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# Chris Lee-Francis

Author, book nerd

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://chrisleefrancis.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://chrisleefrancis.com/blog/)
- [The full list](https://chrisleefrancis.com/the-full-list/) - Read / in progress #51 A Man Without Qualities Why ChatGPT recommended this book: "I recommended The Man Without Qualities as a capstone because the project you’ve been undertaking has gradually circled a central question: how do people live inside systems that claim to explain everything — political systems, moral systems, bureaucratic systems, even systems
- [I’m Letting ChatGPT Choose What I Read For A Year](https://chrisleefrancis.com/letting-chatgpt-choose-what-i-read-for-a-year/) - 2025 reading project
- [Review: Open City by Teju Cole](https://chrisleefrancis.com/book-review-open-city-by-teju-cole/) - Open City follows the routes and thoughts of a man called Julius as he walks in various places.
- [Beautiful / noteworthy snippets](https://chrisleefrancis.com/beautiful-meaningful-snippets/) - Here are various passages that stood out for being especially beautiful, meaningful, or otherwise noteworthy. #5 The Pillow Book of Sei Shōnagon A section titled "Things That Make One's Heart Beat Faster": Sparrows feeding their young. To pass a place where babies are playing. To sleep in a room where some fine incense has been
- [Eastwards and Far Milestones](https://chrisleefrancis.com/milestones/) - Self-publishing is sometimes challenging but more often it's awesome. Here's some cool stuff that's happened so far.
- [Books I've been recommended while promoting mine](https://chrisleefrancis.com/books-ive-been-recommended-while-promoting-mine/) - I'm a big believer in spreading the word about other people's books, so here's a list of all the adventure-adjacent books that have been recommended to me in conversations about Eastwards and Far. They're in the order they were recommended, except for Paulene which I bumped to the top because it made my heart smile.
- [Review: 'Butterfly of Dinard' by Eugenio Montale](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-butterfly-of-dinard-by-eugenio-montale/) - Via NYRB Classics, also the May 2024 selection of the their Book Club The author of this collection described it variously as a novel, a noveletta, etc, seemingly unsettled on its exact nature. Individually the stories offer a slice of life: rich, concise impressions of a place and time. It makes for effortless reading: writing
- [Over the Alps in a rickshaw with Bill Phelps](https://chrisleefrancis.com/over-the-alps-in-a-rickshaw-with-bill-phelps/) - This is a slightly refined version of the original, first published on the Ride25 blog in May 2015. Bill welcomes me into his home and I add my bike to the bunch already in the hall, one of which is quite garish: the entire frame a makeshift collage, complete with photograph faces along the top
- [2024 Reading Goals](https://chrisleefrancis.com/2024-reading-goals/) - UPDATE 19/6: This is going terribly. 17 of the 38 books I've read so far this year aren't ones I owned at the start. In 2022 my goal was to read more books by women than men, because my read list was a sausagefest. In 2023 it was to read more books in translation than
- [How much does it cost to self publish a book?](https://chrisleefrancis.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-self-publish-a-book/) - If you're in it for the money, I'd maybe reconsider ♥
- [Review: 'A Canticle for Leibowitz' by Walter M. Miller Jr](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-a-canticle-for-leibowitz-by-walter-m-miller-jr/) - By far the most compelling post-apocalypse I've encountered in literature, mainly because of the inevitability that humanity will blow itself up whenever it manages to rebuild.
- [Review: 'A Man Without A Country' by Kurt Vonnegut](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-a-man-without-a-country-by-kurt-vonnegut/) - This is the essence of Vonnegut. Perhaps not essential, to his more casual readers, but definitely his essence.
- [Review: 'As It Happened' by Clement Attlee](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-as-it-happened-by-clement-attlee/) - The prose is sometimes sluggish and the anecdotes occasionally dull, but insight into the evolution of the Labour movement is fascinating.
- [Review: 'The Metamorphosis' by Franz Kafka](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-the-metamorphosis-by-franz-kafka/) - That this story relies on the reader to prescribe their own meaning is often cited as a weakness; that it can function convincingly on so many levels is proof of its strength.
- [Review: 'The Body: A Guide for Occupants' by Bill Bryson](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-the-body-a-guide-for-occupants-by-bill-bryson/) - Here, in truest form, Bryson tells us how our "warm wobble of flesh" guides us through "the rare and supremely agreeable condition known as life".
- [Review: 'Trout Fishing in America' by Richard Brautigan](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-trout-fishing-in-america-by-richard-brautigan/) - Not really sure what I just read. That said, I'm planning to read it again shortly to get another hit of whatever it does deliver.
- [Review: 'To Obama' by Jeanne Marie Laskas](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-to-obama-by-jeanne-marie-laskas/) - This book defines the chasm between what politics can be, and what it shouldn't be.
- [Review: 'The Speech' by Bernie Sanders](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-the-speech-by-bernie-sanders/) - As the transcript of a 10 hour filibuster, is the book a good read? Not particularly. Is it a good rallying cry? You bet your ass yes.
- [Review: 'Chickenhawk' by Robert Mason](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-chickenhawk-by-robert-mason/) - A raw glimpse into the life of a man serving in a war he increasingly views as futile and wrong.
- [Review: 'A Promised Land' by Barack Obama](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-a-promised-land-by-barack-obama/) - The second best part of this book is Obama's contemporary reflection on a statement he gave about the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
- [Review: 'The Anatomy of a Moment' by Javier Cercas](https://chrisleefrancis.com/the-anatomy-of-a-moment-by-javier-cercas/) - Historic non-fiction can easily be dry and tedious, especially when it's a recommendation rather than about a topic you're already interested in. This book, though. Damn.
- [Review: 'Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine, Fine' by Diane Williams](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-fine-fine-fine-fine-fine-by-diane-williams/) - This is an unusual book (from my perspective, I imagine from most perspectives) but it does what it's trying to do well (if it is actually trying to do what I think it is).
- [Review: 'The Songlines' by Bruce Chatwin](https://chrisleefrancis.com/review-the-songlines-by-bruce-chatwin/) - The best travel literature should do 3 things, and few books achieve them all to such a high standard.
- [Bryan's US trip, 1986](https://chrisleefrancis.com/bryans-us-trip-1986/) - One of my favourite things about getting Eastwards and Far into the world is people sharing their adventures with me. I've heard from so many people about formative journeys they've taken, and with Bryan's I felt inspired to ask if he'd be happy for me to share it on the blog. He said yes, so
- [Random things I've noticed while self publishing](https://chrisleefrancis.com/random-things-ive-noticed-while-self-publishing/) - Such things as this: The amount of people buying my book on Kindle then refunding it after they've downloaded it INCREASED DRAMATICALLY when I started advertising it in the US ✌😗
- [From the broom wagon to riding across Canada](https://chrisleefrancis.com/from-the-broom-wagon-to-crossing-canada/) - On the Milan-Rome Pioneers ride I ended up in the broom wagon, so I was hesitant when I set off to ride across Canada in 2017. This is book about that ride.
- [Thoughts about self-publishing](https://chrisleefrancis.com/thoughts-about-self-publishing/) - Here are some miscellaneous thoughts about promoting a self-published book. The image is the writing inspiration collage above my desk 🙇‍♂️ It's a slow burn. My day job means I'm used to immediate, tangible metrics. Sending a book into the world and not knowing whether people have read it, or even received it, is weird.

