Fly Girls by Keith O'Brien

Fly Girls by Keith O'Brien - 338 pages


In the years between World War I and World War II, airplane racing was one of the most popular sports in America. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and the pilots who competed in these races were hailed as heroes. Well, the male pilots were hailed. Women who flew planes were often ridiculed by the press, and initially they weren’t invited to race. Yet a group of women were determined to take to the sky—no matter what. With guts and grit, they overcame incredible odds both on the ground and in the air to pursue their dreams of flying and racing planes.

Fly Girls follows the stories of five remarkable women: Florence Klingensmith, a high‐school dropout from North Dakota; Ruth Elder, an Alabama housewife; Amelia Earhart, the most famous, but not necessarily the most skilled; Ruth Nichols, a daughter of Wall Street wealth who longed to live a life of her own; and Louise Thaden, who got her start selling coal in Wichita. Together, they fought for the chance to race against the men—and in 1936 one of them would triumph in the toughest race of all.

All-Girl Filling Stations Last Reunion

BY:  Fannie Flagg

All-Girl Filling Stations Last Reunion  By: Fannie Flagg  347 pages

This is what I would describe as happy story, with two, easy to love characters.  Sookie and Fritzie are the center of this fun and thought provoking story with many secondary characters who add a little more humor and madness.  There is a lot of switching between past and present, but the timelines are both interesting.  Sookie is older (almost 60) when we meet her in the late 20th century and Fritzi is a young girl, who becomes what they refer to as a WASP, Women Air-force Service Pilot, during world war II.   
Sookie's past soon catches up with the present when she finds out more about who she really is and what part Fritzie played in her life.

This book is not what I thought it would be about, and though I enjoyed it, I think the title is a little deceptive.