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Swim Reading Challenge

Are you ready for the Olympics? I'm totally stoked, especially to watch my favorite sport of swimming.

To celebrate Olympic swimming and my Young Adult swimming novel Streamline going on sale in August, I'm hosting the SWIM READING CHALLENGE!


The challenge is to read all kinds of books about swimming--novels, short stories, memoirs, biographies, etc. between August and December of 2012.

To participate, post the above button to your blog and leave a comment on this post with your blog url. When you review a swimming novel on your blog, please return and leave a comment with your blog post url and I'll tweet the heck out of it. (Swimming lovers gotta stick together).

To get us started on some recommendations, I created a list on Goodreads HERE. My favorite swimming novels include:

1. Young Woman and the Sea by Glenn Stout HERE...The riveting tale of the first woman to swim across the English Channel

2. Age Is Just a Number by Dara Torres HERE...She won two silver medals at age 41!

3. Swimming to Antartica: Tales of a Long Distance Swimmer by Lynne Cox HERE. Learn about a nutty woman who loves swimming in freezing water!

What are your favorites?

Haven't tried a swimming story before? You can check out my young adult short story Swim Recruit for FREE.

Good luck with the challenge, oh chlorinated ones!

Comments

Roland D. Yeomans said…
Have you ever seen THE SWIMMER, the movie starring Burt Lancaster? He swam constantly in preparation for that, making his whole family join him whether they wanted to or not.

After that movie, he never swam again. He hated it before the movie and definitely after it. Yet, he was a suburb athelete. Human nature, right?
July 26, 2012 at 12:22 AM
Heather Murphy said…
I didn't know Dara wrote a book. I will have to check that one out. She is inspirational! This challenge sounds like fun
July 26, 2012 at 6:56 AM
Alex J. Cavanaugh said…
I admit, I don't think I've ever read a swimming story!
July 26, 2012 at 8:03 AM
Jennifer Lane said…
Roland, I'll have to check out that movie! Thank you for the recommendation. :) Ha ha, swimming isn't for everyone. Compared to other fitness activities, it seems to take more time.
July 26, 2012 at 8:38 AM
Jennifer Lane said…
Heather, I really enjoyed Age Is Just a Number. Dara puts a positive spin on pregnancy's impact on swimming by focusing on how her blood is more oxygenated and her hips are more flexible after giving birth!
July 26, 2012 at 8:39 AM
Jennifer Lane said…
Hey Alex, thanks for stopping by. Perhaps that is a travesty you'll need to rectify? ;)
July 26, 2012 at 8:39 AM
Debra Anastasia said…
Aww Jennifer this is so very cool! I'm a hot tub Olympian. Did I ever tell you about the time I almost killed a little old man in the spa? I was visiting my parents who have three hot tubs at their retirement community and I dip my jiggler in boiling liquid as often as I can. So the timers for the bubbles are set at 15 minutes. I set the one for my tub and notice that the sweet older gentleman in the other tub is almost out of time. So I crank it over to start again. Sort of going on the parking meter theory. Well I pop in my tub and gurgle it up and notice older dude looking around confused. Then I read the sign above the spas about how you should only stay for the allotted time or you'll be turned into chicken jerky or whatever. Then it hit me! The dude waits for his bubbles to stop to know when to get out! I quickly hollered to him, telling him of my "kindness." He was all flushed and purple. I felt awful. He didn't actually die, but sometimes i worry I melted any spare parts he had kicking around.

I love swimming.
July 26, 2012 at 11:08 AM
F. Stone said…
Just thinking about all that swimming gives me the goosebumps. I'm such a wus, Jen. If the pool's not heated, I'll head to the bar and read your book instead.
July 26, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Cherie Colyer said…
Debra, your heart was in the right place. Glad the older gentleman was okay. :)

Jen, I don't believe I've read any swimming stories. None are coming to mind anyway. But Streamline is on my TBR list!
July 26, 2012 at 1:23 PM
Kathy Reads Fiction said…
Very good idea! I checked out the Goodreads list and found a couple that look as though they might tickle my fancy.
July 26, 2012 at 7:16 PM
Jennifer Lane said…
Debra, a hot tub Olympian? I looked at the NBC schedule and didn't see the Hot Tub events...when exactly do those occur? ;) I think the older gentleman needs to get a life. It's up to each of us to determine when we've had our fill of boiling water--no need to rely on a silly timer! (And I always crank the timer to the max when I get in too).
July 26, 2012 at 10:22 PM
Jennifer Lane said…
Feather, the bar sounds like a great alternative to the pool!
July 26, 2012 at 10:23 PM
Jennifer Lane said…
Cherie, not many people know the sport of competitive swimming. The Olympics is about the only time my sport gets attention. But that's ok! Hope the writing is going well.
July 26, 2012 at 10:23 PM
Jennifer Lane said…
Kathy, that's great! I'm excited to find some books on that list I've never heard of. :)
July 26, 2012 at 10:24 PM
Julie Flanders said…
This makes me realize that I've never read a book about swimming! I'm going to check your short story out and get started on rectifying that situation.

Have fun watching the Olympics! :)
July 27, 2012 at 1:46 PM
Jennifer Lane said…
Thanks, Julie! It mentions Cincinnati. ;)
July 28, 2012 at 9:55 AM
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