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By Eilene Zimmerman
Winning the Woman’s Way
Only 4 percent of high school athletes in 1971 were female. A year later, Congress enacted Title IX, legislation that prohibited gender discrimination in public schools, and today nearly a third of all high school athletes are girls.
In You Go Girl!* (Andrews McMeel, $22.95), La Jolla authors Kim Doren and Charlie Jones—the veteran sports broadcaster—have collected the memories and impressions of successful women athletes who came before and after Title IX. The tales—told in the women’s own words—are surprisingly forthright and poignant, giving us rare insight into the mind of the female athlete.
Tennis great Chris Everet talks candidly about her toughest defeat, in the 1984 U.S. Open finals against Martina Navratilova. She recalls going up to the net to shake hands but not being able to speak. “I couldn’t say, ‘Nice match.’ I couldn’t say, ‘You played great.’ I couldn’t put my arms around her. I wasn’t mad, I was devastated. I just wanted to burst into tears,” says Everet. “I felt like I played the best I could, and I still couldn’t beat her.”
Also Out from Local Authors
The Salk Institute *(Princeton Architectural Press, $19.95): This book, one of four new releases in the Building Block Series, is a collection of Ezra Stoller’s photographs of the Salk Institute in La Jolla. Stoller, now retired, is one of the world’s most esteemed architectural photographers. His images capture the austere beauty of Louis I. Kahn’s design, proving that science and art can go hand-in-hand.
Managing Smart* (Cashman Dudley, $26.95): Lynne Milgram, Alan Spector and Matt Treger, MBA graduates of San Diego State University, have put together an easy-to-use, wide-ranging reference guide for managers under pressure to improve performance and reduce costs.
Making Weight (Gurze Books, $14.95): San Diegan Leigh Cohn, with coauthors Thomas Holbrook and Arnold Andersen, claims this is the first book ever written about men and eating disorders. They certainly know their subject: Andersen is a world authority on eating disorders; Cohn has coauthored 10 books on the subject; and Holbrook is a recovered anorexic/compulsive exerciser.
Blanca’s Feather (Rising Moon, $15.95): San Diegan Antonio Hernandez Madrigal has written a charming story about Rosalia, a little girl who loses her hen on the way to chapel. It’s a tale of ritual and friendship, with richly textured, whimsical illustrations by Gerardo Suzan.
Olympic gold-medal swimmer Amy Van Dyken talks about being forced to choose swimming over good health. An asthmatic, Van Dyken needs medicine to breathe normally—medication banned by the International Swimming Federation and the Olympic Games. Says Van Dyken: “If I make the team, the Sydney Games will be it. I think the toughest thing to overcome is knowing that I have to choose my sport over my life.”
But really, for all of the women in this book, sports is their life. The court, the field, the pool, the green—these are the places that nurtured their spirits and helped them grow.
Earlier this year, the San Diego Book Awards Association honored local authors for novels written or published in 1999. Two titles that garnered awards were Girl in Hyacinth Blue* by Susan Vreeland and Different Just Like Me* by Lori Mitchell. Both were reviewed in this column (our review of Girl in Hyacinth Blue beat The New York Times’ by weeks). Both books are extraordinary.
In a way, it’s disheartening that San Diego Magazine is the only major local publication reviewing local authors. San Diego Union-Tribune books editor Arthur Salm thinks his reviewers have bigger fish to fry. In a July 2 column, he wrote of his readers, “... [they] do not pick up the Sunday Books section in order to see what has been written by people who happen to live in San Diego County.” It’s more likely that San Diegans who want to read literate reviews of national books look to national publications like The New York Times. To read about local talent, they can come to us.
In that regard, we’re establishing the San Diego Magazine Book Awards. Winners will be announced on this page in April 2001. Any book we review during 2000 will be eligible (sorry, no self-published titles). Stay tuned for more details.
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