Reviews - Swimming Studies

113 reviews for:

Not being able to swim this summer, this book was the next best thing. Beautiful writing, with the same sort of fluid daydream quality that comes when you're in the water. A must read for those whose true love is the water.

andannather's review against another edition

3.5

informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

jminap's review against another edition

5.0

reflective medium-paced

wentingthings's review

4.0

shapton's relationship to swimming is the kind of story i like to read about, not very clear-cut, messy and blurry at the edges. she doesn't go to the olympics, although she tries (twice, or something like that), and there is art in here, which i wasn't expecting and unexpectedly enjoyed. a lot of images are misplaced in books, but these felt well fitted between details about smells, and getting up in the cold in the dark, and hanging out in hotel rooms, and her brother and parents and childhood and later husband. and she spends some time hanging around toronto and the university of toronto, which was like a sharp breath in, a shadow to the shadowy time i spent there.

rianlion's review

4.0

A meditative memoir told in impressionistic essays about the author's past as an elite, competitive swimmer and her ongoing relationship with different pools and bodies of water. It gave me a little travel envy, to want to swim in some of the places she'd gone.

jzahlit's review

4.0

Really beautiful collection of stories, paintings, and photographs on her journey with swimming. Interesting comparison of athletic and artistic discipline. Loved it.

foodosaurusrex's review

5.0

As someone who spent my formative years swimming competitively, this book was a nice trip down memory lane. While I wasn't Olympic trials caliber, I could relate to a lot of what she reminisced about. Waking up at 5am in the dead of winter to jump into a cold pool? Constantly smelling like chlorine with weirdly colored straw-like hair? Check and check. While I'm certain I liked this book because of my close relationship with swimming, I think it's also beneficial for people that maybe don't know as much about competitive swimming. She takes the time to explain the nuances and little details of rules and regulations for races, something that the average person would have no idea about. And considering the Olympics are less than a month away, I think any swim fan would really enjoy it!