## Pages

- [Home](https://chrisleefrancis.com/) - I'm a self-published author figuring out how the industry works. My first book is about the joy and humanity you find on a bike tour.
- [All the books I've read this decade](https://chrisleefrancis.com/all-the-books-ive-read-this-decade/) - Originally a thread on Twitter, moved here after I closed my account in protest of Elon Musk's ongoing pandering to the far right. VERY FAR FROM BEING UP TO DATE! I'll get there 😅👍 390: The Victorian Chaise-Longue by Marghanita LaskiThe intro pitched this as a deeply unnerving horror, which it really wasn't. Someone's fate
- [About me](https://chrisleefrancis.com/about-me/) - I’m Chris (the one at the front). I’m a big fan of cycling as a way of seeing the world and connecting with the people who live in it. I also believe you don’t need a lot of money to have an adventure. My day job is digital marketing. I’m proud to help some third-sector
- [Events](https://chrisleefrancis.com/events/) - DateEventVenueTicketsTBCTalk @ The ClusterThe Cluster, Summertown (See on map)TBC13/2/25School eventNorth LondonEvent passed30/1/25Talk @ Witney libraryWitney libraryN/A19/11/24A talk for Guildford Travel ClubOnslow Village Hall, Guildford (See on map)Event passed16/12/23Book signingColombia Coffee Roasters, Summertown (See on map)N/A
- [Poems I like](https://chrisleefrancis.com/poems-i-like/) - Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy’s Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota by James Wright (all-time fave) Eunoia by Christian Bök (the full 'collection') Wooden Heart by Primo Levi Natural Mechanical by J. O. Morgan Sovetica by Caroline Clark (the full collection) The Loch Ness Monster's Song by Edwin Morgan Slough by John Betjeman (I
- [Short stories I like](https://chrisleefrancis.com/short-stories-i-like/) - Let's Play Dead by Senaa Ahmad San Manuel Bueno, Martyr by Miguel de Unamuno Violets by Bud Smith As Long as the Sun Lasts by Italo Calvino Second Person Looking Out by Gabriel Josipovici
- [Stockists](https://chrisleefrancis.com/stockists/) - Here are the wonderful bookshops where you can buy Eastwards and Far!Also in theory you can ask any independent UK bookshop and they’ll be able to order it in, as it’s in their shared ordering system. OxfordshireColes Books, BicesterWebsiteLocationThe Woodstock Bookshop, WoodstockWebsiteLocationDaunt Books, SummertownWebsiteDirectionsMostly Books, Abingdon WebsiteLocationThe Shop, WitneyWebsiteLocation MerseysideThe Reader Bookshop, LiverpoolWebsite Location Where else?Got a favourite
- [Contact me](https://chrisleefrancis.com/contact/) - A slick contact form is coming soon. In the meantime you can drop me an email and I’ll get back to you within a few hours.chris[@]chrisleefrancis[.]com

## Products

- [Eastwards and Far](https://chrisleefrancis.com/books/eastwards-and-far/) - Eastwards and Far is a book about cycling across Canada, and the joy and humanity I found on the way.

## Categories

- [Uncategorised](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/uncategorised/)
- [About writing](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/about-writing/) - From random thoughts to helpful resources.
- [Book reviews](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/book-reviews/)
- [About self-publishing](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/about-self-publishing/) - Hopefully some of this information is helpful if you’re looking into self-publishing!
- [Books](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/books-2/)
- [What I'm reading](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/what-im-reading/)
- [Travel books](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/what-im-reading/travel-books/)
- [Non-travel books](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/what-im-reading/non-travel-books/)
- [Other people's adventures](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/other-peoples-adventures/)
- [Reading goals](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/reading-goals/)
- [Letting ChatGPT decide what I read for a year](https://chrisleefrancis.com/category/letting-chatgpt-decide-what-i-read-for-a-year/)

## Tags

- [Letting ChatGPT decide what I read for a year](https://chrisleefrancis.com/tag/letting-chatgpt-decide-what-i-read-for-a-year/)

## Product categories

- [Uncategorised](https://chrisleefrancis.com/product-category/uncategorised/)