Last spring, I was interested in reading a good boxing book. I put the message out on here and was strongly urged to read The Harder They Fall, by Budd Schulberg. It was an excellent, excellent book. So, I’m doing it again. This time looking for recommendations on a good hockey book. Thank you, HBO 24-7, for recapturing my interest in the sport.

Looking for suggestions, but here are six I pulled off Amazon that look solid. Leave insights in the comments and help me spend those Kindle dollars, puck fiends.

The Game by Ken Dryden

Tretiak : The Legend by Vladislav Tretiak

The Code: The Unwritten Rules Of Fighting And Retaliation In The NHL by Ross Bernstein

Why Is the Stanley Cup in Mario Lemieux’s Swimming Pool?: How Winners Celebrate With the World’s Most Famous Cup by Kevin Allen

Goon: The True Story of an Unlikely Journey into Minor League Hockey by Adam Frattasio

Blades of Glory: The True Story of a Young Team Bred to Win by John Rosengren

Last week, I put out the word that I was in the market for a good boxing book – despite the fact that my reading list is constantly beating me into submission. Great comments and emails followed from some of the most respected boxing voices online (Bill Dwyre (LA Times), Bryan Brennan (Bry Guy Boxing), Ryan from Fightlinker, and the guys from the fantastic No Mas). In the interest of not just moving on to the next one, I decided to post a follow-up and crowdsource the ultimate purchase decision.

I included all the suggestions that were put forth, plus W.C. Heinz’s The Professional because from what I hear it at least deserves to be in the final conversation. Hit the poll, and I will quite simply buy and read one of these tales from the ring.

The Great Prize Fight, by Alan Lloyd

Atlas: From the Streets to the Ring, by Teddy Atlas

Ghosts of Manila, by Mark Kram

The Harder They Fall, by Budd Schulberg

Maybe it’s because I’ve been reading a lot of deranged fiction lately (Bret Easton Ellis), and need to get the aggression out, or maybe it’s because I just really like boxing. Either way, I haven’t read a good sports book in awhile (about two months; read When March Went Mad during March Madness), and I’m interested in reading a great book about boxing. Looking for suggestions.

Here are eight I pulled off Amazon. Leave insights in the comments, fellow fans of pugilist lit.

The Greatest Boxing Stories Ever Told: Thirty-Six Incredible Tales from the Ring, edited by Jeff Silverman

The Sweet Science, by A.J. Liebling

My View from the Corner: A Life in Boxing, by Angelo Dundee

Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson, by Wil Haygood

The Professional, by W.C. Heinz

The Arc of Boxing: The Rise and Decline of the Sweet Science, by Mike Silver

Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship, by Dave Kindred

Four Kings: Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Duran and the Last Great Era of Boxing, by George Kimball

(Photo via NY Mag)

I’m thoroughly enjoying Treme. By no large stretch of the imagination is this because of familiar key players involved: David Simon, Eric Overmyer, David Mills (R.I.P.), Clarke Peters, Wendell Pierce, George Pelecanos – to name a handful. Each one of these people were involved in The Wire, a show which I devoured in it’s five season entirety in roughly eight months.

Last night’s fourth episode, At the Foot of Canal Street, was written by Wire producer/writer mainstay George Pelecanos. He was responsible – at least as much that he wrote the episode – for penning the The Wire terminology Hamsterdam, which got a call-out in last night’s episode of Treme.

Before I go too far down the The Wire nerd-hole, let me just stop and say that Pelecanos is seriously good at writing television drama. Those that want to continue to search for correlations between the two show, let me redirect you to today’s AV Club’s Stray Observations about Treme.

Pelecanos is also an accomplished author. He’s published a slew of novels, all in the genre of gritty detective fiction. All his books are set in Washington, D.C. – interesting b/c the T.V. shows he’s worked on – counting The Wire and Treme – only deal with the capital city on an ancillary level.

Personally, I’m interested in checking out what Pelecanos has to offer via lexicon. A little cursory research suggests if you’re going to read one, read King Suckerman. The Library Journal called it “Cheech and Chong meet Pulp Fiction in a retro novel of Seventies drug culture.” Plus, I think Puff Daddy tried to make it into a movie in the late-90′s (when he was called Puff Daddy).

Anyone familiar with Pelecanos’ literature, feel free to offer and alternative or words of encouragement to check out King Suckerman. Judging by my current acquaintance with his work, I’m going to like whatever it is.