Book Review: Circling the Sun by Paula McLain

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Circling the Sun: A Novel by Paula McLain
To be released July 28, 2015; Ballantine
Genre: historical fiction

Setting: British expatriate community, Kenya, 1920s
Main character: Aviator and horse trainer Beryl Markham
Book beginning; first sentences:

Before Kenya was Kenya, when it was millions of years old and yet still somehow new, the name belonged to our most magnificent mountain. You could see it from our farm in Njoro, in the British East African Protectorate - hard edged at the far end of a stretching golden plain, its crown glazed with ice that never completely melted.

My comments: Because I had seen the much touted movie, Out of Africa, with Robert Redford and Meryl Streep playing the real life characters, hunter Denys Finch Hatton and coffee farmer Karen Blixen, I was curious to read the novel based on the life of the third party in their romantic trio - Beryl Markham.

Beryl and her parents and brother arrived in Kenya in 1904 when she was about five years old. When her mother, fed up with the hardships of Africa, left with her brother, Beryl was left to fend for herself on a horse training farm run by her father. She grew up with Kipsigis tribe members on her farm, learning their ways, being cared for by them, and hunting and running with her playmate Kibii. Beryl traveled several times back to England, but her loyalties stayed with Africa.

The novel tells of her failed marriages, her love for Denys Finch Hatton who could or would not commit to any one woman, and her strained relationship with his other lover, Karen Blixen, The story tells however of a young woman who was determined in 1920s Africa to be the equal to any man in bravery, determination, and freedom. She was the first female horse trainer in Kenya whose horses won many prizes. She was thwarted many times by those who looked down on her because she was a woman, but she triumphed in becoming a successful trainer as well as an aviator who made an historic flight across the Atlantic to North America.

Not only was the story interesting in the way it was presented, but the poetic and descriptive writing pulled me in and kept me interested. These real life characters were complex, their lives dramatic, and this novel brought the people and the history of the period in Kenya to life. I enjoyed reading it.

Objective rating: 5/5

I received an advance reader's edition of this book for review. 

Sunday Salon: Birding and Books

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit Mailbox Monday 

We were lucky to go bird watching at Magee Marsh along Lake Erie this morning before the storms came late afternoon. Walking on the boardwalk along the marsh thick with bushes and trees, we saw migratory birds, but unfortunately, not as many as we did last year in May. We were lucky to see a few of these American Redstart warblers flitting around.

allaboutbirds.com

We also took a guided motor tour through the preserve and saw water fowl as well as more migratory warblers. Then a walk along the lake brought us to a few more birds resting in the trees before their long flight north across the lake. 

Fresh air and exercise! 

I am now reading a cozy set in early New York: 

Murder in Murray Hill by Victoria Thompson is the 16th Gaslight Mystery, and it is a stand-alone mystery novel. When facing injustice, the residents of nineteenth-century New York City’s tenements turn to midwife Sarah Brandt and Detective Sergeant Frank Malloy to protect their rights. Now, as the Edgar and Agatha Award–nominated series continues, the two must track down a cruel criminal preying on the hopes and dreams of innocent women…(publisher)

I finished an ARC of When the Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi and will post a review later. 

New review books include
An ARC of The Breaking Point by Jefferson Bass, thanks to William Morrow. Past, present, and future collide to throw respected forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton’s successful, secure life into devastating turmoil in this poignant novel in the bestselling Body Farm mystery series

Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry; thanks to Ecco. Set in vibrant, tumultuous turn-of-the-century New York City, where the lives of four outsiders become entwined, bringing irrevocable change to them all

Book Beginning: Rescue at Los Banos by Bruce Henderson

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. Post it. Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.

Rescue at Los Banos: The Most Daring Prison Camp Raid of World War II by Bruce Henderson
Published March 31, 2015; William Morrow
Book description: 
The  true story of one of the greatest military rescues of all time, the 1945 World War II prison camp raid at Los Banos in the Philippines--a tale of daring, courage, and heroism that joins the ranks of Ghost Soldiers, Unbroken, and The Boys of Pointe du Hoc.

Book beginning: 

Benjamin Franklin Edwards, a mechanic with Pan American Airways for less than a year, arrived in Manila aboard the airline's famed "China Clipper" on October 2, 1941. The big Martin M-130 flying boat was known by Pan Am employees as "Sweet Sixteen" (NR 14716) and had been the first seaplane delivered to the airline and the first to fly scheduled air service across the Pacific. It touched won on Manila Bay and taxied to the ramp at Pan Am's Cavite base eight miles southwest of the Philippine capital known worldwide as the Pearl of the Orient for its picturesque seaside location, tropical beauty, and golden sunsets from the shoreline of its enchanting bay. 

Page 56:

Muller wondered how he was going to gather intelligence against the Japanese. It was a G-2's worst nightmare. Muller understood the average soldier might not see much of a difference between fighting the Germans and fighting the Japanese; both were dangerous and disciplined foes. But there was a big difference when it came to gaining accurate intelligence for the division's battle plans. 

World War II is always fascinating, especially in the Pacific. I'm eager to read it for a chance to learn more.

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this book for possible review. 

Wordless Wednesday: April Moon

Visit Wordless Wednesday  and NC Sue at Image-in-ing for more pictures

Photo © Harvee Lau

Book Review: My Chinese-America: Essays by Allen Gee

First Chapter, First Paragraph is hosted weekly by Bibliophile by the Sea. Share the first paragraph of your current read. Also visit Teaser Tuesday at A Daily Rhythm.

