Playing Days: A Novel
Written by Benjamin Markovits
Narrated by Zach Villa
2/5
()
About this audiobook
Available for the first time in the United States, acclaimed novelist Benjamin Markovits’s Playing Days is a mostly autobiographical narrative concerning the author’s season playing minor league professional basketball in Germany and the love affair with another player’s estranged wife that ushers him into adulthood.
Growing up in Texas, Ben experienced basketball as a mostly solitary pursuit, one he gave up after riding the bench in high school. But as his college classmates prepare for the real world, Ben is seized by an idea. All he needs is a video camera, an empty court, and his mother’s German citizenship.
Improbably, he lands a roster spot on a lower division pro team in Landshut, forty-five minutes outside of Munich. It’s Ben’s first taste of competition in years, not to mention his first job. And like most jobs, it’s defined by repetition, boredom, and gossip. There’s Charlie, the trash-talking mercenary from Chicago; the coach, Herr Henkel, a recently retired player anxious to justify his paycheck; and Karl (based on the author’s real life relationship with Dirk Nowitski), a gangly teenage prodigy flashing the raw talent that will make him an NBA star. As a group of men learn how to navigate one another, Ben falls in love with the young mother of a teammate’s child, and begins an affair that will change his life.
Wry, poignant, and tenderly observed, Playing Days is an evocative meditation on the joys of youth, the triumphs and terrors of post-college life, and one of the best books ever written about what basketball can mean to an American man.
Benjamin Markovits
Benjamin Markovits grew up mostly in Texas and London. He has published eight award-winning adult novels. He lives with his family in London, where he teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Related to Playing Days
Related audiobooks
Sometimes You Have to Cross When It Says Don't Walk: A Memoir of Breaking Barriers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Breakheart Hill Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5City of Rocks Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sirius: A Novel About the Little Dog Who Almost Changed History Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Off-Islander Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Lonesome Dove Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMurderers' Row: Original Baseball Mysteries: Volume 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPlaying the Pools Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nearer Home: A Nola Cespedes Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCalamity at the Continental Club Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBroken Piano for President Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Crazy Heart: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5And It Will Be a Beautiful Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The O'Briens Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5'Til Niagara Falls Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Night Book Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Home Field: A Novel Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Each Man's Son Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/531 Bond Street: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Coldest Night Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Good Son Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5World, Chase Me Down Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/58 Tales of Noir Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It's Fine By Me Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Unpossessed City: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shadow Song Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nine Under Par Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKnown Dead Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hell or High Water Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Pavillion on the Links Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Coming of Age Fiction For You
Parable of the Sower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dutch House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tom Lake: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The People We Keep Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Perks of Being a Wallflower Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Missing Girls: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Honey and Spice: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sing, Unburied, Sing: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5GO AS A RIVER: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To Kill a Mockingbird Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5West with Giraffes: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mary Jane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Berry Pickers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Earth Remains: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Yellow Wife: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Half Moon: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A River of Golden Bones: Book One of the Golden Court Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers in the Attic: 40th Anniversary Edition Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Great Gatsby Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5If We Were Villains: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Half Broke Horses: A True-Life Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ordinary Grace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Maame: A Today Show Read With Jenna Book Club Pick Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Playing Days
4 ratings0 reviews