Coming and Going on Bikes: Essaying the Motorcycle

I review this new Kindle book of motorcycle essays written by Jack Lewis. Here's an excerpt from one of the essays:

"Crank 'er up with the button, or use the kick lever if you feel nostalgic (and why wouldn't you?). The Ural sits panting like a puppy with a ball, slyly inviting you to play outside." -- Jack Lewis

Read the review.

Big Sid's Vincati - Dads and Sons and Their Motorcycles

I just saw this article in my Google Alerts. It's actually a review of a new book, "Big Sid’s Vincati: The Story of a Father, a Son, and the Motorcycle of a Lifetime," by Matthew Biberman. The article is on the Opinion page of the New York Times and written by Stanley Fish. It's thought provoking and even involves motorcycles. If you ever read Pirsig's, "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance," you'll be even more interested in the article. If you never heard of Pirsig, read the article and then go get a copy. It's easy reading but deeply involved in philosophy too.

Here's an excerpt from the article, "Fathers, Sons and Motorcycles":

"What is it about motorcycles? I have never been on one for the same reason that I don’t go on roller coasters or other amusement-park rides. I’m terrified. Yet every so often motorcycles come into my life. When I met my wife in the middle ’70s her primary mode of transportation was a motorcycle (a small Honda). She specialized in terrifying situations. She rode it to and from work in South Philadelphia and was once robbed at an intersection while waiting for the light to turn green. She took the bike onto the Baltimore Beltway, where I felt nervous driving a car. She says now that she got it because something was missing from her life. And she bought it immediately after having read Robert Pirsig’s "Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values" (1974)." -- Stanley Fish

Now, read the complete article and don't forget the comments at the end.

Harry Potter's Motorcycle Rides

Since I was one of the people who started reading the Harry Potter 7-book series just as the new movie based on book 5 came out, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. It turns out that Harry first appears riding on a flying motorcycle in the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Then in the last book (book 7) just released, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, he again rides on the same flying motorcycle, this time with an attached sidecar.

The rider of the bike is the character Hagrid, a giant of a man. The owner of the bike is Sirius Black. You'll be following these two main characters throughout the books.

J. K. Rowling's astounding work of fiction took me the better part of six weeks to get all the way through to the end of book 7. You say this is a children's book? Maybe book 1 with 319 pages is but from then on, it gets darker and darker as Harry ages from 11 to 17. Book 7 is 759 pages of pretty much non-stop battle scenes. The new movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, is based on book 5 that has 870 pages.

I was startled to see a motorcycle in book 1. When I got to book 7, the motorcycle was there again, this time outfitted for battle.

Harry Potter was a very good read and even better since it had a magic motorcycle in it. Way to go Ms. Rowling.