I just finished Melissa Holbrook-Pierson's The Perfect Vehicle. She has a wonderful writing voice, you really get to know her and her love of two wheels through reading the book. The anecdotal pieces on trips she's taken and the history flashbacks are very immersive and informative. At other times she prosetalizes and it wanders a bit, but she always seems to find her way back to that love of bikes again.The most memorable parts for me are her poetic descriptions of how it feels to ride. She has come closest (by far) in describing the feeling of riding a bike. If you are willing to let her take you on a ride and aren't freaked out by her intelligence or gender, you'll find the trip rewarding.
I then moved on to Motorcycling: A Life Long Passion, and after the Ondaatchi-esque prose of Melissa I'm having trouble getting into this strange book. 
I previously read Odessey To Ushuaia by the very entertaining Andres Carlstein, who makes a trans-American trip sound both naive and remarkably slutty at the same time; I really enjoyed it.So here I am reading a less engaging road trip and then alternate chapters on the experience of motorcycling whose prose isn't up to the task. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but it isn't grabbing me as the other two books did. I'll keep at it with the hopes that it ups its game.
On a different angle I also picked up some more tech-orientated books. I got the Ninja Haynes Manual when I got the bike in the spring, but I was looking for more general overviews of bike mechanics when I came across the Basics Techbook and Motorcycle Maintenance on Amazon.I've started the Techbook and after skipping the explanations of two and four stroke motors, I got a good explanation of the variety of motorcycle engines out there. I'm finding the book detailed and well written so far.
After spending so much time finishing the garage, the only gratuitous purchase was the How To Set Up Your Motorcycle Workshop. It'll be both enjoyable and frustrating to see what a more perfect bike repair area would look like.
If I can't be riding at least I can work my mind around other aspects of the sport.
