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Johanna C.
I highly recommend starting with West with the Night. Beryl is an amazing and complicated character that history has not been favorable to. Her writing is amazing and even Hemingway said he was ashamed to be called a writer after reading West with the Night. There's some controversy on whether or not she actually wrote it. I grew up in Kenya and know people who knew Beryl (who were also writers) and they are convinced that she did write it. I have read lots on the "happy valley" era and most do not necessarily portray Beryl favorably so I am interested to see how Paula McLain portrays her.
Ruth
I think you should start with West with the Night which I read years ago and fell in love with. She is a fabulous writer and her life was so unconventional.
Katherine Gregg
I don't think you have to ready anything before reading Circling the Sun. I didn't know much about Beryl Markham before reading the book and really enjoyed it. It did prod me into reading West with the Wind next which was a great complement to Circling the Sun. I just watched the movie Out of Africa and am planning to reread the book. It's fun when one book inspires you to read so many others.
Bob H
You might want to read Beryl Markham's own autobiography, West with the Night. Different prose (it got Hemingway's admiration) and a better sense of her adventures.
Sharyle
I don't think you need to read anything before Circling the Sun. You might like to read the fictional account first, then read West with the Night and/or Out of Africa if you want more.
Lori
I agree with those answers below; I would start with "West With the Night" and follow up with "Out of Africa"--the latter is a terrific book in particular.
Annette
No. Out of Africa was published in the late 1930s; West with the Night, early 1940s, and Circling the Sun in 2015. While they speak of aspects of the same story, they are told from different vantage points. Three authors, two of whom wrote autobiographically (perhaps, Beryl Markham is a bit of a mystery), the third (McLain) researched and fictionalized motives, thoughts and filled in a lot of blanks with a good story. Read where your curiosity begins -- Dinesen and Markham would both have wanted that for you.
Marlene
I read both books years again so I knew who all the players were but I don't think you must start with both books. Out of Africa is Karen Blixen's vantage point (Isaak Dinesen) but in Circling the Sun , you see Karen quite differently and West With the Night is Beryl's own account of her life. This book offers us a fuller sense of her internal motivation for some of her actions which may be fictionalized or not. At times I would like more details about a situation especially when she goes back to England, pregnant. This book stands pretty much on its own. I feel that Paula McClain did your research to bring us these real life characters.
Denise
You do not need to read Out of Africa before reading Circling the Sun - I do recommend reading both as they write about the same time frame from "different" character perspectives. Both authors capture the essence of Kenya and the people of the time period. Out of Africa is one of my all time favorite books and Circling the Sun did not tarnish that accolade for the book - it highlighted some of the same themes of connectedness with the land and natives, struggles to maintain a farm and livelihood in Kenya and of course the elusiveness of Denys Finch Hatton. I have moved on to Beryl Markham's own memoir titled West with the night and enjoying it all the same.
Marcia
This book stands on its own, but it is better if you have read Hemingway, The Paris Wife, or Out of Africa .
John David Ferrer
I feel that after this book, I will read both Out of Africa, and West with the Night.
Carole
No absolutely no reason to. I read West With the Night first , now I am reading Circling the Sun. I read Out of Africa years ago and also James Michener ' s The Covenant. There is no specific order. You will enjoy all of them.
Marcia
I wouldn't think so, but it is a good book and a good movie.
Abby Reddig Moser
Thurman's biography of the complicated Dinesen will not especially enrich the reading of Circing the Sun. I do however highly recommend Out of Africa, Dinesen was a master storyteller, as was her father Wilhelm. No matter what you decide, enjoy !
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It is fascinating that Beryl Markham had the praise of Ernest Hemingway
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It is amazing that you have a connection with Beryl Markham he ...more
Nov 19, 2015 09:15AM · flag