#Beryl Markham

[aseaofquotes]

Beryl Markham, West with the Night

[newyorkthegoldenage]

British aviator Beryl Markham is mobbed by reporters when she arrived at the Ritz Carlton Hotel on September 6, 1936. The plaster on her forehead covers cuts suffered when she crashed on the shore of Baleine Cove, Breton Island, Canada, due to a gasoline shortage caused by ice on the fuel tank. Her plane was badly damaged, but she escaped with a scratched face and a bruised body. She was trying to fly from Europe to New York. Although she did not reach New York, she became the first woman to fly the Atlantic east-west solo.

Photo: Associated Press

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

There are all kinds of silences and each of them means a different thing. There is the silence that comes with morning in a forest, and this is different from the silence of a sleeping city. There is silence after a rainstorm, and before a rainstorm, and these are not the same. There is the silence of emptiness, the silence of fear, the silence of doubt. There is a certain silence that can emanate from a lifeless object as from a chair lately used, or from a piano with old dust upon its keys, or from anything that has answered to the need of a man, for pleasure or for work. This kind of silence can speak. Its voice may be melancholy, but it is not always so; for the chair may have been left by a laughing child or the last notes of the piano may have been raucous and gay. Whatever the mood or the circumstance, the essence of its quality may linger in the silence that follows. It is a soundless echo.

~Beryl Markham

(Book: West with the Night)

(Philo thoughts)

[blackswaneuroparedux]

We fly, but we have not 'conquered' the air. Nature presides in all her dignity, permitting us the study and the use of such of her forces as we may understand. It is when we presume to intimacy, having been granted only tolerance, that the harsh stick fall across our impudent knuckles and we rub the pain, staring upward, startled by our ignorance.

- Beryl Markham, West with the Night

[artemlegere]

“I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance.”

~ Beryl Markham, West with the Night

Digital Art • Golden Evening • Jeff Stanford

[cultivating-wildflowers]

2024 Reading - April

April was a month full of sci-fi and false starts. I have now DNF'd as many books as I've finished from my short TBR for the year. And yet? Best reading month of the year so far?

Total books: 9  |  New reads: 5   |   2024 TBR completed: 5 (3 DNF) / 14/36 total   |   2024 Reading Goal: 20/100

March | May

potential reading list from April 1st

#1 - West with the Night by Beryl Markham - 5/5 stars (audio)

I didn't plan for the exploration(?) theme we've got going on (Emily Wilde, A Natural History of Dragons, Lynne Cox) but I'm not mad about it. This book had me hooked from the opening paragraph. Markham's voice is full of adventure and passion, and the story flows effortlessly from one event to another of Markham's highly eventful life. This is how you tell a good story.

Couple of notes:

As would be expected from a woman raised in Africa (specifically Kenya while it was still British East Africa) from the start of the 20th century, there are aspects of the way Markham tells her story that would come off as racist to modern sensibilities. It wasn't malicious or long-winded, only matter-of-fact.

If you want a better picture of Markham as a person, find one of the biographies written about her. West with the Night talks about her adventures, not her life. (Based on her own telling of her adventures, Markham's exactly the kind of character I'd expect to see in a Sayers novel. Look her up; then look up Hemingway's review of her book. I mean, come on; she was born Beryl Clutterbuck.)

I wouldn't recommend the audiobook for this one, at least the one narrated by Julie Harris. Editing wasn't that great and there were often weird breaks and pauses in the middle of sentences. You could hear Harris turning pages several times. (Which is fine if you like the sense of someone reading the book to you, and Harris's accents and pronunciation were great to my untrained ears.)

#2 - Recorder by Cathy McCrumb - 5/5 stars (reread, mixed print and audio)

I have had this book on my brain since first reading it two years ago--likely in part because I never would have picked it up on my own, had no great expectations for it, and then was blown away--and have been anticipating a reread in light of the final book of the trilogy being released in February. Happily, it holds up well to a reread. Really well. I cried again.

I won't say it's for everyone. It is very much a character-driven story with a pretty straightforward plot, and at times the writing style can get a little stilted (mostly in dialogue). But it's exactly what I needed at the time, and it has so much of what I love in stories. Also, there are cats. In space.

(I do recommend print over audio; the narrator is fine but her inflections are weird, and there are a lot of J-sounding names, which makes listening confusing.)

#3 - Aberration by Cathy McCrumb - 5/5 stars (reread, mixed print and audio)

My original review of this book mentioned the growing cast as my main issue, and on a reread, that's still my only real complaint. It's not really even a complaint, but there are so many characters to keep track of and they're moving all over the place as the various crises demand that by the end, I honestly forgot about a few of them.

