Linda Dahl

I was very excited to win a review copy of this book based on a fictional Myanmar. There were some lovely descriptions of temples, countryside, culture and traditions in an Upside Down Sky. This pushed my rating up from 2 stars to 3 stars.
The characters themselves were fairly well written but I found them largely unlikable. When there is very little driving the plot, it helps to have someone in the story that you enjoy spending time with, and that just didn't happen here. The author clearly wanted to have a group of very different people, with various attitudes and traits, interact together on their tour of a place that is foreign to them. Perhaps it was just too much like what this type of trip could potentially be like for this to appeal to me.… (mehr)

Such a sad read. I first discovered Susannah McCorkle after reading glowing reviews of her recordings in Stereo Review in the 1980s. I bought several of her early albums and enjoyed listening to them for years. Unfortunately, after reading this biography I feel much less attracted to her singing. While this book covered her entire life, I still don't know if I understand who McCorkle was as a person. I do know she wasn't a good person mainly do to her family issues and then her mental illness. I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The author faced a tremendous challenge in presenting Susannah truthfully and accurately. In this regard the author was successful in my opinion. In conclusion, I really have mixed emotions now that I've finished.… (mehr)

This hardback book that I found on one of my charity shop visits is fantastic and full of information. Sadly, it is mainly only the female jazz singers who gain any sort of fame while other talented musicians fall by the wayside. However, Stormy Weather does not leave out the many talented females in jazz history and clearly explains their importance and how much we miss if we leave these women out of the spotlight. (Don't worry, it does not leave out great singers either) Women musicians played with and even mentored the more familiar male names that mark the pages of most jazz histories but are paid little attention.

Many jazz standards were composed and arranged by women. This book not only tells you the importance of the women but many the colourful details of their experiences in the jazz scene and the wonderful stories bring these women, and the men they played with to life, with all the depth of real people, not just distant gods of jazz.

The book is as fascinating as it is educational. I must say it served as the perfect starting off point as I delved into the lives of many amazing Jazzwomen, but it also was the standard I kept coming back to in writing my report. It is written with a wonderful clarity that is too seldom found in any history texts. It aids understanding as to what happened when and the ways the various movements in Jazz evolved. This is a great introduction to some amazing women and also aided my understanding of one of the main music genres that I love - Jazz - in a more general sense. However, the best part of this book was how much life is brought to the page and the personal details that are so often left out of histories.… (mehr)

Gringa in a Strange Land by Linda Dahl

Genre: Fiction
Pages: 256
Published: Jan 2010

Gringa in a Strange Land brings back the 'counterculture' of the early 70's, an exhilarating and confusing time for so many young people then. Erica Mason, an American woman living in Mexico, is torn between working to become an artist and the lure of the drug culture. Set mostly in the colonial city of Merida in the Yucatan peninsula, the story then moves among Mayan ruins, laid-back beaches and the cities of Belize and Oaxaca. A host of bohemian expats and Mexicans, and the complex character of Mexico itself, infuse this portrait-of-the-artist-as-a-young-American, that culminates in an unexpected resolution.

Once again I found myself pleasantly surprised. This was a really good book, by the blurb I was intrigued and it was so much more than just that blurb. There was something in the tone of things, the language, and we lal know I love good language.

This review in the beginning spoke about a Bildungsroman, and yes I see that. They did also mention a certain book by James Joyce, the book that shall not me mentioned since I get bored even thinking about it. So I shall pretend not to have read that.

I on the other hand came to think about On the Road by Jack Kerouac, why, I do not know, I read that book years ago but still I came to think about it. There must have been something about the way she wrote and how the story flowed.

This is the story about Erica Mason, a young artist living in Mexico, a child of the hippie era and revolution. She spends her time with a bunch of characters, she meets a lot of men. Bad men, men she like, and men that are married. She sleeps with the, and she also feels bad because of this. Because when she wakes up it is all alone again. But the biggest problem for her are the drugs, the ludes that she is hooked on, she does try other things too, but she crave quaaludes. She is addicted, struggling with her art and life in Mexico.

I had to like her, I could feel her pain sometimes, the wanting of something more. Yes she was hooked, didn't choose her men that well, but she had soul, she had spirit. In the end she was lost. There are a lot of other cha characters that come and go in this book. Sharon that she lived with, the Doctor that gives her the ludes, and many more colourful characters. But it is Erica that has the centerstage, this is her journey.

Why did I like this book then? Well it is the tone, the language, her journey, the little things the book takes up. The story feels so real and present. It had this easy flow to it, and sometimes I felt caught up in her head while she was high.
The culture is also present, Linda Dahl mentions stories, places, the old Mayans. And of course we can't forget the era, hippies, flower children, angry youths, revolution in the air. That it catches well, the 70's is perfect for this book.


Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: I want to live in a blue house too
Reason for reading: I got this copy from the author
Final thoughts: Just let yourself get swept away… (mehr)