Shackleton's Boat Journey. By Frank Wolesey., the captain of the Endurance. In terms of books about hardship endured the best I have read.

restlessnative wrote:

PaulB2 wrote:The look that Guy Pierce gives at the end of the film .

err Vigo Mortenssen?

Nope, he's *spoiler* by then. It's deffo Guy Pearce.

RIP wrote:Strikes me that if I was under a tarp in the p1ssing rain in the darkness probably the last thing I'd want to be reading would be about someone else sitting under a tarp in the p1ssing rain.

Nailed it Reg. And as much as I loved Zen and the Art of.. I think I'd find that even more of a slog under certain circumstances. A bit of fast-moving escapism in the bivvy for me.

Titchmarsh's autobiography "Trowel and Error" is decent. His mum has to give up the bell-ringing because of rheumatoid arthritis in her wrists but she's a stubborn old cow.

Ah yeah I remember now!

restlessnative wrote:

PaulB2 wrote:The look that Guy Pierce gives at the end of the film .

err Vigo Mortenssen?

No, Guy Pearce - he’s the father in the group that Vigo’s son ends up with

Most of the cycling books I read are a bit of a let down if I'm honest apart from Unsurpassed about Tommy Godwin and the Year Book by Dave Barter.

One of the best books for adventure I've read is The Last of the Gentleman Adventurers by Edward Beauclerk Maurice. At 16 he was apprenticed for 5 years in the Hudson Bay company in the 1930's and was one of the last his kind and the end of an era. The book takes you on his journey from rural England to a remote fir trading post in Baffin Bay which was so remote it was resupplied by ship once a year, living with, learning survival from and trading with the Inuit and coming of age in the arctic. I've read the book twice so far and wouldn't hesitate to read it again.

Thread revival ... been away for a week and took Dervla Murphy's Full Tilt with me. I'm now wondering how I got through so many other cycling/touring books before reading this. Genuinely inspiring and probably the touring book I've enjoyed most so far. A number of times I found myself re-reading a line thinking how far? and thinking she not only put in days that would have most of us done-in afterwards, but also did it as a lone woman in that part of the world in 1965.

I've thought before there's a lack of bold or risk-taking bike adventures to read about. This is perhaps the classic of that type, yet was done purely in the spirit of adventure and curiosity for people and cultures, there's not a single mention of the epic or performance-brag. I always had an interest in that area, read it as it covers part of the world that would be my 'if you can go to one place tomorrow' pick, and now after getting back and having a decent kip I'm sat here genuinely struggling to face work on Monday, rather than give notice and set off

The bike geek in me had to look up her bike as she only mentions it as 'Roz', her name for it -



- Total heroine. She rode a single speed : ) in the book she mentions the gradients that were the point between riding and walking - while reading I thought that was fair enough, on a geared tourer...

I might give that a go James when I finish what I am reading just now. Books written by women have been largely missing from my reading
I lived quite near Lismore where she is from for years yet somehow never got round to reading one of her books.

I read 'The year' as recommended which was great.

Julian Sayarer's book I just could not get on with

restlessnative wrote:Julian Sayarer's book I just could not get on with

Which one? I've not read any of his yet. He seems quite politically opinionated (which I don't mind in itself) but something about the RTW thing a while back, can't even remember what now, where he seemed generally a bit angry about a lot of things put me off maybe. Adventure and politics can mix of course, I perhaps unfairly judged the content based on that. Also the fact that the RTW record seems the polar opposite attitude to any interest I'd have in riding RTW.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

Like some kind of weird rant as far as I got. Just could not gel with him.

I also enjoyed reading Full Tilt. Dervla Murphy was indeed an extraordinary person and her books are from a different era of travel, made even more interesting because she was a woman travelling alone at a time when that was pioneering. To me, Full Tilt is also interesting from a history and geography angle, both social and political as well as physical. As a hippy traveller a decade later it has always fascinated me since how the political boundaries are meaningless to the indigenous peoples of the regions she travels through; their tribal, family and religious bonds not recognising lines on maps except for the presence of soldiers controlling those borders. Interesting in reading the book to learn how much Irish missionaries had reached out into those regions in earlier years and the welcome that that history afforded Dervla on her travels.
A good book, well worth reading.

^ yes, it had me paused for thought a number of times on both of those points. Whether a journey like that is possible for you or I now due to political climates, her gender and the time as well as (as you say) the positives linked to her nationality by the nuns in the area, I'm really not sure. She certainly comes across as a person who'd be most welcome anywhere she found herself, able to handle the situations naturally.

restlessnative wrote:https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1

Like some kind of weird rant as far as I got. Just could not gel with him.

