Novels involving darts?
October 11, 2015 4:04 PM   Subscribe

A friend's birthday is coming up. He likes to play darts (plays in a league) and he likes to read. I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions for gifts that might combine both.

He's into contemporary novels as well as Science-Fiction. Good non-fiction recommendations (but not How To guides) also appreciated.
posted by jaguar to Media & Arts (6 answers total)
 
Best answer: London Fields by Martin Amis, darts is central to the plot and this is an excellent book.
posted by biffa at 4:10 PM on October 11, 2015 [6 favorites]


James Kipling's The Dart Murders seems to have some good reviews on Goodreads. I can't give it a personal recc, tho, as I haven't read it!
posted by clone boulevard at 4:53 PM on October 11, 2015


Best answer: Haven't read it, but The Dart League King got a lot of buzz when it came out a few years ago—a small-town darts champ fights back Raymond-Carver-type problems.
posted by Polycarp at 7:56 PM on October 11, 2015


Darts players can be actual celebrities in the UK, and thus there are some biographies of darts players -- here's an autobiography of Phil "The Power" Taylor for example.
posted by mmoncur at 9:26 PM on October 11, 2015


Best answer: In the same vein as mmoncur's suggestion, Sid Waddell wrote Bellies and Bullseyes: The Outrageous True Story of Darts. Waddell was regarded as being one of the most entertaining commentators of any UK sport, described in the Guardian thus "Sid Waddell's commentaries are the black puddings of sports reporting, savoury, hot and bursting with blood and guts". Waddell was renowned for his turn of phrase with the mic in hand and while I haven't read this book I am tempted to as a result of coming it across it now. Examples of his best lines.
posted by biffa at 4:23 AM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thank you all! I purchased (gently used) copies of London Fields, The Dart League King, and Bellies and Bullseyes. (The Dart Murders is ebook only, and he doesn't have an e-reader.) I'll be looking for bullseye wrapping paper as I wait for them to arrive.
posted by jaguar at 1:03 PM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


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