A day all about skateboarding? How could I miss the opportunity to give you all book recs? I chose five books that are sure to give you all the feels, insight, and comfort after skateboarding all day. Hopefully, it isn’t over 100 degrees outside where you are like it is here in Louisiana. Maybe add a bottle of water along with the book to your next skate sesh, just in case. There’s a little bit for everyone on this list, whether you like memoirs, graphic novels, or fiction, so let me help you pick your next read!
1. The Most Fun Thing: Dispatches from a Skateboard Life by Kyle Beachy
“As readable as a skate mag and as complex as the best fiction, The Most Fun Thing imbricates themes of meaning, community, and the soul, and will leave you marveling at skateboarding’s mystery and hopeful for its future. A book as much for the skateboarder as the artist and the writer, the thinker, the feeler.”
―Mark Suciu, Thrasher Magazine’s 2021 Skater of the Year
You can always count on Beachy to write honest and illuminating work on the pastime he picked up as a child and continued into adulthood. He’s made a voice for himself in skate culture, which lands him the first spot on my book rec list.
Beachy explores what skateboarding means and what it means to continue skateboarding four decades after the kickflip was invented. How do you live authentically as an adult while staying true to your childhood passions? Find out his thoughts on these questions and more as he explores the lessons this hobby has taught him and continues to teach him as he finds space for it in adulthood.
2. Hawk: Occupation: Skateboarder by Tony Hawk and Sean Mortimer
It isn’t a skateboarding book rec list without a book by the one and only—Tony Hawk.
Fractured ribs, broken bones, and knock-outs didn’t stop Tony Hawk from inventing over eighty tricks and becoming the name everyone knows.
Follow the story as Hawk shares the less glamorous side of being a skateboarder. Having fought his way to the top, he’s seen it all, but nothing topped losing his number one fan and supporter—his dad. Read his stories of love, loss, and the determination that would shape his life. He even looks back on his experiences with skateboarding legends Stacy Peralta, Eddie Elguera, Lance Mountain, Mark Gonzalez, Bob Burnquist, and Colin Mckay.
3. Double Take: A Memoir by Kevin Michael Connolly
“Beautiful, revealing, and stimulating…[Connolly] is a good storyteller…whether describing his first high school wrestling match, the path from novice to champion skier or what it’s like to travel around the world on a skateboard.”
—Publishers Weekly
We all know the name, Kevin Connolly. Having been born without legs, Kevin travels the world on his skateboard with his camera. He captures pictures along the way of people’s reactions and truly finds out what it means to be human.
This breathtaking journey will change how you look at yourself, others, and the world.
4. Street Angel: Deadliest Girl Alive by Jim Rugg and Brian Maruca
How could I not add this kick-ass graphic novel of a girl fighting crime and skateboarding? You miss every shot you don’t take, and I wasn’t missing this one.
Described as a “homeless ninja girl on a skateboard,” this graphic novel follows Jesse Sanchez, who kicks ass, fights bullies, and rescues a stray dog. She even apparently saves Christmas? There seems to be a lot to unpack here, so add this quirky book to your TBR if graphic novels are your thing.
5. The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell: A Novel by Robert Dugoni
“We realize it is in those quiet moments that each of us has the ability to make our lives extraordinary.”
—Robert Dugoni
Nothing hits home like a good coming-of-age novel. Sam Hill was born with red pupils and was constantly made fun of by his classmates. He had his mother, father, and two misfit friends to keep him upright. Sam knew Ernie Cantwell was the friend he desperately needed, and Mickie Kennedy uprooted every rule Sam had been taught.
Now, forty years later, Sam is an eye doctor in a small town after turning his back on his friends, his own small town, and the tragedy that followed. He dives into a journey that takes him around the world with a clear view of what changed him.
This book will have you in your feels, so make sure you’re ready!
Looking for more book recs? We obviously have you covered! Click here.