I enjoyed Tim Krabbe's The Rider as a sweet look back at 5 cog steel frame wool jersey racing....the cyclist's pain and endurance is, in much larger fashion, what I feel on tough weekend rides. I've been to the National Steinbeck Center in Salinas, CA where his restored pickup w/camper Rosinante is on display...for those who love the book, it's almost a shrine!

I finished all 20 complete Aubrey Materin novels...took me 9 years. After the first 5, I began rationing them out, like a castaway sailor, to put off eventually running out. Once past the need to translate all the nautical terms, and having grown familiar with many, e.g. "spotted dog", the "afterguard", etc., the novels flow so smoothly you can overlook the subtlety and play of dialog and ironic humor. A sort of, but far more sophisticated and rewarding, Star Trek.

For novels, I'd recommend Mark Helprin's "Soldier of the Great War"...one of those that truly are what critics call epic, 'luminous", hard to put down, blah, blah. The protagonist Allesandro Guilliani I still consider a friend.

Ooooh Thanks for the tip! I checked online and we have a number of his titles at the library in which I work! ありがとう :thumb:

Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism by Chogyam Trungpa.

Stapfam's recall of his boyhood reading reminded me of a mighty book that's stayed with me from childhood to now. I re-read 'Huck Finn' every decade, each time with new joy.

And now to a completely unsorted farrago of beloved books: 'Birdsong' (Sebastian Faulks) - an original and terrible view of WWI; 'Persuasion' (AS Byatt); anything by John Banville; 'Wife to Mr Milton' (Robert Graves - reminded by the mention of the Claudius books); Mary Renault's novels about Alexander the Great. Finally two marvellous recent Australian books should you be interested: 'Breath' (Tim Winton) and 'The Secret River' (Kate Grenville - a great insight into the interaction between British settlers and the Australian Aboriginal people).

Should keep you busy for a week or so. Get back in touch when you've finished those and we'll have some more for you.

I'm surprised that no one has mentioned A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul. One of my all-time favorites. Forget about your world for a while.

The title is Botchan, which is also the name of the main character. Unusually for a Japanese novel, it has been translated into English several times; my version is the most recent one to be published in book form. The preceding translation, done in the 1960s, is quite good, but the earlier ones, which seem to have been done by people who were not native speakers of English, are not.
Somehow I forgot there is actually a brief mention of bikes in this book! Interestingly, it's a comment about people who ride without brakes -- made a hundred years before the hipster/fixie phenomenon. The author of this novel also wrote a cute satirical sketch about learning to ride a bike as a Japanese newbie dealing with an LBS from hell in London circa 1900 - you can find a translation on Google Books by searching for Natsume and "bicycle diary"

As for some other books, Haruki Murakami has already been suggested and he's a good one. A Wild Sheep Chase and After the Quake are favorites of mine; if you want something more romantic there's Norwegian Wood but I don't think you can go wrong with any of his stuff. By the way, he also rides, but mainly to train for triathlons (about which he has also written a non-fiction book).

You might also want to take a look at The Makioka Sisters by Tanizaki, Kokoro by Natsume (same author as Botchan), or, if you're interested in something more contemporary by a female writer, Banana Yoshimoto's Kitchen or Yoko Tawada's The Bridegroom was a Dog. The latter is pretty weird but rewarding and fun -- and the main character does arrive in town on a mountain bike.

Happy reading!

It's not fiction or about cycling, but I must put in a good word for The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow. It's a blend of probability theory and social psychology.... darn good read IMO.

I like to listen to his work as an audiobook. Great stuff for traveling on the highway.

This sounds interesting. I'll get back to you when I finish it. It's currently checked out but I got a hold on it at my library.

I can't seem to figure out from his website which was the first "Blue Ant" story.

http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/books/books.asp

Ya know, I've taken a few tries at audio books, and given that I spend every other week on the highway, sometimes in areas where no radio signal will reach, you'd think I could really get into them, but I can't. Something about the readers doing multiple voices that I just can't get past.
My wife on the other hand can't get enough of them. She always has audio books on loan from the library, and even if she is in the car for a 5 minute trip, she has to listen to a chapter or 2.

I second that - an outstanding book. They sold everything and took off around the world on their bikes. Savage's writing skills are exceptional and I could not put the book down. The ending of her life made the story even more bittersweet. One of the all-time great bicycle books.

Specifically back to bike books has anybody found a better source of repair and fitting advice for current bikes than Zinn and the Art of (Insert Bike Type Here)?

