Read any good books lately?

iampiper13

 

 

stikpusher

Oh I remember reading "The Big E" so long ago. I would love to read it again. I am about halfway thru "Wings of Gold" and "Guns of August". Both are absolutely splendidly written.

 

 

 

 

Just started reading thru this thread and was wondering if you'd had a chance to read the Big E again? Its probably my all time favorite book and I actually reading it now, I can't even tell you how many times I've read it. I have 3 copies, 2 are paperback in various stages of abuse and a hardback that is very old.

 

No I have not. I would love to get my hands on a copy to read again... along with many other books from that time in my life...

Max, I dont think that I have seen that book mentioned here, but I have read it a couple times since I started this thread. A great book, that even Mr Ambrose cannot quite reach in achievement. And yes it should be required reading, along with Ryan's other two masterworks, A Bridge Too Far & The Last Battle.

Has "The Longest Day" been mentioned yet? It was a requirement in my high school history class. I've read it more than once. What an epic human and logistic endeavor. The allied invasion of Normandy with reports from both sides. Four thousand ships carried the invasion along with thousands of aircraft sorties and glider landings. It's hard to absorb it in just one reading. Top five for me. I recommend it for all humans.

Max

stikpusher

Oh I remember reading "The Big E" so long ago. I would love to read it again. I am about halfway thru "Wings of Gold" and "Guns of August". Both are absolutely splendidly written.

 

Just started reading thru this thread and was wondering if you'd had a chance to read the Big E again? Its probably my all time favorite book and I actually reading it now, I can't even tell you how many times I've read it. I have 3 copies, 2 are paperback in various stages of abuse and a hardback that is very old.

Long Run to Tobruk by Gordon Landsborough. Novel about a botched raid by the SAS during WW2. Good stuff.

Just finished reading "Khrushchev rememberes", memoars of Nikita Khrushchev about the rise of communism. Interesting read from a point of view of one of the top communist. At many places I couldn't help but think that he is idealistic/naive/paternalistic/ignorant and quite a few time I was thinking gimmie a bloody break. But, Khrushchev was a product of the communism, born and grow with it. I have the benefit of hindsite, which he of course did not.

At the end of the book he acknowledges that something is wrong with communism as no communist party has won elections in a country without strong soviet army presence and why is it that communist countries have to keep their borders closed while the regressive West does not.

the Baron

Captain McVay was very unjustly wronged by the inquiry.

Scapegoated, the final victim.

templar1099

 

the Baron

I also picked up, "In Harm's Way", about the sinking of the Indianapolis. I started it last night, and it's a quick read. I got half-way through it, ending up at the end of the first day the survivors spent in the water. I expect to finish it tonight.

 

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That read was an eye opener. All the popular misconceptions exposed. A tragedy made greater by Naval bureaucracy.

 

Fantastic book, I also highly reccommend "With the old breed" by EB Sledge. Two of the best books to try to kno what the hell of the Pacific front was in WWll

the Baron

I also picked up, "In Harm's Way", about the sinking of the Indianapolis. I started it last night, and it's a quick read. I got half-way through it, ending up at the end of the first day the survivors spent in the water. I expect to finish it tonight.

That read was an eye opener. All the popular misconceptions exposed. A tragedy made greater by Naval bureaucracy.

I

Just finished Ron Chernow's "Washington: A Life" and loved it.

Next up Alfred Lansing's "Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage"

Also working through Laurence Gonzales "Deep Survival"

All, I just finished one of the most interesting and engaging books I've read in a long time.  The Fleet at Flood Tide by James Hornfisher covers the last year or so of WWII in the Central Pacific and the development of the strategic bombing campaign against Japan culminating with the atomic bombs.  Hornfisher discusses how the decision to drop the bombs was developed, and you meet several of the key players in the decision.  It may be his best book to date.

John

I'm the opposite - I bought a Kindle some years ago and recently find that I can't go back to reading a paperback or hard copy book...

Some I've recently read (some have nothing to do with war):

Joe Buck - Lucky *** (autobiography)

Giles Milton - Churchill's Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (excellent book about guerilla warfare, Britain's development of secret weapons, etc)

Derek B Miller - The Girl in Green

Derek B. Miller - Norwegian By Night (you'll love Sheldon)

Now reading Choke by Chuck Palahniuk and Crazy Horse and Custer by Stephen Ambrose.

