Noam: fever pitch by Nick Hornby
On the third of September 1967 I was a bar mitzvah. Something else momentous happened that day; I went to my first Arsenal match. Robert took me and Kenny, I was hooked from day 1. This was in the days when you could stand and the crowd was packed in and could sing and chant. This was clearly another religious experience. It also had a whiff of violence, people would regularly get hurt at every game. I never got involved with any violence (obviously) but I certainly did see some, mostly driven by alcohol. I lost my fanatical interest around 1972 when I went to Israel but they were a great few years. When being a great club involved training players not buying them worldwide. Reading this may help you understand the fanaticism.
Yoni: Saturday by Ian Mcewan.
This book does not have a bit of me in it but it did make me think a little differently. A neurosurgeon (violence averse just like most of us) and the violence which transforms his family. I took this to Israel expecting it to read like atonement, all upper class twerps and a kid that needs a smack around the head. It was nothing like that at all and I think you will love it, all be it rather English.