The overarching plot continues at a solid pace and the tension ramps up excellently, though it's easy to forget what the actual goal when the Recorder and her friends are all just trying to survive one threat after another. And man, the relationships! Truly the highlight of this series. And it made me cry again, which automatically earns it some points.

For some reason when I started this book the first time, I'd expected it to take a slightly different route--literally, I thought we'd see more of this story's world outside of flashbacks. That doesn't detract from the story, only my expectations. (Also, I need someone to read this who enjoys it in kind of the same way I do so we can make our own memes. Because I want memes.)

More like this: This is going to sound lame or cheesy or something, but I cannot help comparing this series to Murderbot. Murderbot and the Recorder start out at kind of the same place: outcast, bodies and minds honed to a specific purpose, seen by many as less-than, but slowly drawn into a tight-knit group that gives them a better purpose and a fuller identity. Despite their vast differences, there are a ton of similarities between the two stories, including how each is set in some version of a futuristic authoritarian society (though they each come at that from very different angles). The major difference (apart from tone) is obviously that Murderbot is known for the action and high drama and explicit language; while Children of the Consortium is Christian sci-fi and follows different standards (but mercifully without being either preachy or sanctimonious). I don't think someone would like one specifically because they enjoy the other, but here we are.

#4 - Guardian by Cathy McCrumb - 4/5 stars (audio)

This was a satisfying end to the trilogy. Some of the narrative choices left me a little confused, but they worked well enough. And based on how the first two books went, they make sense. We get a manifold happy ending, and I'm content. It earns four stars because the character relationships and interactions continued to deliver. Heaven knows what my neighbors must have thought of me, giggling and in my hammock in my backyard while I listened to the love interest very tenderly help the wounded MC out of her armor. I am a simple woman.

Coming to the end of the story, however, I'm certain I wouldn't recommend this to many people. It was very much a comfort read to me, and it has its flaws: repetitive writing, pacing issues, and an open ending I'm weirdly ambivalent about. Conceptually, it's a great story, and I'll definitely look for more from this writer.

#5 - Pyramids by Terry Pratchett - 4/5 stars

Another fun one from Pratchett. It was relatively light, it was quick, there were assassins and kings and handmaidens, and naturally everything exploded splendidly right at the end. Teppic is cool.

#6 - Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner - 5/5 stars (reread, audio)

I am so normal about this book.

#7 - Watership Down by Richard Adams - 5/5 stars (reread, audio)

Hadn't planned on getting to this one until at least next month, but my goodness if it isn't the perfect audiobook to listen to in the background, and I seriously needed that. (Though I caught a LOT of little errors in the audiobook editing because I was reading along for bits and pieces.)

#8 - Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein - 4/5 stars ('24 TBR, Top 5 Anticipated Read)

If we look back at my January reading, we'll notice that I tried a different Heinlein book at the beginning of the year and...hated it. Didn't even finish it.

But I kept this book on my list because it's a classic and my sources said it's far and away much better than The Puppet Masters, so I wanted to give it a chance. Despite my better judgment. After all, I enjoyed The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. Maybe Starship Troopers would split the difference and tell me if it's worth pursuing any of Heinlein's other works.

Despite the fact that it has a lot of the elements that made me put down The Forever War (see below), I enjoyed this one? I think it was the narrative voice. A quick and engaging read. Honestly, Heinlein could write a decent story so long as he kept the women out of it.

But I think this will be my last Heinlein unless someone manages to talk me into another; and it'll take a lot of convincing.

More like this: Honestly, I don't read much in this line so the fact that we have space wars against bug-like aliens obviously made me think of "Ender's Game". I also thought of "Old Man's War" in terms of style. And this starts out on the same footing as "The Forever War", though the tones are very different, so perhaps that's worth checking out if you really want more like this? (goodreads shows these books are three of the four top "readers also enjoyed" choices, alongside one by Arthur C. Clarke. so yay me.)

#9 - At the Back of the North Wind by George MacDonald - 4/5 stars ('24 TBR, audio)

Splendidly vivid and enthralling, a little bit saccharine, and...uh. Very Victorian. Didn't like the ending, I'll be honest, though I wasn't exactly surprised.

DNF (I was struggling this month, folks)

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver ('24 TBR)

The funniest tag for this book on goodreads is "author get over thyself", which about sums up my sentiments. I got all of 45 minutes into the audiobook before I gave up due to excessive eye-rolling. Intent: good. Delivery: bad. Robin Wall Kimmerer runs a similar line of discussion in Braiding Sweetgrass and I didn't have to suffer being condescended to for the entirety of that book.

Secret Contest Book (YA Sci-Fi) - I did my very best to be objective since I don't really read this genre any more. The concept was intriguing, and I wanted to like it, but right out of the gate the writing couldn't keep up with the idea. Which, unfortunately, is not a surprise given the theme of this contest. Alas.

Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo (‘24 TBR) - Another book I decided to try after one of the mutuals said they liked it. It isn’t for me, but I see the appeal. I’ll be keeping this one in my back pocket for future recs.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini - Pushed myself through two chapters before giving up. Not my style. Felt very Brandon Sanderson with the verbosity. (Also, and this is probably just me, I spent those two chapters going "yeah, Chris, you were definitely home-schooled".)

The Forever War by Joe Haldeman (‘24 TBR) - Again, not for me. The elements that do appeal to me (relativistic space travel, sci-fi tech, group dynamics) I can get elsewhere without the elements I don’t like (the stuff you typically find in war stories, especially those written in the 60’s and 70’s). If someone wants more of a war story than a sci-fi story, or is interested in the historical background that apparently drove the writing of this book, I say check it out.

Currently Reading:

DragonSpell by Donita K. Paul - Finallyyyyyyy.

[cesaray]

[victusinveritas]

"I have learned that if you must leave a place that you have lived in and loved and where all your yesteryears are buried deep, leave it any way except a slow way, leave it the fastest way you can. Never turn back and never believe that an hour you remember is a better hour because it is dead. Passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones, while the future lives in a cloud, formidable from a distance. The cloud clears as you enter it. I have learned this, but like everyone, I learned it late."

~From the book West with the Night, Beryl Markham, 1942.

[elegantzombielite]

"I have a trunk containing continents."

Beryl Markham, adventurer (26 October 1902-1986)

[culturevulturette]

A lovely horse is always an experience… It is an emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words.

Beryl Markham

lena aires

[pd-lyons]

women we should know/ Beryl Markham

http://womanpilot.com/?p=67 Originally published in Woman Pilot • January/February 2000 Against Prevailing Winds – The Remarkable Life of Beryl Markham   By Jackie Kruper West with the Night, the autobiography that introduced me to the extraordinary woman, Beryl Markham, chronicles her Kenyan childhood and her historic, solo flight across the Atlantic from east to west. Her captivating memoir…

[valkyries-things]

BERYL MARKHAM // AVIATOR

“She was an English-born Kenyan aviation pioneer, racehorse trainer and author. Markham was the first person of either sex to fly solo, non-stop, across the Atlantic from Britain to North America. She was one of the first bush pilots. She married three times and had notable affairs. She was friends with the Danish writer Karen Blixen, taking up with Blixen's lover Denys Finch Hatton after Karen. Her excellent memoir, West with the Night, was published in 1942. It was reprinted in 1983 and became a bestseller, saving her from poverty.”

[mangus-khan-blog]

Beryl Markham - Female Aviator

ARTICLE – MINI BIOGRAPHY After being raised by a single mom, I’m fully aware of the capabilities of women. I watched my mother face the challenges of raising an oddball son and never seemed to miss a beat. Even as a child, I wondered why they weren’t listed in the annuals of history. Surely, there had to be tough women like my mother throughout history? Of course, there were. I’m glad we have…

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

GEORGIA O'KEEFFE ( (1887-1986) ::  Red Hills with Pedernal, White Clouds, 1936  ::  oil on canvas, 50.8x76.2 cm

* * * *

"To see ten thousand animals untamed and not branded with the symbols of human commerce is like scaling an unconquered mountain for the first time, or like finding a forest without roads or footpaths or the blemish of an axe. You know then what you had always been told — that the world once lived and grew without adding machines and newsprint and brick-walled streets and the tyranny of clocks." 

— Beryl Markham Sunbeams, April 2018

[Alive On All Channels]

[linsaad]

“Les liens se font et se défont, c'est la vie. Un matin, l'un reste et l'autre part, sans que l'on sache toujours pourquoi. Je ne peux pas tout donner à l'autre avec cette épée de Damoclès au-dessus de la tête. Je ne veux pas bâtir ma vie sur les sentiments parce que les sentiments changent. Ils sont fragiles et incertains. Tu les crois profonds et ils sont soumis à une jupe qui passe, à un sourire enjôleur. Je fais de la musique parce que la musique ne partira jamais de ma vie. J'aime les livres, parce que les livres seront toujours là. Et puis... des gens qui s'aiment pour la vie, moi, je n'en connais pas.”

- Guillaume Musso.

[ddeka352]

Dommurok View Point, Markham Village, Markham Valley

Dommurok View Point, Markham Village, Markham Valley Markham Valley, where you may see the undulating hills is Markham Valley, a vantage point from which there is a broad view of the low-lying hills from the hill’s summit. Depending on your luck, just after the rains in the early morning, you can witness a beautiful sight of a cloud formation covering these hills. You will pass by Mawlai Syiem…