Clive Cusslar's The Dirk Pitt series.  Starting to collect hard copies of this series of books.  I don't like ebooks.

I'm working my way through a re-read of Isaac Asimov's Robot, Empire and Foundation Series.  This time I'm reading them in the order Asimov suggested in the 80's.

I love pulling these old jems out of the pile every 15-20 years.

Also reading "Sailing Three Oceans" by Herb and Doris Smith.  It chronicles their building, sailing  and selling of wooden schooners in Maine, the last one being Eastwind.  Eastwind offers day sails in the Spring/Summer/Fall out of Boothbay Harbor, Maine

Yes, theres so much there, regional cooking. A couple of years ago we created the Feast of the Seven Fishes for Christmas as a family project. It doesnt have to be seven, just an odd number, but we made it. 

Nice change up of subject.

I just re-read the Grail Quest series by Bernard Cornwell, three great novels about an English archer's personal adventures during the Hundred Years War.  Also, if you like Cornwell, there are several wonderful adventure/maritime novels about early 1660's South Africa (English, Dutch, Portugese, Arab) conflicts by Wilbur Smith.  Everyone in the world seems to know his name except we Americans. :)

Currently, I'm finishing up Rustico, Regional Italian Country Cooking by Micol Negrin.  This was brought about due to my daughter, who was bored with ham/turkey and insisted that everyone bring something Italian to this year's big family Christmas dinner at her house.  Turned out to be a great success, while I learned that real Italian cooking does not mean tomato paste and oregano.  So be warned, if you read this book, you may never open up a can of Chef-Boyardee again!

Jack

I never knew they were the basis for those characters!  Very interesting!

I made a stop at a local Barnes & Noble last night on the way home and loaded up on some books for my queue.  Along with the first two volumes of the "Expanse" series by James S. A Carey (a pseudonym for a team of two authors, actually), and two David Drake novels, I also picked up, "In Harm's Way", about the sinking of the Indianapolis.  I started it last night, and it's a quick read.  I got half-way through it, ending up at the end of the first day the survivors spent in the water.  I expect to finish it tonight.

And so far, there's been no mention of Quint, or Herbie Robinson....

Mopar Madness

Just finished "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck.  Great book!

If you want to read the Japanese perspective on WWII, I highly recommend John Toland's two volume work "The Rising Sun". Very eye opening for a westerner to see the other side's viewpoint for the portion of time covered in the book.

GMorrison

I started "Flyboys".

I want to like it and the author is respectable, but gosh it is so factually inaccurate right from the get-go.

Anyone else have an opinion?

 

 

the truth can hurt... I did like that book and it's been quite awhile since I read it. It is a very different way of starting a WW II narrative but I feel it conveys the root of that Generation of Japanese people's feelings and beliefs, whether right or wrong. 

Just finished "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck.  Great book!

I just finished Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors. It was a definite page turner.

Steve

Just finished up my forth.  An Autobiography of Nigel Mansell.  It was a pretty good read if you are a Mansell Fan.   The Unfair Advantage by Mark Donohue, The German Army 1933-1945 by Matthew Cooper and last, Crisis of Character by Gary J. Byrne.  THAT was an exceptional read.  

I suspect that it's parts of both- the base human instincts and geopolitical ambitions combined. But that's for folks way above my pay grade to worry about and deal with.

Yes, same author who wrote "Flags of our Fathers".

The first couple of chapters are an unholy mess. The erradication of native Americans, the persecution of Christians in Medieval Japan, European 19th Century Imperialism and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Japanese civilians by B-29s all get conflated into a huge hairball that seems to point to the cause of war being our base inhuman instincts rather than any geopolitical factors.

I guess I'll ride it out. I'm also starting a book about VS-6 while they were based at Henderson Field in 1942.

Is that the one about the Navy aviators downed at Chichi Jima?

I started "Flyboys".

I want to like it and the author is respectable, but gosh it is so factually inaccurate right from the get-go.

Anyone else have an opinion?