Product Description
In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. articulated his dream, JFK was assassinated, and zip codes were first introduced to the US. The world was monumentally changing and changing fast. But in the eyes of future fantasy author Peter Beagle and his best friend Phil, it wasn't changing fast enough. For these two twenty-something beatnik Jews from the Bronx, change was something you chased after night and day across the country on the trembling seat of a motor scooter. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A classic travel saga from the 60's still a great read
I have always loved this book since I read it in the 60's. Every few years, I would dust it off and reread it because it always made me laugh and sigh. I'm very happy that it is back in print and available through Amazon. You will love reading this "journal" as two guy friends head from the Bronx to sunny California, full of ironic humor, curiosity, and Peter Beagle's incredible ability to write as an old friend would speak and share his observations with us. All the fun of traveling across America without any of the hassles!

Cross Country On A Scooter
Simple concept . . . author Peter Beagle and his frind Phil travel New York to San Francisco on a pair of scooters.In 1961.

A couple of prototype hippies.I'm not sure I cared much for their world view, and several times detected hypocrisy.But Beagle is a smart guy and keen observer of things and interpreter of people.

A nice balance between the chain of interesting and generally good people that encountered, and the experience of riding a motor scooter coast to coast (sum it up -- COLD).Great treatment of both the individuality and quirks of people, and the quirks and nuances of the scooters.

I was struck by how timeless the story seems.It almost could have been written this year.There seems to be too much to say to squeeze into a review.I'll just say its an easy read, always interesting, and closes fairly satisfying.Easy to read in short sittings and was never hard to put down after a brief session.

A classic motor scooter trip across America
I first read the original version when I was in high school in the early 1970's. It was a memorable book for me then. It remains an extremely well-written story about touring America. It a story about adventuring, discovering the country, opening yourself up to real adventure and the kindness of strangers, and the love of motor scooters as a means of transport. The author and his friend rode the classic Heinkel Tourist scooters. It inspired my own dream of doing a cross country motor scooter tour. A few years after I read it, I hitched alone across the 2/3 of the nation; it was a similar positive and challenging experience. Otherwise that dream stayed dormant for decades. Fast forward to a few years ago - I bought an early edition of the book on Amazon and reread it. Wonderful - the story hadn't lost anything with time; a classic story about the optimism of youth and the 1960's. Now at 52, I purchased a 2007 Vespa GTS three months ago and I'm learning how to ride as a total beginner (with much more caution that I would have had at 18!). The dream is still alive...the back roads of America await.

For a much more serious but equally interesting book about two-wheeled touring, I also recommend the 1970's classic "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

Fun Story
I really enjoyed the story, liked the way Peter Beagle describes scenes.He's one of my favorites so I'm not going to find a book by him I don't like.

Sweet and charming
This is one of the most charming books I've read in ages. Two fuzzy-faced little guys, two dorky motor scooters, one mission: New York to California in 1965. The way Peter S. Beagle writes, it's easy to see why everyone he and his friend Phil encounter wants to adopt them. He is kind, witty, and genuine. There's no attempt to be hip (how hip can you pretend to be on a motor scooter?)He not only observes the physical and emotional landscape, he also describes what he sees with such freshness that it took my breath away.
... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 7417. ... Read more

Product Description
From Sholom Aleichem to Avram Davidson, Isaac Bashevis Singer to Tony Kushner, the Jewish literary tradition has always been one rich in the supernatural and the fantastic. In these pages, gathered from the best short fiction of the last ten years, twenty authors prove that their heritage is alive and well - in the spaces between stars that an alphabet can bridge, folklore come to life and histories become stories, and all the places where old worlds and new collide and change. ... Read more

Product Description
I Loved You Wednesdayis a novel about temporary commitments. For Chris and Steve, love develops out of a friendship rooted in their common struggle for that one big break on the TV networks or on Broadway. They must face the rejections and disappointments, readings, and tryouts. Zany, sympathetic, and intensely alive, Chris and Steve live each day with all the verve and delight of a Holly Golightly whose diamonds are the lights of Broadway, but love on Wednesday may not be love on Thursday, for today's (1975) 'liberated' generation often plans futilely to fulfill dreams of permanent relationships. The love they share is sadly outgrown as their horizons widen.

Tears and laughter join in I Loved You Wednesday to present the total experience of the young lovers living in the mid 1970's. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not a scooter book
This novel has very little to do with scooters. It has more to do with two immature guys traveling across the country laughing up their sleeves at people they meet. Full of "inside" jokes,that he author assumes are so clever but they fall flat.
Overall , it could have been more interesting if the writer had included more actual scooter riding activities. ... Read more

Product Description
Fiction, Adventure, General Road Trip, Cross Country, Self Discovery ... Read more