Exhilarating fun and good motivation for armchair adventurers.
Two retirees undertake a daring cross-country bicycle trek from Oregon to Maine.
Though their idea may have seemed outlandish to onlookers and some family, Honeywell, a writing consultant, and Montgomery, a former English teacher, boldly embarked on a 13-week, 3,600-mile journey beginning in Astoria, Ore., and ending in Bar Harbor, Maine. From day one, narrator Montgomery writes of the many initial minor mishaps that spurred an “on-the-road policy” agreement between the two 50-somethings, which covered things like braking too abruptly and double-checking rest-stop locations to prevent injury and forgotten belongings. The authors faced many challenges, like navigating heat-baked western Montana, encountering fires in the northern plains, sleeping in tents, eating freeze-dried food and battling allergies. Pedaling at ten to 12 miles per hour, the impediments mounted, but a variety of local “road angels” generously offered travel assistance along the way. Whether crossing a windswept bridge over the Columbia River, navigating inaccurate maps or narrowly skirting oversized logging trucks and treacherous traffic, the authors logged 60-70 miles a day, even as family concerns loomed (e.g., Honeywell’s husband fell seriously ill prior to their departure). Incredibly, their shared confidence never waivered. With periodic rest days, rendezvous with their husbands and motel/diner-food pit stops, both intrepid women held true to their intent not to race through the experience but to “absorb” the American landscape. Photographs pleasingly accent the chronicle along with final chapters detailing each woman’s poignant closing reflections, an inquisitive Q&A and their separate pannier inventories. Told with panache and a wholesome, modest sensibility, Honeywell and Montgomery’s voyage became a supreme exercise in patience, determination, self-sufficiency and unwavering friendship. And the daring duo isn’t finished—a north-south, border-to-border trip is in the works.
Exhilarating fun and good motivation for armchair adventurers.Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2010
ISBN: 978-0-299-24884-0
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Terrace Books/Univ. of Wisconsin
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2010
Doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but offers a captivating look at the NBA’s greatest era.
NBA legends Bird and Johnson, fierce rivals during their playing days, team up on a mutual career retrospective.
With megastars LeBron James and Kobe Bryant and international superstars like China’s Yao Ming pushing it to ever-greater heights of popularity today, it’s difficult to imagine the NBA in 1979, when financial problems, drug scandals and racial issues threatened to destroy the fledgling league. Fortunately, that year marked the coming of two young saviors—one a flashy, charismatic African-American and the other a cocky, blond, self-described “hick.” Arriving fresh off a showdown in the NCAA championship game in which Johnson’s Michigan State Spartans defeated Bird’s Indiana State Sycamores—still the highest-rated college basketball game ever—the duo changed the course of history not just for the league, but the sport itself. While the pair’s on-court accomplishments have been exhaustively chronicled, the narrative hook here is unprecedented insight and commentary from the stars themselves on their unique relationship, a compelling mixture of bitter rivalry and mutual admiration. This snapshot of their respective careers delves with varying degrees of depth into the lives of each man and their on- and off-court achievements, including the historic championship games between Johnson’s Lakers and Bird’s Celtics, their trailblazing endorsement deals and Johnson’s stunning announcement in 1991 that he had tested positive for HIV. Ironically, this nostalgic chronicle about the two men who, along with Michael Jordan, turned more fans onto NBA basketball than any other players, will likely appeal primarily to a narrow cross-section of readers: Bird/Magic fans and hardcore hoop-heads.
Doesn’t dig as deep as it could, but offers a captivating look at the NBA’s greatest era.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-547-22547-0
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
An inspiringly intense memoir for readers of adventure lit.
A much-honored climber’s exciting story of the death-defying feats that led to rock-climbing superstardom.
Honnold showed a predilection for climbing when he was still a small child. At age 5, he managed to scramble 30 feet off the ground at a climbing gym within just a few minutes. Later, he entered climbing competitions all over his home state of California. After his father died, Honnold dropped out of college and chose to live out of his mother’s minivan while climbing mountains. This book—which alternates between narratives by Honnold and writer/climber Roberts (Lost World of the Old Ones: Discoveries in the Ancient Southwest, 2015, etc.)—focuses on that remarkable and unconventional life and how Honnold, a quiet man who climbed purely for the joy of adventure, became “the most famous climber in the world” in the span of seven years. In his early days as a vagabond climber, he learned how to free solo, a form of climbing that relies on strength and skill alone. Not long after that, Honnold began attempting climbs—such as Half Dome in Yosemite and Sendero Luminoso in Mexico—that veterans of the sport believed were too difficult to do without gear or a partner. His notoriety spread quickly among rock climbers. Rapidly, Honnold became the subject of several documentaries and was receiving sponsorships that allowed him to travel the world and push the boundaries of his sport to extreme new heights. His dedication to the sport of rock climbing had its costs, however, including the painful end of a long-term relationship. Yet celebrity status also reinforced his belief in the importance of living simply. In 2012, he established the Honnold Foundation, which sought “sustainable ways to improve lives worldwide.” The humility, pioneering spirit, and courage that are the author’s personal hallmarks are both refreshing and invigorating. His account ultimately reminds readers how genuine fulfillment comes only when engaging in life fully and without fear.
An inspiringly intense memoir for readers of adventure lit.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-393-24762-6
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Aug. 31, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2015
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