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4.05 AVERAGE
4.05 AVERAGE
Too disjointed, but the areas of description about the land were well written.
Reading this before Circling the Sun.
A delightful memoir about a truly astounding person. There's controversy about whether Markham actually wrote her book, but that did not taint my enjoyment of it. I will probably read a biography about her, too, because I'm intrigued and because personal details about her life are largely absent here.
A delightful memoir about a truly astounding person. There's controversy about whether Markham actually wrote her book, but that did not taint my enjoyment of it. I will probably read a biography about her, too, because I'm intrigued and because personal details about her life are largely absent here.
As a hero of adventure, Beryl Markham is easy to idolize. West with the Night is stuffed with the rich, rip-roaring imagery of an extraordinary life. Between the turquoise bush plane, the lions stalking in and out, the horse races, and the emergency landings, the book generates plenty of fodder for fantasy. Musings about Africa and Africans, however, exude a musty, colonial odor.
Excellent memoir by the first female pilot to cross the Atlantic. She grew up in Kenya, survived a lion attack, a baboon attack, a plane crash and managed to train race horses, learn to fly a plane all in the 1920s and 30s.
I am eternally grateful for my trusted, go-to book sources, but there is something to be said for broadening your reading network.
At the recent Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club Reading Retreat we participated in a paperback book exchange. My new friend Raelene brought West with the Night and I snagged it based on the cover alone.
I would not have picked this book on my own. I am grateful I did because it is marvelous. I was captivated. I savored every word. Beryl Markham was something else- no-nonsense, feminine, ahead of her time. This memoir reads like fiction- snippets of her life told through impeccable writing set against the lush setting of Africa in the 1930's.
I could keep gushing, but I'll let Ernest Hemingway chime in. He said (about Markham) " ... can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book."
This is all to say that sometimes interacting with readers whose taste differs from yours can be such a wonderful thing. I encourage you to reach out to those readers that are unlike you every now and then. They may send your next favorite book your way.
At the recent Modern Mrs. Darcy Book Club Reading Retreat we participated in a paperback book exchange. My new friend Raelene brought West with the Night and I snagged it based on the cover alone.
I would not have picked this book on my own. I am grateful I did because it is marvelous. I was captivated. I savored every word. Beryl Markham was something else- no-nonsense, feminine, ahead of her time. This memoir reads like fiction- snippets of her life told through impeccable writing set against the lush setting of Africa in the 1930's.
I could keep gushing, but I'll let Ernest Hemingway chime in. He said (about Markham) " ... can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves as writers ... it really is a bloody wonderful book."
This is all to say that sometimes interacting with readers whose taste differs from yours can be such a wonderful thing. I encourage you to reach out to those readers that are unlike you every now and then. They may send your next favorite book your way.
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
That was just a fantastic story! The language is more elaborate than I like, but it still felt like a story a friend would tell you.
adventurous
inspiring
slow-paced
Now I understand why my book club was so keen to dig into secondary sources to find out more about Beryl Markham's life. Fascinating! The language is lyrical and gorgeous. I'm still slightly suspicious about its origins. Could someone without formal education really have written such incredible prose? Could the experiences she shared with the upper crust British in Africa and England have really elevated her speech patterns so much and then did she have the genius (this part is obvious, yes!) to translate (most likely) informal language, but even formal language into detailed, figurative, literary language? Hard to believe. But the book is gorgeous. Perhaps, she did have extensive literary education and that was just another part of her life left out of this book. Although she did admit to not being bookish. A fascinating woman who found a unique place in a very male world during the early 20th century.
adventurous
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
I had a little trepidation starting this book about how race would be handled, being as that it is in British East Africa. Thankfully, Beryl addresses it in a mostly beautiful way, just like the rest of the book. The story is told with gorgeous poetic language, definitely some of the best writing I've read lately! And the story, told as episodes from different times of her life, is exciting.