Good Reads Vol. 2
The continuation of my book reviews from Good Reads.
A wonderful friend took me flying a while back and since then, I have been on a mission to go again!
And while I've been looking into opportunities more flight time, I went on a deep dive on the history of women in aviation.
The first book I read was Fly Girls by Keith O'brien. This was a great into to the history of aviation and was complete with life stories of the characters and good story telling. Lots of history including Ruth Nichols and Amelia Earhart. A good place to start!
The next book was The Women with Silver Wings by Katherine Sharp Landdeck. Set a little bit later in history, this book is about the women aviators in WWII. The author does a tremendous job with the history, their stories and all the way up to recent times. Her focus is on getting these women remembered and fighting for equality almost 80yrs later.
I listened to this and the narrator was fantastic. It was an awesome listen to accompany me on some long California desert hikes earlier this Spring.
Fly Girls turned me onto Amelia Earhart and I picked up one of her books. Almost finished with it, but it's called For the Fun of it by Amelia Earhart. I am thrilled that she was also a writer. Some might complain that it's not polished, but in this case, I think that's part of the charm. And she was so charming, bubbly and fun. It feels very true to her and for that it's a worthwhile read and brings her to life so many years later.
I was able to get Fly Girls Revolt by Eileen A Bjorkman on one of the library apps and I am glad that I did on this one. The narrators voice is pretty annoying, so I don't recommend it for a listen. And the book is dry. Lots of history but not all that engaging. More like a this happened and then this happened etc. So, needless to say, I will look to another book for this particular history.
Ghost Town Living by Brent Underwood.
Now this just came recommended to me. I think by the audible app. I swear they can read my mind sometimes! If you haven't figured this out about me already, I am into ghost towns and the history of the West. I've spent a fair bit of time exploring obscure areas, photographing, writing etc. So, this book got my attention and I listened to the sample which started out, from the author “I am reading this book 900ft below the ground”. Can you say hooked!
Needless to say, it didn't disappoint. Brent gives up his life in Austin, Texas to purchase Cerro Gordo, CA(The town that built LA). With the intention of bringing it back to life. It's documented extremely well, thoughtfully written and a nice book to remind us that there can be more to life than working the traditional big city grind.
I couldn't turn this book off. 100% worth the read. He's also got a youtube channel where everything that he's doing is well documented!
I just start the Power Broker by Robert Caro. So far so good but not in deep enough to give it much of a review. I will circle back to that in a follow up entry.
P.S. A book that I am dying to read but can't seem to get my hands on is:
Margin of Safety by Seth Klarman. If you happen to have a copy sitting around, collecting dust...