basketball & books

wnba playoffs edition

Hey! You’re here. Thank you!

If you follow me anywhere you know I love the WNBA. Just last week I told you about my WNBA card collection. There are a lot of new eyes on the league which is thrilling, but some of us have known all along.

One thing about me is I am going to continue to push the limits of this little “book” newsletter. Here I am once again shamelessly using here newsletter to expound on my various non-book interests (mostly basketball, gay shit, and dogs).

But wait! If you thought books & women’s basketball were two totally separate hyper fixations, I am here to tell you there is middle to that venn diagram!

Same, Kamala, same.

With all that said, I am back with some basketball & book pairings. If you like this, check out my book pairings for last year's final four. Also if you like this, we should probably be friends.

We’re so back.

I am nothing if not committed to the bit.

NEW YORK LIBERTY

First up we have the New York Liberty led by Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Ellie the Elephant. The Liberty lost a heartbreaker to Las Vegas in the Finals last year and they are hungry for revenge.

My first pick is The Fran Lebowitz Reader, a collection by my personal favorite New York writer and surprising WNBA fan, Fran Lebowitz herself. Fran famously hates sports, but her multiple appearances courtside at Liberty games says otherwise.

According to reddit the Liberty are undefeated when Fran is in attendance.

My next pick is a novel by Fran Lebowitz’s Nobel Laureate best friend, Toni Morrison. Jazz is fresh in my mind because we just read it for The Stacks book club. Like all of Morrison’s work this novel is complex, layered, and full of juicy, unforgettable scenes. This is unquestionably a New York novel

The third pick for the Liberty is Brooklyn by Colm Toibin. The Liberty play in the Barclays center in Brooklyn. What do you want from me?

LAS VEGAS ACES

The Las Vegas Aces are the defending champions and are looking not only to defend their title but to become the first team since the Houston Comets to win three championships in a row. Led by the unanimous MVP, A’ja Wilson, this feels very possible.

My first pick is speaks for herself: Dear Black Girls by A’ja Wilson. Not only is she the MVP, but A’ja Wilson is a published author, and I think people should talk about that more. No one is doing it like her.

If you have ever watched an interview with A’ja Wilson and her teammates, particularly Sydney Colson, you know that the Las Vegas Aces are the funniest team in the league. I’ve never seen a team laugh so much in their media and interviews. For this reason, I am pairing them with the funniest writer working today, Samantha Irby, and particularly her collection, Wow, No Thank you. If any of the Aces are looking for something fun to read in the offseason, I think they would get a kick out of Samantha Irby.

Finally, I am pairing the Aces with All About Love by bell hooks. This team is hilarious, and the love and care they have for each other is evident in everything they do from the way they embraced their rookie Kate Martin to the speech A’ja Wilson gave to her teammates after she broke the single season scoring record. This team has so much love for each other.

THE MINNESOTA LYNX

If there were an underdog in these playoffs it might be The Minnesota Lynx. But it’s hard to call a team led by heavyweight players like Napheesa Collier and Kayla McBride an underdog squad. They have something to prove and I wouldn’t bet against them.

My first pick for the Lynx is There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib. Nobody writes about basketball fandom like Hanif Abdurraqib. This remarkable book is about many things, including what it is like to love a team and a city that everyone has written off. Also, Hanif is famously a long-suffering Minnesota Timberwolves fan so I have to think he is rooting for the Lynx. Though, Hanif if you are reading this, I know you would never root against your GOAT, A’ja Wilson.

The Lynx play in the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis is also home to Birch Bark Books owned by Minnesota’s own Louise Erdrich. For this reason, I would recommend a team book club where they all read Erdrich’s newest novel, The Mighty Red.

Finally, my third pairing is The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff. For the Lynx to win this tournament, they are going to need to journey through a proverbial forest full of unknown challenges much like the heroine of Groff’s novel of survival in the wilderness. Also Lauren Groff owns a bookstore in Gainesville, Florida called The Lynx. Again, what do you want from me?

CONNECTICUT SUN

Last but not least, the team closest to my home, the fiercely talented Connecticut Sun. This team is a joy to watch. They have long been the runner up, near the top of the league but not able to get a championship. This could very well be their year.

First up, I am pairing the Sun with Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz. Among other things, this collection is about how indigenous communities survive against the horrors and threats of colonialism. The Sun are the only WNBA team owned by a Native American tribe - The Mohegan Tribe. Also, Natalie Diaz played college ball at Old Dominion University and went on to play professionally overseas before pursuing her MFA. Poetry and basketball have more in common than you think!

One of my favorite things about watching the Sun is the on and off-court partnership of DeWanna Bonner and Alyssa Thomas. Bonner and Thomas are unstoppable on the the court and are engaged to be married. Love & Basketball! Of course, I have to pair this team with a basketball romance novel like Love and Sportsball by Meka James. This sapphic romance features an athletic trainer and her team’s star player and you know you want to know more.

Finally, my third pick for the Sun is The Disordered Cosmos by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. This pick is mostly because Prescod-Weinstein is an outspoken Sun fan and we simply love to see it. It’s beautiful to see a Black, queer scholar and scientist loudly rooting for a team led by phenomenal Black, queer athletes. That is what it’s all about.

If you have read this far you are the true champion. For real, substantive WNBA & women’s sports content please follow

Frankie de la Cretaz

, my favorite sports journalist.

Love what you love. Be your own venn diagram!

Go sports! Go gays! Go books!

Love,

Rosamond