West With the Nightby Beryl Markham | |
| List(s): | "Carp 500" "Extreme Classics" |
|---|---|
| Category: |
"Travel" |
| Pages: | 294 |
| Year of Publication: | 1942 |
| Date Read: | 05/19/1997 |
| Notes: | An English girl grows up in East Africa; native Africans teach her to hunt with a spear in the jungles; British colonials teach her to ride thoroughbreds at the club; in time, she takes up the adventurous career of bush pilot. At the end of the book, Markham describes her record-setting flight as she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. But what elevates this book from a good read to a masterpiece is the incredible beauty of Markham’s prose. COMMENTS — After Ernest Hemingway read West With the Night, he wrote to his editor, “she has written so well and marvelously, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer.” |
| My Rating: | 8 |