Read any good books lately?

All, I have discovered a wonderfully fun piece of reading, the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne.  The main character is Atticus O'Sullivan, a 2100 year old Druid who lives with his Irish wolfhound, Oberon and runs a new age book store in Phoenix, AZ.  Among the other characters are his lawyers, a werewolf and a vampire(how appropriate, right? ), and of course all of the Irish pantheon.  The style is fast paced, fairly light, and irreverant enough to make you laugh.  Without giving anything away, in one of the books, Atticus is explaining that the essence of being a Druid is to be able to take contradictory inputs and create contradictory outputs.  To this, Oberon responds that that does not make one a Druid, it makes one a politician. I about fell out of my chair for that one.  Anyway, I hope if you are interested you enjoy them as much as I have.

John

Fight to the Finish.  Part Two of Tim Cook's history of Canada's contributions in World War II.

Galipolli by Peter Hart. It was excellent. Here's my review on Kindle.

This book has a great balance of the tactical plans, battles fought, units involved and commanders mindsets of this terribly destructive campaign that came to nothing. The real brilliance of this book lies with the many first hand accounts, about 1/3 of the read, that are interwoven into the descriptions of the everyday life, tactics, battles and meetings. It really brings it to life and gives the reader an introspective look into the campaign. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys military history especially WW1 and the Dardanelles campaign.

Just finished reading Conversations with Major *** Winters: Life Lessons from the Commander of the Band of Brothers. A must-read for Band of Brothers fans.

I Just finished the book " Swimsuit " By James Patterson . This guy truly has a strange mind . Also finished another Jake Grafton Novel . This time about the Chinese planting a nuke in Norfolk and engineering a group of Hi Vis assasinations here .

 Lately I have gone back to Coonts and others . If I am just relaxing I still like a good action novel such as "  Flight of the Old Dog " and others . I still follow Patrick O'brian when I can find one and of course any of the newer " Destroyermen  "I can find 

Just finished reading "Panzer Leader" by Heinz Guderian.  It was very interesting to learn his side of the fights he had with Hitler, OKW and OKH on how to conduct the fighting in Russia. 

Just started reading "Ceasar".  I didn't know this until now but Ceasar was not Rome's first dictator, nor it second.

Just finished the whole Horatio Hornblower series by C. S. Forester. Have been reading it my whole life every few years and have never tired of it and still keeps me glued to the pages.

Starting now on "The Sea Hawk" by Rapheal Sabatini (author of Scaramouche and Captain Blood).  Lets see wher eit takes us.

Peter

Recently finished "The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War" by David Halberstam.  I knew very little about the Korean War, and this is an incredibly well written book that incorporates the experience on the ground with the politics driving the war.

Halberstam's contempt for MacArthur is well evident, but seems based on thorough research.

I have read several series, including Hornblower and Jack Aubrey (Master and Commander), but the one I think I enjoyed the most based on my inability to stop reading even when exhausted was the Sharpe's Rifles series.   Just couldn't put those books down.    A very close second is the Saxon tales series.  Couldn't put those down either.

Can I make an addition using documentaries?  I stumbled on an excellent documentary on Amazon Prime this past week that fits into a Korean War theme.  It is "Task Force Faith:  The Story Of The 31st Regimental Combat Team".  It is an excellent tale of the USA and ROK troops being left to swing in the wind and face utter destruction which enabled the Marines to "attack in a different direction" to reach Hungnam.  It provides more details than the PBS American Experience "Chosin" film does. 

Rogue Heroes by Ben Macintyre - the authorized formation and wartime history of the British SAS.  Information taken from the wartime records of the SAS from inception by Sterling and Lewes to the end of WWII.  A great overview with some personal anecdotes from the records along with information about many of the raids they performed.  A very interesting read.

Just started Sue Grafton's G is for Gumshoe.  Read W for Wasted a while back, and my dad is an avid reader of hers.

Got turned on by W and decided I wanted to start at the beginning.

Book I just finished Bio of a Space Tyrant (book 4) was pretty good.  Although I saw the twist right at the end coming.  10 pages before it happened I knew how it would go if I was writting it.

I was right.

I just finshed two books written by Sebastian Junger. First was Red Platoon. It is the story of the 14 hour battle in Afghanistan during which U.S. Army soldier Clinton Romesha earned the Medal of Honor. The second one was The Perfect Storm. It was the basis for the movie which starred George Clooney and Mark Wahlburg. Both are excellent reads.

I'm currently reading Never Quit by Jimmy Settle. It's the story of an Air Force pararescueman in Alaska and Afghanistan. Another good read.

