Just finished this book.

I am not the reviewer Dogcat is.

All have can say it is worth your time with change. I wish I had read this when my young brother was killed in a car wreck with fire.

Two phrases from the book that stayed with me are, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”

And then as one of the Eulogies for Finch-Hatton, “Though in death fire mix with my dust yet I care not. For with me now all is well.”


One aspect of the book I like is when you first read it you should read it straight, start to end. Yet, the book is not a chronological history. Especially, Section 4. You can go to a favorite chapter and read it without having missed anything once you read it straight.

Kinanjui wishing to go to Blix home instead of the Scottish Mission got me thinking to the Pagen the Christian is a heathen. The thought did not go anywhere else.

I think I like West with the Night a little better. Chapter 4The Blood of the Bull is one of the best I have read.

I do rank, subjectively of course, Out of Africa over I Marred Adventure.

If you have not read Out of Africa, I believe you are missing a joyful if not profound experience.

You might also enjoy "Too close to the Sun" the biography of Finch-Hatton.Also Beryl Markham's "West into the Night" + "Splendid Outcast".

Conquest: I have read that Too Claw to the Sun is very anti hunting. My favorite is Mighty Nimrond the second of two bios on Selous in that vain.

Finch-Harrington did not stop hunting. When he crashed he had been put scouting elephants.

I do not want to read a bunch of revisionist, PC of Dinch-Hatton and hunting. What day you in this regard.

LHeym,I did not find it in any regard "anti hunting".Yes he crashed when scouting elephants (maybe) but he did crash. Bror Blixen used Beryl Markham for the same purpose,to spot the herds.any reading of Selous is inspirational. I think my favorite story that was not hunting related was when he was riding his horse through some thorn trees + got a thorn stuck in his eye.Nothing to be done out in the wild but live with it.A few years later he was in London + walking with a friend when he coughed + produced the thorn.Seems it had gone into his eye socket then moved into his nasal passage then through the opening in the roof of his mouth.Interesting if true.It supposedly is true.I choose to believe it.Lheym,I am also against any PC efforts in any area.Long way around the barn;most folks,including Ernest Hemingway thought the same''+ who am I to debate with a genius,even if I wanted to.?

On that recommendation, I will gladly pick up the book.

That will give me the trifecta read and owned:
West with the Night-Markham,
Out of Africa-Lady Blixen,
and
Too Close to the Sun-Finch-Hatton.

Bor Blxien also left a book. I do not know if it was printed in English. I have not seen a modern reprint of it was.

Safari Press has or did have "African Hunter" The autobiography of Bror Blixen.A damned good read.If they don't I 'll bet you can find it on Amazon. Can you believe that the owner of Amazon got money back on his taxes this year?I need his CPA.

Mine says I make too much and owe money. I have never got money back on my taxes. Meanwhile my niece in jail for meth gets back thousands of dollars.

I visited Karen Blixens place this morning. Neat!

Too close to the sun is good, but I think she did infer too strongly that DFH was going in a photo-only direction. Don’t think that was the case at all. She also took two sections from a Hemingway’s GHOA that she should have credited to him. They are almost word for word.

Don’t forget Silence Will Speak by Errol Trzbenski about Denys. Wheeler drew heavily from that was well. For that matter, get Karen’s “Letters” book. It has. A lot about DFH in there.

You're quite right. "Love is love + fun is fun but it's oh so quiet when the goldfish Dies."

quote:

Originally posted by LHeym500:
On that recommendation, I will gladly pick up the book.

That will give me the trifecta read and owned:
West with the Night-Markham,
Out of Africa-Lady Blixen,
and
Too Close to the Sun-Finch-Hatton.

Bor Blxien also left a book. I do not know if it was printed in English. I have not seen a modern reprint of it was.

West with the Night and Too close to the Sun are excellent reads.

I class Flame Trees of Thika in that group as well. Nary any hunting but good read on pioneering in Africa. As far as DFH going anti, I believe he was one who regretted his inroads into the game herds. And there’s a reason in Alaska you can’t shoot same day you fly. Not much sport

Blixen's book is "African Hunter" I have a copy from Safari Press;don't know if it's still in print but you might check Amazon.

quote:

Originally posted by tomahawker:
I class Flame Trees of Thika in that group as well. Nary any hunting but good read on pioneering in Africa. As far as DFH going anti, I believe he was one who regretted his inroads into the game herds. And there’s a reason in Alaska you can’t shoot same day you fly. Not much sport

I don’t think DFH was bothered one whit by the things HE was doing, because he was not abusing the game. He was bothered by the exploitation by others who didn’t know how to limit their own greed and who did not act as the gentleman sportsman.

Safari the encyclopedia work printed by Viking Press asserts JA Hunter was Finch-Hatton’s mentor. He also asserts Finch-Hatton was pulled from the plan by JA Hunter.

Yes, JA and DFH were great friends. And JA did indeed take DFHs body back to Nairobi.

Some folks might be interested in this novel."Circling The Sun".by Paula McLain.A novel of the life of Beryl Markham.It fits right in with the subject matter.

Finished Out of Africa about a month ago. House projects, golf and a successful hunting trip delayed my post; however I really enjoyed the book.

The authors descriptions of the farm and her inter-actions with the natives is heart felt. She has a great command of the English language and I personally liked the references and quotes from the Bible inter-laced with her descriptions .

As noted by others here the two phrases , Eulogies will stay with you.

The movie ends differently from the book regarding the train ride leaving but that is Hollywood.

Highly recommend the book if you enjoy good writing, it is not a hunting book per se but a book about relationships.

I had previously read Too Close to the Sun , also a great read.

Just my two cents !

“Up in this air you breathed easily, drawing in a vital assurance and lightness of heart. In the highlands you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be.”
― Karen Blixen, Out of Africa



“The Cicada sing an endless song in the long grass, smells run along the earth and falling stars run over the sky, like tears over a cheek. You are the privileged person to whom everything is taken. The Kings of Tarshish shall bring gifts.”
― Karen Blixen, Out of Africa

“Still, we often talked on the farm of the Safaris that we had been on. Camping places fix themselves in your mind as if you had spent long periods of your life in them. You will remember a curve of your wagon track in the grass of the plain, like the features of a friend.”
― Karen Blixen, Out of Africa

“When the gods want to punish us, our desires come true”


Brilliant lady!

"When the Gods wish to punish us, our desires come true." How very true. Thanks, if I read it before I have forgotten it but that is too good to let pass without comment.