It's Friday . . . time to share book excerpts with:
- Book Beginnings on Fridays hosted by Rose City Reader, where bloggers share the first sentence or more of a current read, as well as initial thoughts about the sentence(s), impressions of the book, or anything else that the opening inspires.
- The Friday 56 hosted by Freda's Voice, where you grab a book and turn to page 56 (or 56% of an ebook), find one or more interesting sentences (no spoilers), and post them.
Today I'm featuring Circling the Sun by Paula McLain, borrowed from the library.
Beginning: Prologue
4 September 1936
Abingdon, England
The Vega Gull is peacock blue with silver wings, more splendid than any bird I've known, and somehow mine to fly. She's called The Messenger, and has been designed and built with great care and skill to do what should be impossible—cross an ocean in one brave launch, thirty-six hundred miles of black chop and nothingness—and to take me with her.
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Page 56: "'He smelled like hot cotton, like the sky."
Page 56: "'He smelled like hot cotton, like the sky."
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My thoughts: Circling the Sun is the September read for one of my book clubs. It seemed a natural choice since we enjoyed McLain's previous novel, The Paris Wife. Over our seven-year history, we've read many fictional accounts of real-life relationships, and this genre has become one of our favorites. Our very first book selection, Loving Frank by Nancy Horan, likely set the stage for us.
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From Goodreads: Paula McLain, author of
the phenomenal bestseller The Paris Wife, now returns with her keenly
anticipated new novel, transporting readers to colonial Kenya in the
1920s. Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating
woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate
love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen,
who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.
Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.
Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.
Set against the majestic landscape of early-twentieth-century Africa, McLain’s powerful tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom and its cost, and the tenacity of the human spirit.
Brought to Kenya from England as a child and then abandoned by her mother, Beryl is raised by both her father and the native Kipsigis tribe who share his estate. Her unconventional upbringing transforms Beryl into a bold young woman with a fierce love of all things wild and an inherent understanding of nature’s delicate balance. But even the wild child must grow up, and when everything Beryl knows and trusts dissolves, she is catapulted into a string of disastrous relationships.
Beryl forges her own path as a horse trainer, and her uncommon style attracts the eye of the Happy Valley set, a decadent, bohemian community of European expats who also live and love by their own set of rules. But it’s the ruggedly charismatic Denys Finch Hatton who ultimately helps Beryl navigate the uncharted territory of her own heart. The intensity of their love reveals Beryl’s truest self and her fate: to fly.
Set against the majestic landscape of early-twentieth-century Africa, McLain’s powerful tale reveals the extraordinary adventures of a woman before her time, the exhilaration of freedom and its cost, and the tenacity of the human spirit.
Which book are you reading now or about to start?
Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #93 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.
Friday Focus: The Friday 56 & Book Beginnings #93 was originally published by Catherine for bookclublibrarian.com. This post cannot be republished without attribution. Retweeting and sharing on Google+ are encouraged and appreciated.
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