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On Wheels
Michael Holroyd confronts an army of automobiles in this charming book. Weaving together memoir and historical anecdote, he traces his relationship with cars through a lifetime of biography.
Learning to drive was no easy matter for Michael: the lessons required military precision when practising how to get in and out of his car correctly. His biographical subjects also had their difficulties: Bernard Shaw drove with reckless gusto when overtaking his eightieth year; Vita Sackville-West’s car became a chamber for sudden romantic assignations and getaways; while Augustus John and his family careered through vulnerable villages as the poor vehicle, piled high with bohemian friends, stuttered and jerked along in first gear.
Wry, thoughtful and very funny, On Wheels is an elegy to the glamour of the car. Subtle and perceptive, Michael Holroyd finds surprising ways to understand the past and challenge our view of the future.
Learning to drive was no easy matter for Michael: the lessons required military precision when practising how to get in and out of his car correctly. His biographical subjects also had their difficulties: Bernard Shaw drove with reckless gusto when overtaking his eightieth year; Vita Sackville-West’s car became a chamber for sudden romantic assignations and getaways; while Augustus John and his family careered through vulnerable villages as the poor vehicle, piled high with bohemian friends, stuttered and jerked along in first gear.
Wry, thoughtful and very funny, On Wheels is an elegy to the glamour of the car. Subtle and perceptive, Michael Holroyd finds surprising ways to understand the past and challenge our view of the future.
- GenresBiography
104 pages, Hardcover
First published November 1, 2012
16 people want to read
About the author
Michael Holroyd
142 books46 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