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I picked up a book on Sarah Churchill (a biography), but I was interrupted about seventeen times while I tried to read the first fifteen pages over the course of three weeks so I ditched it for now and grabbed another.
This one I have no problem with flying through the pages. Wow.
Dean King has listened to and rewritten the true stories of several women along the Long March across China during the fight between the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) and Chiang Kaishek (the overall Chinese leader at the time). They travelled ON FOOT for 6,000 miles (10,000 km). There were only 100 women on the march and some crazy amount of men (in the tens of thousands - it may have been 100,000, I forget at the moment).
More than half of the men died. Almost all of the women lived.
They carried a blanket, a cup, a ration of rice and a pistol. The women were from ten years old to their mid-thirties. They were from well-educated and gentry class down to poor farmers and fishermen's daughters. Some ran away from their abusers to join the group that promised them equality and a new way of life. Some were involved in fighting, some involved in playwriting/editing and propaganda (or as King calls it, "evangelism").
This book is a page-turner. I think even if you aren't very interested in historical stories, you may find this is better than fiction. (Bonus: you'll learn something while you're reading.)
I gotta get back to it.
Go check it out!
Keep on reading,
Ms. Daisy
I finished the book a week or so ago (finally - I had a few reading detours on the way). What an interesting guy. I know that this was part of his whole life philosophy, but I cannot believe how many books that guy had read. He used to write down all of the books that he read and he gave a sampling from the years 1930-1935 and 1937 (I think) - a few of the years he was reading 120ish books. That is a book every three days for the whole year.
Dude. Crazysauce.
After I read half of it, I realized why he called it his memoir. Have you ever listened to an interesting old guy? I think he was getting toward 80 years old when he wrote it. He meanders around in his thoughts and one thing reminds him of another and he goes and goes as the river in his brain flows.
As I was reading it I felt like I was sitting there listening to him as he sat with a pipe in a high backed chair in front of his fireplace. He had a lot to say and a lot of opinions to share (like most of us do) and it was obvious how his experience brought him to his conclusions.
If you're an adventuresome sort or you are someone who doesn't rest and likes a challenge, pick up his book and see if you can compete with him.
I saw that his children were born when he was much older than what is common (he may have been in his 50's or 60's when his children were born). I wonder if he wrote the book because he wanted to pass on his life to them in the event he wouldn't be around to tell them his stories - and so that they could continue to his grandchildren (since, perhaps it is likely that he may not get to spend a lot of time with them).
He explores his philosophies on learning and writing. If you are an aspiring writer, this book may interest and benefit you as he goes through the ups and downs of writing and the persistence necessary to survive through repeated submissions and rejections.
I suggest you give it a whirl - the lives of people are always interesting to hear about, especially when they do things like cross Death Valley, take care of mines by themselves, publish books, hop trains to anywhere and everywhere, sail the world and have encounters with crazy wildlife.
Keep on reading!
Ms. Daisy