That's funny. I can't get into the books read by an ensemble.

A good reader can make all the difference. My very first experience with an audiobook hooked me. The book was Graham Greene's The Third Man
read by James Mason. I was hooked!

Shusako Endo is my favorite. Some are very difficult to read ,not because of the prose which is sparse, lean and beautiful, but because of the emotional content.. Most reveal the struggles of a Japanese man who is a Christian in a society that could care less. The Sea and Poison will take your breath away and keep you thinking about it for years.

so many books.....so little time.....

Thanks for the tip , I will seek out Helprins book. I also had to ration O'Brians books as I could not bear to see them end. I would start reading more slowly, prolonging the inevitable. I reread them a second time a year and a half ago while recuperating from a hip replacement with two companion books, The Frigate Surprise and Jack Aubrey Commands. Both are by Brian Lavery and illustrated by Geoff Hunt and are beautifully illustrated books looking at the history behind the stories.

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Your suggestions are most helpful. I'll have a field day with this list.

Books that changed my life: Back when I was going to junior high school in Berkeley, CA, an English teacher gave me a copy of a book of poetry, Lawrence Ferlinghetti's "A Coney Island of the Mind." One of the classic beat books. I also love Kerouac's "On the Road" and "The Dharma Bums."

The book I keep going back to (and quoting from often) is Milan Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Being." Eternal return; if it happened only once, it might as well never have happened... I love the reason for Sabina's never marching or participating in political demonstrations; I share her rationale! Philosophy disguised as fiction.

L.

The Race and The Tour, novels by Dave Shields

Riding with the Blue Moth by Bill Hancock

French Revolutions by Tim Moore

Tales from the Tool Box, no longer in print but very interesting from Velo Publishing

Bike Love, a fun book of short stories. http://www.amazon.com/Bicycle-Love-S.../dp/1891369458 Highly reccomended.

John Howard, Pushing the Limits. A GREAT bio about one of the countries great cyclists in the 60-70s before Greg and Lance took it to the next level. Out of print but you can find it if you look. I think Mr. Howard himself still has copies and he has a website.

The Rider, a classic...loved it.

Inside the Postal Bus, Michael Barry

Have read three books about Lance and enjoyed them all. However, I don't think I'm much of a Lance fan any longer...I have mixed feelings about recommending them.

Metal Cowboy by Joe Kurmaskie, just bought it yesterday but I've read good reviews.

Anything by C.S. Lewis

A Walk in the Woods; The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson. Not many writers make me laugh out loud, Bill does. Dave Barry type humor.

I really wanted to like Ten Points but in the end just found it a bit disturbing. Probably has something to do with my own upbringing.

Good reading to ya.

One of my favorite writers is Edward Abbey, I've read most of his books and love his wonderful writing style. My favorite is Desert Solitaire his thoughts and ramblings on his time as a park ranger in a remote corner of Arches National Park, it's a wonderful book. It's a book that I read every five to 10 years, it never goes out of style because the fight to save the deserts of the west is constant, unfortunately.

Last year I picked up a copy of Abbey's first published novel, The Brave Cowboy, published in 1956, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Most of us well remember the typical cowboy western of the 1950's, this couldn't be further than typical of cowboys riding, shooting Indians, blazing guns of the shoot out in Tombstone. Abbey does include the cowboy riding the desert of New Mexico, a sheriff, a jail break and lovely and hardworking woman waiting at home on the edge of town, but it's far from typical. It is a wonderful story of friendship, sacrifice and the best of human nature. It's a quick read, and well worth the time.

I also recently re-read The Monkey Wrench Gang, another classic, and so much fun.

Ditto on Kundera's book. It also has been a story that has stayed with me .

a few that have not been mentioned but are well worth the read--

anything by Dick Francis-- all his stories deal with horses and/or racing in some way or another, and are very well written, and hard to put down.

The Time Traveler's Wife - not sure who wrote it, but it was a great storyu.

Agree with the accolades of Follett-- World Without End was hard to put down.

Also, I like Jack Higgins-- and re-read all his stuff every few years.

I have read two outstanding novels this year:

The Road by Cormac McCarthy. McCarthy is an amazing writer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road

Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky was written during WW II but was not published until a few years ago. It is wonderfully written and the story behind it is sad but compelling. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suite_f...%A9mirovsky%29

My favourite cycling related book: Cold Beer and Crocodiles by Roff Smith, about his cycle tour around Australia.