Play Book Tag discussion

Beryl Markham grew up in Africa and became a pilot. Through a series of anecdotes or vignettes, she presents an autobiography of her life through the point where she set a record in 1936 for being the first to fly across the Atlantic from east to west.

For me, the book had high points that were very high, but overall felt uneven. Some stories were very interesting to me, and others really were relied more on poetic writing to carry them. While her writing is nice and descriptive, at times it was just too much detail and felt like it detracted from the storytelling.

Writing and storytelling aside, this woman is pretty incredible. I was very glad to have read about her life and admire her bravery and strength of character tremendously. Very inspirational.

Anita wrote: "For me, the book had high points that were very high, but overall felt uneven. ..."

Sorry this one wasn't more appealing and I appreciate your thoughts. I read West With the Night in conjunction with Out of Africa, the latter of which I didn't care for. Maybe reading both books at the same time, influenced my thoughts about the book by Markham? She certainly was a trailblazer, especially for that time period.

It seems you got a lot of reading done during your vacation. Hoping you had a lovely time. :-)

Lisa A wrote: "Anita wrote: "For me, the book had high points that were very high, but overall felt uneven. ..."

Sorry this one wasn't more appealing and I appreciate your thoughts. I read West With the Night in..."

I did enjoy it, Lisa . . .and was glad I read it. But it didn't quite make it into the 4 star category for me because the writing style just didn't match with my personal tastes.

There was a lot of moving between places on my vacation - - so flights, lengthy boat rides, airport waits, etc. etc. so I did finish 5 books along the way.

It was a very interesting, if not the most relaxing, trip. We saw tremendous numbers of different kinds of animals and some unique ecosystems. All in all, very worthwhile.

Anita wrote: " I did enjoy it, Lisa . . .and was glad I read it. ....."

Oh good! :-)

I hope I like it better than you did; it's in my March reading pile.