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bibliography

An incomplete record of the books I have read, looked at, discussed or even just thought about a lot on route. This bibliography is ordered by geographical location and with reference to the people with who I discussed the book:

ANCHORAGE

  • South of the Limpopo – Devla Murphy
Devla Murphy’s account of travelling in South Africa by bike during the fall of the apartheid regime and the lead-up to the post-apartheid elections. I hadn’t read any Devla Murphy and I thought I should. This was the only thing available by her at Barnes & Noble in Anchorage.

Recommended by Angela:

  • Wheels on Ice: Bicycling in Alaska 1898 – 1908 – edited by Terrence Cole
Contemporary first-hand narratives of travelling by bicycle over mountain passes in winter during the Alaskan gold rush at the turn of 19th century. Fascinating and funny.
  • Beneath the Crust of Culture: Psychoanalytic Anthropology and the Cultural Unconscious in American Life – Howard F. Stein
Essays on the cultural meaning of violence in contemporary American life. Dry, and somewhat depressing, but thought-provoking.

WHITEHORSE

Recommended by Danusia:

  • Lullabies for Little Criminals – Heather  O’Neill
Novel about a young girl growing up rough in Montreal. Sad and beautiful.

PRINCE RUPERT

In Penny and Ian’s book collection:

  • The Other Side of Eden: Hunters, Farmers and the Shaping of the World – Hugh Brody
A discussion of hunter gatherer culture in the high Arctic. I only flicked through it but would like to get back to it.

LASQUETI

Recommended by Sheila:

  • A Naturalist’s Guide to the Arctic – E.C. Pielou
I wish I had had this book with me when I was on the Arctic tundra.
  • Monkey Beach – Eden Robinson
A novel about a First Nation girl growing up in a coastal community in British Columbia. Dark and disturbing.
  • Between Pacific Tides – Edward Ricketts
A classic of marine biology. Sheila read aloud to me from this book after I went digging for clams and oysters. Fantastic. I want a copy.
  • Cannery Row – John Steinbeck
A novel by Steinbeck, set in Monterey, in which the main character is based on Edward Ricketts, the author of Between Pacific Tides. A classic novel that is worth reading and as a bonus it’s a small book very suitable for carrying about on a bicycle.

SALT SPRINGS

Recommended by Jane:

  • I, Rigoerta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala – edited by Elisabeth Burgos-Debray
I haven’t read this yet but thought that maybe I should before I get to Guatemala.

BEVERLY BEACH CAMPGROUND

Recommended by Dave:

  • All That the Rain Promises and More: a Hip Pocket Guide to Western Mushrooms – David Arora
Handy bike pannier sized mushroom guide to west coast mushrooms. Pretty amusing, too.

SAN FRANCISCO

  • Catfish and Mandala: A Two Wheeled Voyage Through the Landscape and Memory of Vietnam – Andrew X. Pham

An account of a bike tour of Vietnam by a Vietnamese American, returning to Vietnam to make sense of his past and, therefore, his present. This book was recommended by Tom, in Seattle, and so when I came across it in a second-hand bookshop I snapped it up.

Catfish and Mandala is an honest and brave book that examines what people do to survive and the price they pay for it. It is a book that wrestles with unanswerable questions about cultural and personal identity and unflinchingly recounts the failures of love within a family.

  • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian – Sherman Alexie
A book for anyone over the age of twelve which describes the travails of a young Native American boy trying to navigate his way through various cultural mine-fields. This author was recommended by Babs and Dennis and having read this book I’m keen to read more of him.

OWENS VALLEY

  • Cadillac Desert: The American West and It’s Disappearing Water – Marc Reisner
A discussion of water policy and development in the US south-west. The Mono Basin and the Owens Valley are central in this story. Doris and John from June Lake talked about this book when we visited Mono Lake and Kathleen and Brian in Bishop also mentioned it.

IN THE DESERT

  • Shallow Water Dictionary: A Grounding in Estuary English – John R. Stilgoe

I keep thinking about this book, which I read a long time ago. Shallow Water Dictionary is an extended essay – a leisurely reflection on the richness of vernacular language used to describe the varied subtle landscape of estuaries and marshlands and a lament of their passing.

I keep thinking of this book as I travel through the desert and realise that I don’t have the language to describe the infinitely varied beautiful and vulnerable landscape. As with marshland, people don’t see an immediate use value for desert and so it is often threatened by destructive thoughtless development.

MEXICO

  • Under the Volcano – Malcom Lowry
A classic novel written in the 40s by English author, Malcom Lowry, set in a fictional town in Mexico against the global backdrop of the Spanish civil war. The action takes place on the Day of the Dead and traces the demise of the hopelessly alcoholic protagonist. A bleak but compelling read.
  • Bandit Roads – Richard Grant
Richard Grant travels through the Sierra Madre looking for trouble and finds it. Bandit Roads looks at the impact of the drug trade and endemic violence on life in the north of Mexico. I rode through the area and many of the towns described in this book.
  • Como Agua para Chocolate – Laura Esquivel
Mexican magic realism around the theme of food and passion. I’m going to attempt this one in Spanish.