Vroom With a View [Paperback]

Peter Moore (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 28, 2005

Readers will fall for a side of Italy rarely seen with the just-turned-forty Peter Moore rattling around the country on the back of an ageing Vespa scooter — like himself, a little rough around the edges, and a bit slow in the mornings perhaps, but basically still OK.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Peter Moore is a freelance advertising copywriter and website producer who works only to support his insatiable travel habit. He has written for various Australian and British publications, including The Times and Sydney Herald, and it the author of three acclaimed travel books, The Wrong Way Home, The Full Montezuma and Swahili for the Broken-Hearted as well as the classic alternative travel guide, No Shitting in the Toilet. When he's not on the road living out of his trusty backpack, he lives in Sydney with his collection of souvenir plastic snowdomes. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 359 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (June 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553816373
• ISBN-13: 978-0553816372
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 1 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,259,780 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My name is Peter Moore and I'm an Australian travel author.

Basically, my job is to go on grand journeys and write about them. I've travelled overland from London to Sydney (The Wrong Way Home), from Cape Town to Cairo (Swahili for the Broken-Hearted) and around Italy on a forty-year-old Vespa (Vroom with a View). I also travelled around Central America with a girl I'd only just met (The Full Montezuma). I'm just finishing a book about driving around Australia in an old car with a new wife (Crikey!).

I'd like to think that my books convey the stuff that I love about travelling - the people you meet and the crazy situations you find yourself in. I constantly find myself in situations that you couldn't make up. Like sheltering in a coffin shop during a riot in Addis Ababa. Or being assured by an Iranian nuclear physicist that my country would be safe in the event of a nuclear war. And I'm constantly overwhelmed by the hospitality of people in even the poorest countries

If I had to describe my books I'd say they were kind of like a cross between Bill Bryson and Paul Theroux. But whereas Bill and Paul can flash their platinum Amexes, I have to be a bit more careful with my pennies. But to be honest I've found that's the best way to meet the locals.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my books. As Oprah would say "they'll make you laugh, they'll make you cry, they'll change your life."

Well, at least I wish she'd say that.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This could be the best way to see Italy, August 21, 2005

By 

Dick Paetzke (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vroom With a View (Paperback)

Peter Moore's book is a charmer. If you love Italy, the real Italy, and Vespas, the real Italian scooter, you'll love this book. Peter Moore, whom I wish I knew, has written a wonderful love story about a country that captivated him, seen the way most people will never see it. Maybe the spirit of the American Old West still lives in Australia. It's pretty much died out here. We Yanks seem pretty limited to the four or five places we've heard of -- Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, and a couple more we remember from skimpy Geography classes. Moore, an Aussie, sets out to explore Italy, mostly from Tuscany to Rome on a scooter whose vintage matches his own. He does touch on those places overrun with tourists, but the heart of his tale is what happens in little trattorias, greasy workshops, and tiny places you've never heard of. The story is more Don Quixote than Under The Tuscan Sun and Moore is more Dave Barry than Frances Mays. He's joined on his trip by his girlfriend (and wife to be)as he tunes up his 40 year old scoot and his relationship with Sally as they alternately zip and sputter from one little town to another. I have to confess being totally predisposd to this book, being the owner of two Vespas and a home in Italy where my wife and I spend as many weeks as we can during the year. Moore knows Italians as we do, people filled with enthusiasm and eccentricities that make Anglo Saxons crazy, the creators of food, music, and a passion for living to die for. He finds it all on his rusty steed and I enjoyed every km of the way. My wife is reading the book right now and raves about it. The book was a gift from an Englishman from whom I bought my latest Vespa. I'm buying more copies and giving them to friends I love. Do yourself a favor and buy this lovely book. Then get a Vespa and a whole bunch of new friends that go with it.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars La Dolce Vita!, January 24, 2006

By 

D. SMITH (Japan via Chicago) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Vroom With a View (Paperback)

I have loved (and ridden) Vespas for over 21 years (longer than I have had a driver's license, and I have loved reading Peter Moore's books for almost 7 years. I never thought I would see the two come together in such a well-written, entertaining way. Peter describes Italy in a way that only a dry, somewhat "off" Aussie could, yet still allows romance to shine through his observations. Likewise, the Vespa serves as a perfect metaphor for the country, yet at the same time is more than just an incidental presence in the story; indeed, the Vespa is observed and remarked upon very frequently, and always tastefully. The only other medium in which the Vespa was so well portrayed was in the film "Night on Earth" (and, again, the same could perhaps be said of the Rome portrayed in the same film, like no other). This is a book great for any occasion and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in travel, humour, art, style, taste, and Vespas.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable!, June 18, 2006

By 

M.C. (Spring Valley, CA United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vroom with a View: In Search of Italy's Dolce Vita on a '61 Vespa (Paperback)

I'll buy any travelogue if it's written about Italy. This one did not disappoint. The author buys a Vespa off Ebay and travels through Italy, describing each city or town and its people and food. Never does the author come across as being "uppity" to Italians, but always as a down-to-earth man. Written with humor, it's never over-the-top. It's one of the most enjoyable travelogues I've read. I highly recommend!