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On Snooker: The Game and the Characters Who Play It
From his first days as a poolroom hustler playing truant from Baron Byng High School at the Rachel Pool Hall, Mordecai Richler has remained a snooker devotee. In his inimitable style, he delves into the fascinating world of snooker with pith and perception.
But On Snooker is not just a lifelong fan's memoir. It is a brilliantly entertaining history of the game and an account of snooker's bad boy champions, including Alex (The Hurricane) Higgins, Cliff (The Grinder) Thorburn—both Canadian and interviewed for this book—with a chapter devoted to their special exploits and drug escapades. There are other colourful Ronnie (The Rocket) O'Sullivan, whose dad ("Ron's the name, porn's the game") is serving a life sentence for murder. Finally there is Stephen Hendry, the greatest player ever, who has won the world championship a record seven times.
Mordecai Richler also makes clear why many great writers have been fascinated by sports and why snooker and literary readers go together, including Hemingway, Shulberg, Mailer, Roth, Plimpton, Martin Amis, and others.
Very funny, passionate, and thoroughly researched on snooker tables from Montreal's The Main to Dublin, On Snooker is a book lovers of Richler and of great sports writing will cherish.
But On Snooker is not just a lifelong fan's memoir. It is a brilliantly entertaining history of the game and an account of snooker's bad boy champions, including Alex (The Hurricane) Higgins, Cliff (The Grinder) Thorburn—both Canadian and interviewed for this book—with a chapter devoted to their special exploits and drug escapades. There are other colourful Ronnie (The Rocket) O'Sullivan, whose dad ("Ron's the name, porn's the game") is serving a life sentence for murder. Finally there is Stephen Hendry, the greatest player ever, who has won the world championship a record seven times.
Mordecai Richler also makes clear why many great writers have been fascinated by sports and why snooker and literary readers go together, including Hemingway, Shulberg, Mailer, Roth, Plimpton, Martin Amis, and others.
Very funny, passionate, and thoroughly researched on snooker tables from Montreal's The Main to Dublin, On Snooker is a book lovers of Richler and of great sports writing will cherish.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2001
5 people are currently reading
73 people want to read
About the author
Mordecai Richler
90 books371 followersWorking-class Jewish background based novels, which include
The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz
(1959) and
Saint Urbain's Horseman
(1971), of Canadian writer Mordecai Richler.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
People best know Barney's Version (1997) among works of this author, screenwriter, and essayist; people shortlisted his novel Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) for the Man Booker Prize in 1990. He was also well known for the Jacob Two-two stories of children.
A scrap yard dealer reared this son on street in the mile end area of Montréal. He learned Yiddish and English and graduated from Baron Byng High School. Richler enrolled in Sir George Williams College (now Concordia University) to study English but dropped before completing his degree.
Years later, Leah Rosenberg, mother of Richler, published an autobiography, The Errand Runner: Memoirs of a Rabbi's Daughter (1981), which discusses birth and upbringing of Mordecai and the sometime difficult relationship.
Richler, intent on following in the footsteps of many of a previous "lost generation" of literary exiles of the 1920s from the United States, moved to Paris at age of 19 years in 1950.
Richler returned to Montréal in 1952, worked briefly at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and then moved to London in 1954. He, living in London meanwhile, published seven of his ten novels as well as considerable journalism.
Worrying "about being so long away from the roots of my discontent", Richler returned to Montréal in 1972. He wrote repeatedly about the Jewish community of Montréal and especially portraying his former neighborhood in multiple novels.
In England in 1954, Richler married Catherine Boudreau, a French-Canadian divorcée nine years his senior. On the eve of their wedding, he met Florence Wood Mann, a young married woman, who smited him.
Some years later, Richler and Mann divorced and married each other. He adopted Daniel Mann, her son. The couple had five children together: Daniel, Jacob, Noah, Martha and Emma. These events inspired his novel Barney's Version.
