biography Archives - Expat Alien

Reading Roundup

I just read a memoir – Aftershocks by Nadia Owusu. She is a Third Culture Kid and grew up with a lot of trauma. Her mother was Armenian American and her father was Ghanaian. Growing up she lived in Tanzania, Italy, England, Ethiopia and Uganda and spent summers in Ghana. There were wars going on when she was in Ethiopia and Uganda. That is a lot to unpack but on top of that she had ongoing personal family issues to deal with. It is really not so much a memoir as a poem. A poem of self discovery. Who is she. Where is her home. How do the people around her influence her sense of self. How does the outside world influence her sense of self. It is a beautifully written introspective.

Speaking of Ghana. I read a fun murder mystery by a Ghanaian. Wife of the Gods by Kwei Quartey. I also read Dune for the first time. The Sci-Fi novel, Dune, was written in 1965 by Frank Herbert. The second part of the latest movie iteration just came out. After reading the book I watched both movies. It was a good plan. Read the book first.

And just to round things out, I’m currently reading Massacre in Minnesota: The Dakota War of 1862, the Most Violent Ethnic Conflict in American History by Gary Clayton Anderson. What a horrible thing that is. Ugh. I can only read a little at a time. Even though I have been reading about US History for many years, I am still shocked and disgusted by it. The unbelievable corruption and greed. In many ways it still carries over to the present day. Sad sad sad.

Another book I read recently was The American Adventuress: A Novel by CW Gortner. It is based on the life of Jennie Jerome, an American from New York, who married Randolph Churchill and was Winston Churchill’s mother. It explains a lot. She was a real character. In her later years she married a man Winston’s age. Mostly just because she could.

Next on my list: Burma Sahib by Paul Theroux. It is a novel based on George Orwell’s time in Burma as a servant of the British Empire. I am looking forward to it. George Orwell also wrote a book about his days in Burma – Burmese Days – which I read many many moons ago. I read someplace recently that many of his books were based on Burma and his time there. It influenced him heavily.

If you are interested in more books specifically about expats and TCKs, see my TCK/Expats Films and Books page.

Random Thought

When I was very little I had a recurring dream about Babylonians waging war all around me.

In my 20’s I had a recurring dream about being in a big city running through alleyways evading bullets and bombs.

Is that what life is? One big foxhole?

Sometimes I wonder.

I just finished reading The Aviator’s Wife by Melanie Benjamin. It is historical fiction about Anne Morrow Lindbergh. The author explains that what makes it fiction is her lengthy descriptions of Anne’s emotions and inner turmoil. The facts are there but she is guessing at how Anne felt about the events of her life. She did have an eventful life.

The daughter of the American Ambassador to Mexico, Anne met Charles Lindbergh in Mexico City in December of 1927. In May of that same year he had flown solo, non-stop from New York to Paris. It made him one of the most famous people of the time. He was 25 years old. Two years later, when Anne was 23, she and Charles were married.

I learned that Anne became a pilot, a navigator, the first woman to earn a Glider Pilot license, and a successful writer. Not to mention raising six children and running a household on her own. She lived in the shadow of her famous husband but she was really the star.

The book takes us through the pain of losing her first born to kidnappers and murderers. The trauma of being doggedly pursued by journalists and photographers. The confusion about her husband’s feelings toward the Nazis. The sorrow of seeing her husband spend less and less time at home. And the discovery of his infidelity.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh wrote Gift from the Sea, reflections on life, love, marriage, and how things change over time. It was the top non-fiction bestseller of 1955, and is still enjoyed by many today having sold over 3 million copies and been translated into 45 languages. She also wrote about their flight to the Orient. They were the first to fly from Africa to South America and explored polar air routes from North America to Asia and Europe.

She was extraordinary.