Book Review: The Wind in my Wheels by Josie Dew
October 15th 2006 02:59
If anyone is staying in the Glebe YHA in Sydney NSW you may want to rescue this book from the book exchange downstairs. I regretfully left it there a fortnight ago after making both my mother and my boyfriend read it.
This is not a new release and whenever I'm at the travel section in a book store I never see this book on the shelves so it could be difficult to obtain in Australia.
I ended up re-reading this book recently after listening to my partner's snorts and giggles as he read it at night in our tent. I found it hilarious, yet again. Dew has an eye for the silly side of life and the ridiculous antics of her fellow human beings.
The book covers a number of trips made over a few years including a trip from Europe to the Sahara with a paranoid boyfriend, an end to end of England and Scotland on a wheelchair bike plus trips to India, Morocco, Nova Scotia and Iceland. The edition I left in Sydney also had endearing cartoons by her sister in law and some great quotes about cycling by famous writers.
Dew unabashedly gives reasons to cycle instead of driving and is merciless when lampooning the habits of the petrol guzzlers who share the roads she travels.
She is at her funniest when describing situations such as being mistaken for a speed hump when sleeping in just a bivy bag in a caravan park or trying to explain why a large bag of oats is strapped to the seat of the wheelchair bike she rides through England/Scotland. Plus, woe betide any flasher who gets in the way of her bicycle pump and lethal aim!
Although at times she comes across as a little too flippant about the people and places she takes the mickey out of, near the end, the book takes a very serious turn when she describes a harrowing assault she endured in Bulgaria. After laughing your head off for most of the way through the book, it is rather disconcerting to read the final passages and they have maximum impact as a result.
Worth hunting down for a read.
Book: The wind in my wheels, travel tales from the saddle
Author: Josie Dew
ISBN: 0 7515 0249 9
Publisher: Time Warner Paperbacks
Date: 1992
This is not a new release and whenever I'm at the travel section in a book store I never see this book on the shelves so it could be difficult to obtain in Australia.
I ended up re-reading this book recently after listening to my partner's snorts and giggles as he read it at night in our tent. I found it hilarious, yet again. Dew has an eye for the silly side of life and the ridiculous antics of her fellow human beings.
The book covers a number of trips made over a few years including a trip from Europe to the Sahara with a paranoid boyfriend, an end to end of England and Scotland on a wheelchair bike plus trips to India, Morocco, Nova Scotia and Iceland. The edition I left in Sydney also had endearing cartoons by her sister in law and some great quotes about cycling by famous writers.
Dew unabashedly gives reasons to cycle instead of driving and is merciless when lampooning the habits of the petrol guzzlers who share the roads she travels.
She is at her funniest when describing situations such as being mistaken for a speed hump when sleeping in just a bivy bag in a caravan park or trying to explain why a large bag of oats is strapped to the seat of the wheelchair bike she rides through England/Scotland. Plus, woe betide any flasher who gets in the way of her bicycle pump and lethal aim!
Although at times she comes across as a little too flippant about the people and places she takes the mickey out of, near the end, the book takes a very serious turn when she describes a harrowing assault she endured in Bulgaria. After laughing your head off for most of the way through the book, it is rather disconcerting to read the final passages and they have maximum impact as a result.
Worth hunting down for a read.
Book: The wind in my wheels, travel tales from the saddle
Author: Josie Dew
ISBN: 0 7515 0249 9
Publisher: Time Warner Paperbacks
Date: 1992
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