Read any good books lately?

Working on Hirohito's biography by Herbert Bix.Pretty interesting as I never delved into the subject.

Next up Death in the Baltic by Cathryn Prince The sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff

Right now I am reading Charles Whiting's "Jochen Peiper Battle Commander SS Liebstandarte". It chronicleizes the time he spent commanding most of the renowed units of the German Army to his trail and imprisonment.

On Deck:

Stephen L. Moore - Pacific Payback

Chris Goss - Luftwaffe Fighters & Bombers During the Battle of Britain

Just finished reading Indestructible by John Brunning.  Tells the story of Paul Irvin "Pappy" Gunn and his family.  Pappy Gunn was the one who created the gunships used against the Japanese in an attmpt to rescue his family  Interesting book, and now I am curious to read more by the author.

John

Just got in the mail today:

Neptune's Inferno, The US Navy at Guadalcanal

by James Hornfischer.

I'm looking forward to it, but first, some work on the Zero.

currently on book 2 of Rick Atkinson's liberation trilogy. Read An Army at Dawn, Working on The Day of Battle, and next is The Guns at Last Light. A full account of US involvement in the ETO/MTO. Highly recommended. Also picking through Micheners Tales of the South Pacific. Never Call Me A Hero on deck.

Just a novel, "FNG", was loaned to me by my mining partner, an Army vet.  Riveting and couldn't put it down, and then the last chapter flipped it upside down.  About an Army medic in 'Nam.

I found myself with a lot of time on my hands the past couple of weeks, so I've ripped through the third and fourth installments of the "Game of Thrones" novels (more formally, the "Saga of Fire and Ice" series), and I re-read "The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" (in a single day!) and "Neptune's Inferno", about the naval battles in the Guadalcanal campaign.

I always say that my modeling hobby is only an excuse to buy books.

I am working on a little Flower class corvette.

Bought a paperback copy of The Cruel Sea and read it over the weekend. It actually didn't inform me about the model as much as I would have liked, for instance the pennant number of HMS Compass Rose is never mentioned.

But she was (fiction) launched in 1940, she had the 4 inch gun, a 2pdr. Pom Pom, and what are described as "light machine guns" on the bridge wings. That gets me pretty far. And no radar, and the mast is forward of the bridge.

A really good book. I watched the movie on Hulu. The movie was made using a real Flower from the Greek navy, the former HMS Coreopsis.

Oh and I also picked up a Warships Series Flower Class Corvette copy.

For my birthday back in June, a very close friend gave me a copy of "The Forgotten Soldier". I am about half way thru it now, and all I can say is wow. What a fantastic book. The author has such an excellent way of telling his tale.

Make your bed  by Admiral William H.Mcraven.

Make your bed  by Admiral William H.McRaven

HI , Mississippivol !

 Listen , did they mention at any point in the book , that specific behavior is now referred to as " The Birkenhead Drill " ? They probably didn't , more than likely . All " Good " Ships officers used to be taught this . It was a standard on British Flagged ships .  T.B.

Dre !

 You have to read  " John Carter - Warlord of Mars " Start there and believe me , You'll read them all . Edgar Rice Burroughs was and is one of my all time favorite " Older " authors .  T.B.

Recently finished "Never Call Me a Hero" by Jack "Dusty" Kleiss based on comments in this thread.  Great book, and a quick read.

At some point I would like to do the SBD he flew at Midway, VS-6, Scouting 7.  Some preliminary research indicates home printed decals would be needed for the plane identification.  I am leaning towards the Trumpeter 1/32 scale SBD 3/4/A-24A kit.  Gonna have to save some $$ up for that one.  My only concern is that Scouting SBD's carried 500 lb. main bombs, and I think the kit only includes a 1,000 lb main bomb carried by the bombing squadrons.  It does appear to include the 100 lb incindiaries.

D

Just finished " The Wright Brothers " by David McCullough, never had an idea about the depth of the brothers genius.

I'd like to read that one. 

Just finished "Wartime" by Milovan Djilas. He was one of the top communist leaders in ww2 in Yugoslavia. Very good perspective about war, politics, interactions between different waring parties in Yugoslavia and the locals motivation to fight for or against one of the parties and his work with Josip Broz Tito. The interesting thing is how he writes about mass executions of German and Italian POW with guns, knives etc all the while in schools we were thought how nobel the partisan soldiers were. 

castelnuovo

Just finished "Wartime" by Milovan Djilas. He was one of the top communist leaders in ww2 in Yugoslavia. Very good perspective about war, politics, interactions between different waring parties in Yugoslavia and the locals motivation to fight for or against one of the parties and his work with Josip Broz Tito. 

 

ridleusmc

Just got in the mail today:

Neptune's Inferno, The US Navy at Guadalcanal

by James Hornfischer.

I'm looking forward to it, but first, some work on the Zero.

If it is near as good as Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors, it will be an awesome read.

My book collection is getting to be like my models. I see one and buy it, and add it to the stack of ones I haven't read yet. The most recent additions were matched paperbacks of The Longest Day and A Bridge Too Far. I'm currently reading something a bit different, Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.

Just finished "Hell Hawks" by Dorr and Jones, about the 365 FG flying P-47s in a ground support role from D-Day through the end of WWII.  Interesting and informative read about a subject I knew little about.  

John

I just finished "A Night to Remember" by Walter Lord. I guess I should see the movie of that name. James Cameron certainly drew quite a few scenes from the book as well.

It was a pretty quick read, and built around verbal histories so it was pretty detailed.

One of many factoids: White Star "clocked out" the surviving crew on their pay sheets the minute that the Titanic foundered, even though most of them spent the next several hours saving the lives of the paying cutomers.

I was in a book store on Friday and saw a book by Mr Lit’s on Dunkirk. I now want to pick that up for my library. “Incredible Victory” is still one of my favorite books. 

I finished up ” The Forgotten Soldier” several weeks ago. That was quite a powerful tale to read.

Just finished "Never Call Me a Hero", autobio of Dusty Kleiss who was a SBD pilot at Midway.

Still working on ”Log from the Sea of Cortez” by John Steinbeck. It actually is model research.

Christmas haul:

”Troublemakers” about technology in the location and era where I went to High School.

”Robert Kennedy” 

“Leonardo Da Vinci”

”Cattle Kingdom” recommended by my friend Leon Panetta.

”What Happened”

Three books by Brian Kilmead

Yes. I enjoyed Jack Kleiss’ book. A great read. 

Praying for slack is a rare account of a tanker in Viet Nam by Robert Peavey

No Place To Run byTim Cook about the Canadian Corps and gas warfare in World War I.

Just finished Grant,by Ron Chernow. Consider:  April 1860, he ( Grant ) "... had been a failure, battered by life at every turn. Everything indicated he would someday die a forgotten and thoroughly forgettable American, leaving no trace in historical annals."