That reminds me, the thing I read that put me off was a blog post or similar he wrote about corporate branding taking over the RTW record, or something along those lines. I guess he meant Mark Beaumont. Can't say it registered with me. Some of Chris Bonnington's expeditions were sponsored by banks and they were inspiring, the sponsor was an aside. I guess for Sayarer, as someone who is into politics, did register - now I'm interested now to know more. Fancy a 'duff book' swap?! I have Tim More's Gironimo here, others really like it but I didn't finish it.

Fancy a 'duff book' swap?!

I only buy on kindle nowdays which stops that :(

I quite liked gironimo for an easy read, his book "out in the cold" or something like that I gave up on

I'm glad this thread was resurrected as I've just rebuggered by back so going to be inactive for a little bit (hopefully very short term!) and so have just bought/downloaded Dave's OCCD - so far (3 pages) it's mightily entertaining.

Let the horizontal literary therapy commence.....*

*I am pursuing non-literary therapies too

It goes seriously downhill after page 5

Oh well, at least he's got one more good page yet...

This reminds me - how was your photo comp prize book James? Any good or straight into Oxfam?

Dave Barter wrote:It goes seriously downhill after page 5

psling wrote:Oh well, at least he's got one more good page yet...

Anything that keeps me from contemplating my impending two day drive back to the UK with 3 kids in this amount of pain is a very welcome distraction!

I'm reading a climbing one atm & so far it's brilliant- PsychoVertical by Andy Kirkpatrick

If you ever get chance to see one of his 'talks', go, he's really good
Films good too!

http://www.psychoverticalfilm.com/

Bearbonesnorm wrote:This reminds me - how was your photo comp prize book James? Any good or straight into Oxfam?

Will let you know when I get onto it, just started Max Leonard's Higher Calling, then that (High Horizons - looks good, thanks) - a summer of getting high it seems : ) There's a brilliant Oxfam bookshop near where I live so I tend to buy books faster than I can read them. Picked up a wonderful book on the lost ways of the Alps a few weeks ago.

While I was looking at the heaving book shelf last night I spotted Matt Lamy's 'Rides of Passage'. Recommended. The book is about a father and son tour in France, done when Matt was young then repeated in his 30s. It's an entertaining account of traditional touring in France, funny in a natural style. A really good read by a very nice guy, a cycling journalist I've met a number of times, I've met his father Arthur also, he owns a bike shop in Jersey and came to Madison's shows. Was especially good to read knowing them both, made me laugh.

Wotsits wrote:I'm reading a climbing one atm & so far it's brilliant- PsychoVertical by Andy Kirkpatrick

If you ever get chance to see one of his 'talks', go, he's really good
Films good too!

http://www.psychoverticalfilm.com/

A climber friend recommended this, it's good isn't it - you wonder how he stays in 1 pc but under all that must be an incredibly talented climber.

I saw Andy Kirkpatrick give a lecture just as he came to prominence - very, very funny.

The last climbing book I read was The Tower by Kelly Cordes - basically the climbing history of a single mountain, Cerro Torre in Patagonia.

The Sunshine Kid by Harry Baker

Be warned, it's poetry

https://wordery.com/the-sunshine-kid-ha ... gJ38PD_BwE

jameso wrote:

Wotsits wrote:I'm reading a climbing one atm & so far it's brilliant- PsychoVertical by Andy Kirkpatrick

If you ever get chance to see one of his 'talks', go, he's really good
Films good too!

http://www.psychoverticalfilm.com/

A climber friend recommended this, it's good isn't it - you wonder how he stays in 1 pc but under all that must be an incredibly talented climber.

It's brill James, heart warmingly honest is the best way i can desrcibe it. Apparently he wrote it to try & explain his actions to his children. To look at him you'd think he'd be out of breath climbing stairs, but his sheer determination & (like you say) talent as a climber has seen him through.. There's an interesting section at the beginning of the book where he takes a test, scores 99% in the spatial awareness, but 16% in the other part..

whitestone wrote:I saw Andy Kirkpatrick give a lecture just as he came to prominence - very, very funny.

I think it's his character that shines through on stage, a genuinely engaging & funny guy. I managed to get a copy of the book signed by him, his spelling really is as bad as he says!

I have a very big box full of climbing books I'd be willing to give away if anyone is interested.

But I am not posting them.

Includes all of Andy Kirkpatrick's books, Andy Cave, Simon Yates etc... but the deal is you take them all.

I could possibly bring to WRT and Stu if you wanted them for the raffle you have first shout.