J.W. Burleson photo / Boquillas del Carmen, Coah.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Mike Moore & Earl Swift: The Auto-biographers. And the 1957 Chevrolet Station Wagon.


             If you're here on Autoliterate,  you're probably a car guy, or car girl, & there are 2 astounding car books I will strongly recommend.
             It's a weak genre, often sluggish with either sentimentality or hobbyist jargon--sometimes both--but in the last couple of years I've come across these genre-busting car books. Both sport very close to the same--apparently irresistible--title.
           Mike Moore's Auto Biographies is an artist's book: limited production, signed copies. It is a remarkable read and A beautiful artwork in which Moore documents with drawings and texts pretty much every car he's ever owned-- as well as 22 houses he's lived in.
               Earl Swift's Auto Biography: A Classic Car, an Outlaw Motorhead and 57 Years of the American Dream was the best book I read over the summer, on any subject. My favorite review:
"A big, weird, heartfelt book about a badass who could give a damn whether you root for him or not.
Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
 "It's the best contemporary book I've read about automobiles since A.J. Baime's Go Like Hell, and I enjoyed the hell out of that" Matt Hardigree, Jalopnik.com
"I've never met Earl Swift, but from the very first page of this book I liked him. Auto Biography is exuberant, big-spirited, and more than occasionally profound."
Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Beyond Mountains
"Auto Biography is a great read, with the cast, dialog and drama of a novel."
Detroit Free Press
The story he tells of the car's o

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