Finsihed The Rogue Warriors, the story of SAS formation and their action in N. Africa and Europe. Great book, easy to read.

Also finished Never Call Me a Hero, US navy bomber pilot at Midway.

While wandering throuigh the library I saw the biography of Himmler, a big 900 page book. So I picked it up. So far Himmler is just like most other young man in their late teens/early twenties, looking for his place in the world, career, girls etc

"And he seemed like such a nice young man...".

Just started Space Odyssey Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke and the making of a masterpiece.  By Michael Benson.  An excellent book so far.

No Prouder Place by David Bashow is an account of RCAF personnel in RCAF and RAF squadrons in Bomber Command service during WWII.  There are some very interesting personal stories, observations and anecdotes from veterans of the bombing campaing.

It's a very comprehensive story.  It tells of problems encountered with standing up squadrons at the start of the war and before hand, the transition from obsolete aircraft to the 'state of the art' Lancasters and Halifaxes, the terrors associated to night operations without fighter escort (flak, night fighters, searchlights, mid air collisions, etc), the development of navigational aids (H2S, Monica, Gee, Oboe, Cigar, Airborne Cigar, etc), some of the infighting and disagreements between Harris, Portal and other members of the Command, the pride associated among members of 6 Group, the reasoning behind target selection, the issue of area bombing over precision bombing, etc.  There were some interesting stories about individual raids but there wasn't a whole lot of print devoted to individual raids like the Dambusters, sinking the Tirpitz in Tromso Fjord, the Dresden Firestorms, etc.  It gave a very balanced and objective view of the RAF's night time bombing campaign.

In the not to distant past, many journalists and historians tried to persuade the public that RAF Bomber Command crews were nothing more than a bunch of thugs dropping bombs on innocent civilians and indiscriminately killing them under the pretense of identifying casualties as collateral deaths.  These assertions were strongly rebuked by the pilots, navigators, bombardiers and aircrew.  What seemed to be lost on these jounalists and historians is that the technology of the 1940's was vastly different that what was available when they made their claims.

This is my friend Bob Bradley.  He wears the Bomber Command Clasp on his Canadian Volunteer Service Medal.  On his right lapel, second from the bottom, he wears a 'winged O' signifying that he completed a full operational tour.  Bob was in the RCAF and was a mid upper gunner in a 576 Sqn RAF Lancaster.  He completed his tour before he was 20.  He's a wonderful man.

One thing I like about retirement is that it has allowed me to read more.

I just finished The Madman and The Butcher by Tim Cook.

It is a biographical account of Mr. Sam Hughes, Conservative Member of Parliament and Minister of Militia and Defence (The Madman) and General Sir Arthur Currie, Commander of the Canadian Corps (The Butcher) and the relationeship between the two during and after World War I.

Hughes was a bully and many believe that he was mentally unhinged because of his actions and assertions made within the confines of Parliament and outside.  He was a civilian who thought he should be the Commander-in-Chief of the Canadain Forces in WW I.  He turned a bunch of individual militia units into an army.  He developed regional army training centres, some of which remain today.  He promoted the use of Canadian made equipment for Canadian troops.  He had temper tantrums when he didn't get his own way.  If he was admonished for his actions, he would cry like a baby and beg forgiveness.  He had the ability to hold a grudge forever.  Prime Minister Borden cringed every time Hughes opened his mouth because he never knew what was going to come out of it.  In 1916, Borden had had enough of Hughes and punted him to the periphery of the House of Parliament but he remained a thorn in everyone's side.  Hughes made it his mission to destroy Currie and his reputation.

Sir Arthur Currie was brilliant military mind.  He cared deeply for his soldiers but he had a difficult time relating to the man in the trench.  He was admired by the higher ups but almost universally unliked by the men at the front because of his apparent aloofness and inability to relate to them.  He would insist on dry runs of set piece battles to ensure that casualties were as minimal as possible.  He wasn't a political animal and had no political aspirations.  He wasn't afraid to disagree with his masters in the British High Command.  Before the war he had been a real estate agent and he had been the leader of a militia unit in British Columbia.  His business was failing and he embezzled a small fortune from his militia company.  He was always afraid that secret would leak out.  During the last Hundred Days of the war, he was accused of showing wanton disregard for the lives and safety of his troops.  He was accused of sacrificing the lives of his men (mounds of Canadian dead littered the entrance to Mons is what people said) for his own prestige and the ability to say he was the conqueror of Mons.  After the war he became the principal of McGill Universtiy in Montreal.

