A Simple Machine, Like the Lever + The Best of Boneshaker
A Simple Machine, Like the Lever + The Best of Boneshaker
The Best of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac, plus a copy of the novel A Simple Machine, Like the Lever by Evan P. Schneider.
A SIMPLE MACHINE, LIKE THE LEVER
Nicholas Allander, thirty-one—carless and careerless—is trying to get his life on track while holding his head high. He’s trying to pay off his debt, impress his girlfriend, keep his job, cast off his introversion, and accept the world’s imperfections without abandoning his heart. All the while he clings to his bicycle, a simple machine whose purpose and workings he grasps. Like Nick, A Simple Machine, Like the Lever is short, toned, observant, generous, purposeful, and brimming with bicycle wisdom. One of the best books of 2011 according to Willamette Week.
“I’m tempted to say all kinds of irresponsible things about Evan P. Schneider’s first novel: that it’s the Catcher in the Rye of our time…But I loved this book. I think more people need to know about it. So what the hell.” –DENNIS JAMES SWEENEY, HTML GIANT
"Self-consciously and without angst or sarcasm, Nick lives in the details—the simple machine here is not the bike. The machine the title references is Nick himself, and by extension, his quiet, elegantly dispassionate story." –VIRGINIA THAYER, PORTLAND MERCURY
“The climactic scene…is both cathartic and haunting. An unforgettable first novel." –JUSTIN HOCKING , OREGON BOOK AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE GREAT FLOODGATES OF THE WONDERWORLD
“A literary cycling uplift enough to counteract the weight of the world. Nails the essence of being a cyclist, of being young—the yearning, the detachment, the attempted grace, the unsureness, the gray confusion.” –JONATHAN WALDMAN, COLORADO BOOK AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR OF RUST: THE LONGEST WAR
“Deceptively simple, efficient, and potentially revolutionary. The novel cranks out quietly subversive, smart, and funny prose that crackles with insights on the current human condition.” –STEVEN CHURCH, AUTHOR OF ONE WITH THE TIGER AND I'M JUST GETTING TO THE DISTURBING PART
“By turns innocent, lyrical, wistful, funny, and poignant. Necessity has made its observant narrator, Nick, hopelessly thrifty, but what has made him so bafflingly sweet? This economical novel is rich with mysterious compassion.” –MARY RECHNER, AUTHOR OF NINE SIMPLE PATTERNS FOR COMPLICATED WOMEN
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THE BEST OF BONESHAKER: A BICYCLING ALMANAC
Ten years in the making, The Best of Boneshaker is a weather-worn collection of prose, poetry, interviews, art, and literary miscellany from ten issues of Boneshaker: A Bicycling Almanac that takes us on one last ramble as the sun goes down. It’s the definitive Boneshaker compendium.
"A philosophical love letter to life in the saddle." –ESQUIRE
“Literary-minded essays, poems, and interviews for the silent soldiers of the bicycle army.” –UTNE READER
“Witty and intelligent. A survival guide and source of inspiration.” –MOUNTAIN FLYER
“The next best thing to coasting downhill with the wind in your hair.” –BOING BOING