2007, so he had a lot of snooker know-how. What’s more, his little book includes a foreword from Jimmy White. The Little Book Of Snooker is a fun read because it included a number of interesting stats and some brilliant stories and memories.

You find out many weird and wonderful facts and trivia such as:

• Why was Alex Higgins’s sandwich mistaken for a bomb?
• How did Joe Johnson save the Hurricane’s life?
• What is the purpose of cue tip chalk?
• Who won the fastest 9-frame match in just 34 minutes?
• When was the first ever total clearance made on a snooker table?
• Which queen was rumoured to have made a bizarre request that her body was to be wrapped in the green baize?

This is by far the easiest read on this list. It only has just over 100 pages. It’s quite small so it makes great London tube reading. Though some trivia may be slightly out of date now, it is rich in odd facts that are worth a snigger!

Snooker Legends: On The Road And Off The Table With The Game’s Greatest (Jason Francis – 2018)

Ever since Aaron Canavan won the 2018 World Seniors Championship, I heard a lot more about Jason Francis, the organiser of the Snooker Legends Exhibition circuit. As the World Seniors tour started to rapidly expand, I came across this book, which was published only last year.

In short, Snooker Legends is a book about the author ending up playing a massive part in the sport he loves. From being a frustrated actor to founding a UK Children’s Theatre company, we read about how Snooker Legends came to be. This ranged from sacking Alex Higgins, interviewing Tony Drago, supporting Ronnie O’Sullivan, managing Jimmy White and witnessing the incredible atmosphere of a full house in Goffs, Ireland.

This is a very intriguing book. It’s a book on how you can make an idea a reality in the world of snooker. The Snooker Legends Tour is Jason’s baby, after all. We read about the decisions Jason had to face to make the events more exciting and fresh.  We also learn how he developed the World Seniors Tour. He draws a lot of inspiration from Barry Hearn. It’s nice to see the business-savvy side of snooker and to see how an idea can be developed and the obstacles he came across.

Who knows, maybe we will see a book by Barry Hearn himself in the future…