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On Wheels
From the bestselling author of A Book of Secrets , a brisk, charming, illustrated account of a motoring life
As a child, Michael Holroyd spent his best hours in his family's cramped garage, which contained a wealth of magical, exciting objects. But the most intriguing by far was the one in the middle of the room―the family's eight-horsepower black Ford, which had found in the garage a permanent home and in Holroyd a dedicated caretaker. Sitting in the backseat―his own private castle―he began his love affair with the automobile.
On Wheels is the story of the cars and drivers that inspired and affected Holroyd throughout his life. Ranging from drives around the country with his father, a car obsessive, to the baroque horrors of his austere driving instructor, to the liberating pleasures of automatic transmission, On Wheels is an automotive autobiography―the story of times and places that mattered to the author, told through the cars that bore witness.
"My biographies," Holroyd writes, "became increasingly filled with motoring exploits―something of which I was unaware until recently," and so On Wheels is also a reflection on the author's many brilliant biographical subjects―Bernard Shaw, Lytton Strachey, and many others―and their own relationships to the open road.
Casually intimate and often riotously funny, On Wheels is a master biographer's miniature self-portrait―and an indelible reflection on his great passion.
As a child, Michael Holroyd spent his best hours in his family's cramped garage, which contained a wealth of magical, exciting objects. But the most intriguing by far was the one in the middle of the room―the family's eight-horsepower black Ford, which had found in the garage a permanent home and in Holroyd a dedicated caretaker. Sitting in the backseat―his own private castle―he began his love affair with the automobile.
On Wheels is the story of the cars and drivers that inspired and affected Holroyd throughout his life. Ranging from drives around the country with his father, a car obsessive, to the baroque horrors of his austere driving instructor, to the liberating pleasures of automatic transmission, On Wheels is an automotive autobiography―the story of times and places that mattered to the author, told through the cars that bore witness.
"My biographies," Holroyd writes, "became increasingly filled with motoring exploits―something of which I was unaware until recently," and so On Wheels is also a reflection on the author's many brilliant biographical subjects―Bernard Shaw, Lytton Strachey, and many others―and their own relationships to the open road.
Casually intimate and often riotously funny, On Wheels is a master biographer's miniature self-portrait―and an indelible reflection on his great passion.
- GenresBiography
128 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2012
About the author
Michael Holroyd
114 books40 followersMichael Holroyd is the author of acclaimed biographies of George Bernard Shaw, the painter Augustus John, Lytton Strachey, and Ellen Terry and Henry Irving, as well as two memoirs, Basil Street Blues and Mosaic. Knighted for his services to literature, he is the president emeritus of the Royal Society of Literature and the only nonfiction writer to have been awarded the David Cohen British Prize for Literature. His previous book, A Strange Eventful History, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography in 2009. He lives in London with his wife, the novelist Margaret Drabble.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/michae...
http://us.macmillan.com/author/michae...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 26, 2023
Do you remember the cars in your life? The cars of your childhood, your first car, the car that took you to your job in your 30's? Michael Holroyd does a wonderful job of looking at the cars we have traveled in - and how our memories are linked to them. Sure to bring back lots of memories of your own cars.
December 6, 2017
The most interesting thing I learned from this book was that Lawrence of Arabia was killed in a motorcycle accident.
This book is reserved, restrained, quiet, and dull. The author reflects on cars he has owned and cars that some famous people have owned, particularly during the early days of motoring.
He relates an incident that happened to him in Ireland. He was invited to dine in a restaurant with a friend but because he had just purchased a car - and was driving it - he did not have on a tie. Oh, dear. The restaurant had no spare ties so they put the men behind a screen in the dining area. Years later, his friend's daughter told him that story had become a family legend.
And that's as legendary as this book will get.
This book is reserved, restrained, quiet, and dull. The author reflects on cars he has owned and cars that some famous people have owned, particularly during the early days of motoring.
He relates an incident that happened to him in Ireland. He was invited to dine in a restaurant with a friend but because he had just purchased a car - and was driving it - he did not have on a tie. Oh, dear. The restaurant had no spare ties so they put the men behind a screen in the dining area. Years later, his friend's daughter told him that story had become a family legend.
And that's as legendary as this book will get.
February 25, 2018
Quirky little book.
Wasn't really that interesting.
Not sure why I even read it.
Wasn't really that interesting.
Not sure why I even read it.
May 17, 2020
This was a boring. If has very dull story telling, and if I could I would give this zero stars .
August 23, 2016
Short autobiographical essay...just tidbit enough to make one want to read more...so...off to Amazon I go.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews