I have made so many fruitless attempts to read this book, and I think it's finally sticking because I've made it well past the mid-way point. The reason I think I always stumbled over it in the past is that Dinesen's style is only loosely narrative. I guess my younger self had no patience for her very anecdotal retelling of her life on a coffee plantation in Kenya. Each chapter seems randomly divided and each story only vaguely segues into the next. But taken as a whole, she creates a beautiful mood and if you're able to push through the structural frustrations, it manages to paint a really clear picture of her experiences.

Next week I have another non-fiction recommendation for #ReadWomen2014 that is Out of Africa's spiritual twin.