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Welcome to Shelf Life, ELLE.com’s books column, in which authors share their most memorable reads. Whether you’re on the hunt for a book to console you, move you profoundly, or make you laugh, consider a recommendation from the writers in our series, who, like you (since you’re here), love books. Perhaps one of their favorite titles will become one of yours, too.
Abby Wambach’s The Wolfpack Way (Roaring Brook Press) is her first picture book, a kiddie version of her 2019 NYT-bestselling Wolfpack, based on the commencement speech she delivered at Barnard College. The two-time Olympic soccer gold medalist (2004, 2012–she was the leading scorer of both teams), FIFA World Cup champion (she played the 2007 tournament with a broken toe and was co-captain of the winning 2015 team), and six-time U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award winner holds the second-highest number of international goals (184), male or female. She retired in 2015. She hosts the award-winning podcast, “We Can Do Hard Things,” with her wife, Glennon Doyle (they met at an author event in Chicago). Recent pod guests include Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson and Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
The Rochester, NY-born and -raised, L.A.-based Wambach is the youngest of seven in a sports family (her parents read a book called How to Play Soccer when her older sister expressed interest in the sport); is a part owner of Angel City FC (like other Shelf Lifers Natalie Portman and Uzo Aduba); won ESPN’s inaugural icon ESPY Award; is mom to three kids; sits on two private company boards, Toca Soccer and Score Sports, and loves to learn about business and investing; is an optimist; was a high school soccer star who attended the University of Florida (NCAA champions plus 4 consecutive SEC championships); met Kamala Harris; played for Washington Freedom with Mia Hamm; inspired a Barbie doll; was honored by Alex Morgan who wore Wambach’s name on her jersey; is a National Soccer Hall of Fame inductee and a Time most influential person in the world.
Likes: Audiobooks.
Not so much: Having to do fitness or lifting or workout without a team around her. Kick back with one of her book picks below.
The book that:
…helped me through a breakup/loss:
I have gone through some difficult times in my life, and when those moments show up, I almost always go back and consult When Things Fall Apart by Pema Chodron. Too often we run from the pain of our lives, and this book keeps inviting me to turn towards my pain and grief.
…kept me up way too late:
During one of my World Cup tournaments, I brought a bunch of books to keep me busy. One tournament I brought The Hunger Games series and was amazed that while I was supposed to be sleeping and getting prepared for our games, I was up late into many nights unable to put them down. I read these books at a time when I felt like I was in a real life battle to win the World Cup Championship, so it helped me reach deeper and think more creatively on different ways I could show up for my team.
…I read in one sitting, it was that good:
The first night I met my wife, Glennon Doyle, we were both doing press for our book releases in 2016. She was releasing Love Warrior, and when I got back to my hotel room that night I spent the entire night reading Love Warrior.
…currently sits on my nightstand:
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon. I haven’t opened it yet, but am really excited to dig into this one!
…made me laugh out loud:
Tina Fey’s Bossypants is one of my all-time favorite laugh-out-loud books!
…has the best opening line:
Austin Channing Brown’s I’m Still Here. “White people can be exhausting.”
…changed my life:
So my wife wrote Untamed in 2020. A lot of people think that this book was a love story between her and me, but I believe it to be a love story between Glennon and herself.
…should be on every college syllabus:
The Book of Delights by Ross Gay. Ross shows us how to awaken to everyday delights, and this book helped me know myself and what I loved and how I wanted to live.
…I brought on a momentous trip:
How To Do Nothing by Jenny Odell is really a great book anyone should take with them on a solo adventure. I have been on many solo adventures, and one thing about being alone that I have come to learn, is that sometimes giving myself permission to actually do nothing is truly a gift. So even though I didn’t bring with me on a trip to read this book, it has changed the way I think about being alone and in those moments, to really give myself permission to actually be with myself and do nothing. What a gift this book is to everyone!
…I’ve re-read the most:
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer.
…I consider literary comfort food:
Every single word that Elizabeth Gilbert writes. Eat, Pray, Love was one of my favorite all-time-favorite books!
…sealed a friendship:
I think it’s really interesting when one of your dear friends writes a memoir. It gives you a deeper look into someone you already know. Brandi Carlile’s memoir Broken Horses really made me know that Brandi and her wife, Catherine, will be lifelong friends of ours. She talked openly and honestly about queerness, forgiveness.
…everyone should read:
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion. It helped me through a difficult, grief-filled year.
…I consider a beautiful memoir:
Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford is one of my favorite memoirs I’ve ever read because of her honesty and ability to keep me reading.
…that holds the recipe to a favorite dish:
As I was starting to learn how to cook in my early young adult life, Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, was always playing on my TV. I have loved cooking dishes she made on TV, and her Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook released in 2020 is one I reference all the time. Not only do I love the food she helps me cook, but she really has given me confidence to cook for friends and family. Thank you, Ina, for teaching me so many wonderful dishes to cook over the years, and also for making cooking become a passion of mine!!
…taught me Jeopardy!-worthy trivia:
Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia, MD was a book full of things that I didn’t know or understand about the human body. As a lifelong athlete, I prided myself in knowing about the body, but his ability to deliver scientific knowledge in ways we all can understand and then do something about was profound for me.
Riza Cruz is an editor and writer based in New York.