Richler died of cancer.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
August 19, 2017
Dei romanzi di Richler ho letto soltanto (e banalmente) La versione di Barney, trovandolo (ovviamente) irresistibile. Nient'altro, al momento. Però, dopo che un po' per caso (una bancarella di libri usati) mi è capitato tra le mani questo Il mio biliardo, presumo che un piano di recupero degli altri titoli sia inevitabile. Si tratta del suo ultimo lavoro, una raccolta di articoli o mini saggi para-monografici sullo snooker e i suoi campioni, sport di cui il buon Mordecai era un grandissimo appassionato. Come è lecito attendersi, si va ben oltre la cronaca d'ordinanza. L'aneddotica prende campo in un turbillon di digressioni che tratteggiano un sottobosco umano problematico, ventrale e scellerato dietro alle figure pubbliche degli assi del tavolo verde, un formicolare di vizi, ossessioni, turbe e manie che ne fanno delle specie di rockstar maledette laddove le rockstar "vere" sono ormai uomini d'affari supportati da stilisti d'alto bordo. La narrazione, disincantata fino all'osso, incrocia traiettorie angolatissime con altri sport, questioni politiche e letterarie, valutazioni filosofiche col retrogusto di single malt e scatarrate di tabacco. Poco conta che il lettore, tipo il sottoscritto, poco o nulla sappia di snooker: godrà ugualmente di una scrittura che rotola come palle d'avorio (o pseudo) su un piano inclinato, senza evitare le buche più dure, né le steccate più avventurose. E che amarezza quel finale che ipotizza una prospettiva infinita di tornei, pochi mesi prima che un Mordecai Richler all'apice della forma lasciasse questo sciocco pianeta.
February 16, 2021
“Wayne Gretzky... is one of the most boring men I have ever met.” I love this.
May 9, 2018
I'm a deeply committed snooker fan. Last night I cried when Mark Williams won at The Crucible. We get it a day late or I'd have seen it live. My fantasy trip is 17 days in Sheffield. I play snooker. I play twice a week. In preparation for the watching the world championships last year, I had charts stuck up on the fridge door with the roster of games and eliminations and also short bios of the main players, most of whom I know more about than many of my own relatives. Uh, yeah. Sooooo, this is not a book that would be much fun if you're not heavily devoted to the nuances and heartbreak and glory that are part and parcel of time spent at the snooker table or watching other people at the table. I had no idea Mordecai Richler wrote this book but a friend pointed it out to me and I ordered it and I read it. I skipped some parts about the history of the game that went on for too long (too long for me). Overall, though, it was a great read. So, if you happen to be watching my reviews AND are crazy about snooker, this one's for you for.
I only cried because I was happy and I felt both Higgins and Williams deserved the win, it was an incredible final few frames. And it was late. And I was tired. And yeah, I just love watching snooker and things make me cry, even snooker.
Okay, on to the next book...
Rack 'em,
Fishgirl (no wonder my house is a tip, all this snooker, fishing, reading... I may clean it today. Maybe. Maybe...)
I only cried because I was happy and I felt both Higgins and Williams deserved the win, it was an incredible final few frames. And it was late. And I was tired. And yeah, I just love watching snooker and things make me cry, even snooker.
Okay, on to the next book...
Rack 'em,
Fishgirl (no wonder my house is a tip, all this snooker, fishing, reading... I may clean it today. Maybe. Maybe...)
May 19, 2017
There aren't too many snooker books that write in the style of Mordecai Richler. His style is witty, sarcastic, and at times patronising.
In fact, you would think he was taking the michael out of the game's "characters" when reading this book.
The Snooker Scene, led by Clive Everton, is described as "Sandherdin" - in other words, a clique, there's great anecdotes darted around the book, and even Sheffield is given its own sarcastic take.
In fact, the first two words of the book are indeed taken up by the Editor of snooker's only magazine, Snooker Scene's Everton.
Remember, the guy was Canadian, and back in Canada, snooker and pool were for hustlers back then, and he has a great short interview with Cliff Thorburn in the book. A must read if you are a true snooker fan!
In the new era of snooker, it's a shame there aren't many Canadians coming through the professional ranks.
For me, it's an outsider's sarcastic take on the world of snooker - looking in on a game that has throughout its short boom, been through the mill one way or the other.
I'd definitely loved to have had a one to one with this guy!
In fact, you would think he was taking the michael out of the game's "characters" when reading this book.
The Snooker Scene, led by Clive Everton, is described as "Sandherdin" - in other words, a clique, there's great anecdotes darted around the book, and even Sheffield is given its own sarcastic take.
