Need for the Bike

Rating:
Summary: It's a bike thing, but maybe you'll understand
Review: Fournel takes Hemmingway, puts him on a bike, and implants a French sensibility. The words a spare, the pieces short, but each is a declarative taste of life on two wheels, including the times your mind wanders from the road and into the passing scenery. You'll drown in the tar, greet the car door, and meet the man with the hammer. If you love to ride, you have to have this book. If you could care less about bicycling, but like to read outstanding imagery in prose, you won't be dissapointed either.

Rating:
Summary: Ehhh (gallic shrug)
Review: I am a long time cyclist, but there was really nothing of interest to me. I even read the book twice to see if I'd missed something. It didn't help. Oddly enough, I bought it because it was recommended by a friend. So, ehh.

Rating:
Summary: Very short stories about cycling
Review: I grew up biking in Canada so Fournel's perspective and unbringing into cycling is much different than my own. Here biking is often a thing that children do and a few of us stick with it. However in France they are so much more deeply steeped in cycling, the terrain, the heritage and the romanticism of the Tour, it's a way of life for many.

So this perpective was a refreshing one, I like the way the book was presented. The very short [mostly 2 page] stories were so easily digestable that you fly through 'em. Some of the references to specific climbs and racers were lost on me. But there are many points where a serious biker can relate to some of the romanticisms, physiological & behavioral elements, and odd life choices.

It wasn't the greatest book I've picked up but I enjoyed it. He's apparently quite the creative authour, I'm not sure if some of this creativity was lost on me or through the translation. The writing style didn't really blow my socks off.

In the end it was like having a string of stories told to you by a parisienne cycliste over a baguette and cheese after you went for a ride in the Alps. If that appeals to you, check it out.

happy trails

Rating:
Summary: A Prose Poem About Cycling
Review: If you have an ear for poetry and a love for the bicycle, then this 150-page gem will earn your respect. Fournel is a writer's writer with a taste for going fast on a classic road bike (handmade steel frame and Campagnolo components). He "needs" his bike in order to overcome a mild tendency towards depression. (Sound familiar?)
Out of this endorphin rush comes a subtle taste for everything from the variety of hills that we need to climb to the texture of the roads that we ride to our childhood memories. Winds, companionship, competition, beauty, class, smells, sounds, food & drink and dope are all touched upon. If you're a cyclist it will deepen your ability to experience and express what you already love about the sport. If you're not a cyclist, then you can transfer his "need for the bike" to your own obsession. A true Pleasure.

Rating:
Summary: A Different Tour of France
Review: Paul Fournel's book is a series of short vignettes, all of which are concerned with the inner life of bicyclists. And the evidence is in: They definitely have one. No matter how much or little you indulge in biking, his book will convey to you, in short and vivid strokes, the splendors and miseries of this sport (starting with the miseries; i.e., accidents). Along the route, fathers and sons, Paris and the provinces, labor and leisure--all the life tensions emerge, only to be inflected by the pastime's particular wisdom. Almost better than biking!

Rating:
Summary: A Different Tour of France
Review: Paul Fournel's book is a series of short vignettes, all of which are concerned with the inner life of bicyclists. And the evidence is in: They definitely have one. No matter how much or little you indulge in biking, his book will convey to you, in short and vivid strokes, the splendors and miseries of this sport (starting with the miseries; i.e., accidents). Along the route, fathers and sons, Paris and the provinces, labor and leisure--all the life tensions emerge, only to be inflected by the pastime's particular wisdom. Almost better than biking!

Rating:
Summary: Biking to Oulipo
Review: This book is a little gem. Good writing about bikes, cycling, the Tour de France, racing, growing up in Loire, riding in Paris, etc. I can't recommend it highly enough. It is published by University of Nebraska Press (Bison Books) - they along with publishing western lit and history also publish a number of French lit books. Paul Fournel is a member of Oulipo (Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle) along with other writers such as Raymond Queneau, Harry Mathews, George Perec, and Italo Calvino.

A good writer and a good publisher. The translation flows along nicely and although I can not attest to the accuracy (not being able to read French), I thought it quite good.