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Book/DVD Review: "Books to Go" - From RoadBike February/March 2006
One For The Road
I always keep a book in my bag to help while away long delays. Nothing too weighty, mind you — hardcovers are heavy and take up too much space, while something like The Decline of Western Civilization is sure to put me to sleep. Instead, it might be Jack Kerouac’s On the Road or Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, two old favorites that still speak to me, especially on road trips.
SOURCES Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas $12.95 On The Road $13.50 Tao of the Ride $8.95 The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey $14.95 The Original Wild Ones: Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club $24.95 A Biker’s Guide to the Open Road: Ride it Like You Stole it $9.95 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance $7.50 |
There’s a big market for so-called airport books — not necessarily literature, but rather something to kill time. (This explains at least half of The Da Vinci Code’s success.) But what to bring along when you’re riding? On long trips, you might have to wait out an accident or a thunderstorm, or you might just want to pull over and take a break. That’s when a good “saddlebag book” comes in handy.
For more of a motorcycle theme, you could include Ernesto Che Guevara’s The Motorcycle Diaries: Notes on a Latin American Journey, a great road story that was made into a movie, or Garri Garripoli’s Tao of the Ride, wherein the author explains the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism in a way that only a long motorcycle ride can inspire. You might even throw in The Original Wild Ones: Tales of the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club by Bill Hayes, a raucous and heartfelt recounting of the early days of biker clubs. For short delays, try A Biker’s Guide to the Open Road: Ride it Like You Stole it by Penny Powers and Chuck Hays. Short, sweet, and fun to read, it’s kind of like “Chicken Soup for the Biker’s Soul.”
Right now, I’ve got the classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig in my bag. Not exactly a fun book to read, but it’s one of those you can crack open and get into… and next thing you know, the wreckage has cleared, the storm has broken, and it’s time to get back on the road. RB