Ten years after the end of the war, and having endured rumor, speculation and innuendo from all sides, a small newspaper in Guelph, Ontario ran a stinging editorial about Currie and his alleged shortcomings and for allowing the butchery of his soldiers during the war.  Currie decided that enough was enough and he sued the newspaper and the editors for $50,000 for libel.  At that itme, it was considered the trial of the century in Canada.  Currie believed that the editorial was Hughes's hand from the grave continuing the attempt to destroy him and his reputation.  Currie won the trial and was awared the sum of $500.

All in all, a very interesting read about two very influential and extremely different men who were extremely important to Canada's influence and actions during World War I.

I just finished, The Catcher In The Rye. Wasn't anything like I thought. I almost didn't get through the first chapter because I hate the way Salinger wrote Holden's dialog but I guess it's dated and maybe I need to read more Salinger to see if it's the writing or the character.

Overall, It was good. A very privileged, young rebellious intellectual, describing, "a day in the life."

Now started, Shelter From The Storm. Super high action in contemporary era with a couple cars chases and shoot outs already.

Working my way through book 2 od Ian Toll's trilogy on Naval warfare in the Pacific during WWII called "The Conquering Tide".  Like the first book, Toll intersperses discussions from the highest levels of command like Roosevelt and Churchill down to quotes from diaries kept by the common sailor and airman.  The scope is what makes this somewhat unique, in that it covers the Pacific and all naval warfare that took place there. Nice writing style and very informative.  

John

I'm in the middle of "Samurai!" by Saburo Sakai, the leading Japanese fighter ace to survive the war. Written in 1957 it is his wartime account from 1937 through to war's end and life after in Japan. It is unbelievable just how cruel the Japanese were to their own recruits and sailors and how strict their pilot training was.

I’m about half way thru Stranger in a Strange Land and absolutely loving this book. A fantastic read, literally and figuratively. 

stikpusher

I’m about half way thru Stranger in a Strange Land and absolutely loving this book. A fantastic read, literally and figuratively. 

 

I just finished "Troublemakers, Silicon Valley's Coming of Age" by Leslie Berlin.

Not for everyone, but it was a must read for me on account that one of the main characters was a dear friend of mine.

It's all about how the Valley, where I grew up and shot rabbits in the old orchards, found venture capital and made big firms like Atari, Apple, DEC and a bunch now gone.

GMorrison

 

 

stikpusher

I’m about half way thru Stranger in a Strange Land and absolutely loving this book. A fantastic read, literally and figuratively. 

 

 

 

 

That is a real classic. Try "A Canticle for Leibowitz" too. Or "Ridley Walker" if you haven't read those yet.

 

I just finished "Troublemakers, Silicon Valley's Coming of Age" by Leslie Berlin.

Not for everyone, but it was a must read for me on account that one of the main characters was a dear friend of mine.

It's all about how the Valley, where I grew up and shot rabbits in the old orchards, found venture capital and made big firms like Atari, Apple, DEC and a bunch now gone.

 

 

My friend, you steered me well a few years back with your recommendation of The Forever War, so I will keep an eye out for those as well. 

Anytime, my friend.

I'm reading Steinbeck's Log From the Sea of Cortez, in preparation for finishing a model of the boat in the story.

I am reading Devotion, about Ens. Jesse Brown and Lt. Tom Hudner. While we were at AirVenture last week, my wife bought me a copy of A Higher Call.

I just finished From the City, From the Plough by Alexander Baron. This book is the WWII version of All Quiet on the Western Front, and although technically a novel, it is from his personal experience, and so accurate that people have found their units or recognised the characters as people they knew.

fotofrank

I am reading Devotion, about Ens. Jesse Brown and Lt. Tom Hudner. While we were at AirVenture last week, my wife bought me a copy of A Higher Call.

 

fotofrank - you will really enjoy A Higher Call, I know I did!

"Stalin, the court of the red tszar" by Simon Montefiore. A very good look at the bizare and murderous life of the kremlin elite. A big book but a good read.

Fitzroy McLean "Escape to adventure" aka "Eastern approaches". A great book of his adventures with SAS in WW2. I borrowed this book chiefly because he was Churchill's liaison to Yugoslavia and was curious to red his impressions from there. But it is also a super read about his travels in USSR befor WW2. 

Noam Chomsky "Death of yugoslavia". The first half of this book is realy good and well written. The second half weers of Yugoslavia and becomes a tirade/rant about US/UK foreign policy, the use of NATO to cater to the rich and powerfull. Thumbs up for the first half and a big thumbs down for the secon half. 

Adm. McRaven's "Special Ops".