The 52 Book Club: 2025 Challenge discussion

CYCLING: Gold

18) CROSS-COUNTRY: Related to the word “endurance”

Cross-country is a cycling event that severely tests participants’ skill, stamina, and endurance. That’s why, for this prompt, we’re choosing books that somehow relate to the word “endurance.” Miriam-Webster defines endurance as, “the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially, the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity.”

This may relate to the theme of the book as a whole, a specific character who endures an event, or a non-fiction read on what it means or looks like to endure. The word “endurance” or “endure” may be featured in the title, subtitle, or series title. As long as the book somehow ties to the word endurance, it fits! (For example: Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition was on a boat called the Endurance.)



Here is the link for our Goodreads List, feel free to add your suggestions to it!

I read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah. MC endures a dysfunctional family and rural Alaskan wilderness

I am reading Sprinting Through No Man's Land: Endurance, Tragedy, and Rebirth in the 1919 Tour de France

I was going to use it for apostrophe in the title but it fits well for endurance.

Knew I had this book, Den fryktelige ferden: Om Robert Scotts ekspedisjon til Sydpolen fortalt av en overlevende by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

The titular protagonist of Judy Blume's Deenie must wear a full torso brace to correct her scoliosis...for four long years. Much of that time, she will spend it in pain.

That takes some serious endurance.

I finished Daughter’s Walk by Jane Kirkpatrick. I was originally going to use it for Bronze road cycling (time period without modern transportation) - my husband thought it did because it was just when they had trains, I was leery of it. Glad I found a spot in endurance! It’s the story of a mother and daughter who walked from Spokane to New York. It follows the daughter’s story about what happened after they returned. I felt like it fit endurance because it takes endurance to walk across US and then all she did to survive when they returned.

Read "Primoz in Bajk" for the summer reading challenge (prompt 18). It's the biography of professional cyclist Primoz Roglic (defending Olympic Time Trial Champion), told in an illustrated children's book. Primoz is a very active lad and his parents give him a bicycle, named Bajk. Together they go out on rides, but Primoz dreams of flying, i.e. ski jumping. As Bajk is afraid of the slide, Primoz trades his bike for a pair of skis. Unfortunately, Primoz gets involved in a very heavy accident on the slide and has to abandon his ski jump career. He rediscovers his love for the bike and together with Bajk he takes part in a professional cycling race. Despite getting involved in a massive crash, they manage to win the race. As a big fan of Primoz, I obviously enjoyed the book very much. The story itself was told in a light tone, but nevertheless moving and inspirational. Great drawings as well.

I read Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage by Alfred Lansing

I read The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, 2 Stars

I read Get Well Soon: History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them by Jennifer Wright. It was really interesting, both in the history it covered as well as the perspective post-covid. This was written in 2017 and man were parts of it a little hard to read knowing what was coming. It also runs into the problem that any piece of media does when it uses the word 'hero', where the author basically becomes an apologist for anything terrible the 'hero' did. For example, the world would arguably be a worse place if Jonas Salk hadn't invented the polio vaccine, but we can also hold him accountable for experimenting on people without their consent. Both things can be true.

I read Flight Plan by Eric Walters which is a teen dystopian novel where a teen boy is part of a group that must journey from Chicago to Toronto after a major technology failure creates a dystopian world. https://cdnbookworm.blogspot.com/2024...

I chose Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein, because Rose had to endure being in Ravensbruck.

I read Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Read Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour. Great read.