My Chinese-America:Essays by Allen Gee
Published April 1, 2015; Santa Fe Writers Project
Genre: literary essays

Book description:
In the first collection of essays by A Chinese-American male to be published in over a decade, Allen Gee writes about aspects of Asian American life in a detailed, eloquent manner, looking at how Asian-Americans view themselves in light of America’s insensitivities, stereotypes, and expectations. My Chinese-America speaks on masculinity, identity, and topics ranging from Jeremy Lin and immigration to profiling and Asian silences. 
The essays have an intimacy that transcends cultural boundaries, and casts light on a vital part of American culture that surrounds and influences all of us. (publisher)

My comments: 
I was both amazed and delighted at the frankness of some of the essays on the subject of Chinese-Americans in the U.S. Allen Gee is forthright and honest about some of his experiences and observations, yet he also shows how in touch he is with ordinary American life and how he lives it every day with his American wife and children, and his American creative writing students at Georgia College. 

His topics range from racial stereotyping of Asians to his practice of non-violence in dealing with physical and emotional challenges in his daily life. He shows himself also as a hunter and fisherman, in tune with his surroundings and American life,  but also in touch with the perceptions of other minorities and ethnic groups in a multi-cultural country. 

This collection of essays is frank in its assessments and also eye opening for those who are interested in the point of view of a group in American society who are often seen as silent, nerdy, possibly weak except in the area of academics. It shows many sides of the Chinese-American experience, and especially the one experienced by Allen Gee. 

Objective rating: 4.5/5

First paragraph, first chapter:

In mid-July during a summer when I wanted to remain in only one place, my mother called from upstate New York and asked. Won't you visit? You aren't going to miss your father's sixtieth birthday, are you? And what about Matthew? she reminded me, speaking of her first grandchild - my nephew- who was almost nine months old. You should see him now. He's trying to walk, and you should hear hin laugh. Can't you leave work for a while? Hers was a selfless voice that strove to weave connections, that valued community and the continuity of tradition. 

About Allen Gee
I grew up largely in Albany, NY, but spent a lot of time in NYC, visiting family there. I attended the University of New Hampshire, then the Iowa Writers Workshop, and finally, the University of Houston. I'm now a Professor of English at Georgia College. I live on Lake Sinclair, in Milledgeville, GA, and often volunteer at Andalusia, Flannery O'Connor's farm. My wife, Renee Dodd, is also a writer. Her terrific novel is: "A Cabinet of Wonders." I have two daughters, Ashley and Willa. My favorite pastimes outside of reading and writing are: running, fishing, traveling, hiking, and backpack-ing. I went fishing up in Alaska last summer, and I want to go back again.

Thanks to Serena Agusto-Cox of Poetic Book Tours and the author for a review copy of this book for its book tour.

Visit the tour schedule for more reviews and information 

Sunday Salon: Two Genres

Welcome to the Sunday Salon where bloggers share their reading each week. Visit The Sunday Post hosted by The Caffeinated Bookreviewer. Also visit Mailbox Monday 

ARC and review novel received recently:

When the Moon Is Low by Nadia Hashimi, to be released July 21, 2015; William Morrow
Genre: fiction
Mahmoud's passion for his wife Fereiba, a schoolteacher, is greater than any love she's ever known. But their happy, middle-class world—a life of education, work, and comfort—implodes when their country is engulfed in war, and the Taliban rises to power.

A Finely Knit Murder by Sally Golenbaum, to be published May 5, 2015; NAL
Genre: mystery 
... the sleuthing skills of Izzy Chambers Perry and the Seaside Knitters are tested as death mars the beginning of the school year…

What's on your reading plate?

Book Beginning: The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher

The Shell Seekers by Rosamunde Pilcher
Paperback published May 12, 2015; St. Martin's Griffin
Hardcover first published in 1987
Genre: fiction

Book description: 
Penelope Keeling's prized possession is The Shell Seekers, painted by her father, and symbolizing her unconventional life, from bohemian childhood to wartime romance. When her grown children learn their grandfather's work is now worth a fortune, each has an idea as to what Penelope should do. But as she recalls the passions, tragedies, and secrets of her life, she knows there is only one answer...and it lies in her heart. (publisher)

Book beginning: The taxi, an old Rover smelling of  old cigarette smoke, trundled along the empty country road at an unhurried pace. It was early afternoon at the very end of February, a magic winter day of bitter cold, frost, and pale, cloudless skies. The sun shone, sending long shadows, but there was little warmth in it, and the ploughed fields lay hard as iron. From the chimneys of scattered farmhouses and small stone cottages, smoke rose, straight as columns, up into the still air, and flocks of sheep, heavy with wool and incipient pregnancy, gathered around feeding troughs, stuffed with fresh hay.  

Sitting in the back of the taxi, gazing through the dusty window, Penelope Keeling decided that she had never seen the familiar countryside look so beautiful.  

page 56:

"It's just that...this is the sort of place where I think I could stay. I wouldn't feel trapped or rooted here. I don't know why." She smiled at him. "I don't know why."

 This book was first published in 1987 and has been a bestseller since then. I have never read it but have heard about it, and now have the chance to read the new paperback edition to be published in May, Thanks to the publisher for an ARC.

The Friday 56: *Grab a book, turn to page 56 or 56% in your eReader. Find any sentence, (or few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you. Post it. Add your (url) post in Linky at Freda's Voice.
Also, visit Book Beginning at Rose City Reader.