In fact, the first two words of the book are indeed taken up by the Editor of snooker's only magazine, Snooker Scene's Everton.
Remember, the guy was Canadian, and back in Canada, snooker and pool were for hustlers back then, and he has a great short interview with Cliff Thorburn in the book. A must read if you are a true snooker fan!
In the new era of snooker, it's a shame there aren't many Canadians coming through the professional ranks.
For me, it's an outsider's sarcastic take on the world of snooker - looking in on a game that has throughout its short boom, been through the mill one way or the other.
I'd definitely loved to have had a one to one with this guy!
September 20, 2023
Solo Mordecai Richler può rendere interessante un libro che parla di uomini e di palle.
January 7, 2019
Not as much about snooker as I'd hoped. Lots of digressions. Still fun to read.
Highlight: constant bashing of the player Stephen Lee for no apparent reason.
Highlight: constant bashing of the player Stephen Lee for no apparent reason.
October 25, 2018
Come ha fatto??!!
Il Signor Mordecai Richler ha avuto il cattivo gusto di abbandonarci su questo pianeta inopinatamente in maniera prematura, se avesse aspettato ancora qualche anno, il nostro beneamato scriba, probabilmente ci avrebbe proposto un libro sulla sua nota spese del supermercato o sul variegato mondo dei superalcoolici... e ci scommetto la tredicesima che sarebbe stato un gran bel libro!
Per intanto accontentiamoci del Biliardo, non sarà la sua opera migliore, ma è l'ultima (mi fa tristezza rileggere qui alcune sue frasi, sapendo che pochi mesi dopo sarebbe morto) e forse non aveva ancora scritto un libro di troppo.
Il Signor Mordecai Richler ha avuto il cattivo gusto di abbandonarci su questo pianeta inopinatamente in maniera prematura, se avesse aspettato ancora qualche anno, il nostro beneamato scriba, probabilmente ci avrebbe proposto un libro sulla sua nota spese del supermercato o sul variegato mondo dei superalcoolici... e ci scommetto la tredicesima che sarebbe stato un gran bel libro!
Per intanto accontentiamoci del Biliardo, non sarà la sua opera migliore, ma è l'ultima (mi fa tristezza rileggere qui alcune sue frasi, sapendo che pochi mesi dopo sarebbe morto) e forse non aveva ancora scritto un libro di troppo.
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June 17, 2019Finito nel 01/gen/1970 00:00:00
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March 4, 2020Incipit
Di recente Clive Everton [...]
Il mio biliardo Incipitmania
Di recente Clive Everton [...]
Il mio biliardo Incipitmania
September 19, 2023
Bien mais leger, seul mes souvenirs de Stephen Hendry à rds m’ont vraiment accrochés.
March 19, 2025
Non sto nemmeno a sforzarmi di scrivere una recensione per sto elenco caotico di nomi di giocatori.
September 22, 2019
Nel suo consueto tono ironico e irriverente, l'autore tratta qui della passione che appare in sottotraccia in molte delle sue opere, quella per lo sport (condivisa con altri autori, come viene chiarito nel capitolo finale). Forse, nella nutrita produzione di Richler, il meno digeribile per un lettore italiano (noi siamo poco abituati a vedere lo sport elevato a fenomeno letterario), ma ugualmente affascinante, appunto perché analizza i motivi per cui spesso i grandi scrittori sono contemporaneamente grandi tifosi.
February 24, 2014
Non è avvincente, è interessante. Si concentra sullo snooker e non sul biliardo in senso generico, come il titolo lascia intuire. Scritto in maniera impeccabile, questo libro racconta la storia di questo sport e dei suoi campioni, ognuno con le sue particolarità, con i suoi pregi e le sue manie. Richler è chiaramente uno scrittore di parte, che adora le giocate di Stephan Hendry e non ama il carattere di Ronnie O'Sullivan. In 180 pagine si legge dunque la storia dello snooker nella seconda metà del 900, con evidenti richiami storici e approfondimenti interessanti. Il mio biliardo piace anche a chi non ha mai impugnato una stecca, nella stessa misura in cui chi non ha mai impugnato una canna da pesca segue con passione e attenzione i canali di pesca sportiva.
November 14, 2010
Deludente.
August 4, 2018
Finito nel 01/gen/1970 00:00:00
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews