champion

Since I became ill I found reading difficult.  I just couldn’t concentrate on anything for long enough.  If I tried then I’d soon forget what I’d read so had to go back to the beginning time and again.

Things have not really got that much better.

I try reading a book and it’s the same old same old again and again.  Nothing goes in.  Or stays in to be more accurate.

Last month though I read a book (yes, a whole book!) called “Champion of Champions” by David Brayley.  It was about cycling so I thought that at least with my interest in the sport it’d be at an advantage over other books that might hold less interest for me.

But I was wrong. 

Not about rekindling my interest in reading but about the book’s contents.  Yes, it was based around a young boy’s first forays into the sport and I found those parts interesting of course; but it was more a story of family, morals, respect and love, with an excellent history lesson thrown in for good measure.  The sort of thing I would normally baulk at and put back on the shelf after 5 minutes.  But this book was so much more than the sum of its parts.

I don’t want to turn this post into a book review or an endorsement of the novel (I’ve done that on Amazon), but it was really an excellent and riveting read with the obligatory twist there to surprise me.  Moreover, it’s set me reading again and for that I am really thankful.

Chapeau! David, chapeau!

me in my racing prime - so long ago it was in black and white!