Read any good books lately?

Just finished reading a nice brace of books actually.  It started with a re-read of a classics, Cornelius Ryan's The Longest Day.  This swung me back into an ETO kind of mood.  So I went to the library and borrowed Operation Mincemeat (about the British intelligence scheme that planted fake papers on a dead body and floated it into Spain to convince the Germans the Allies planned on invading Greece and Sardinia, NOT Sicily....reads almost like a novel at times!).  The I sped through Stephen Ambrose's Pegasus Bridge, which is everything I expected from an Ambrose book!  Right now I have just started into Len Deighton's Fighter, his book on the battle of Britain.  I am probably going to also try and get his book Bomber too.  And as luck would have it my Uncle brought over 4 books for me to read also.  One was Curtis Lemay's book Superfortress, Stephen Ambrose's D-Day, a book called Two, and Bud Masterson's AAF,Official WW2 guide to the Army Air Forces.

I’m reading Charlie Chan by Yunte Huang. This book is the back- story of the fictional Charlie Chan, Hawaiian cop Chang Apana.

Chang Apana (left) and Charlie Chan (Warner Oland)

I just finished Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunters, 1939-1942 by Clay Blair.  Now on to part 2, The Hunted!

Quick question to the group, has anyone ever found a good book on the Tuskeegee Airmen?  I had the honor of meeting one of the ground crew several years ago and have always been amazed by the story.  Watching "Red Tails" (I know, not the best movie for plot, but the flying scenes were amazing) has whetted my appetite to have a good read and reference about the group.  Can anyone help?

One book I always must recommend is "Shattered Sword" by Pearsall and Tully.  It tells the story of the battle of Midway from the Japanese side.  It also dispells the many myths surrounding the battle in a very thoughtful and well researched format.  That being said, the book reads almost like you are sitting there talking to the authors and they are letting you know their opinions as you are talking.  The appendices are almost worth buying the book for, given all of the info contained.  

Currently, I am working my way through the "Game of Thrones" series.  This is in no way light reading, given the number of characters and subplots running, but it is very vivid and detailed.  For fans of high fantasy, it is a good read.  If you have seen the HBO series, the books is all of that and more.  The series is pretty faithful to the books.  

Yeah, that story was not overly compelling. I finished up "The Guns of August" last night. Great stuff there. I now finally have some knowledge in that period of history which I never had before. I dont think one could ask more from that type of book.

Up next, "The Horse Soldiers", about the early days of SF in Afghanistan after 9/11. That and I have started "Dune" for my 'light reading' (porcelain throne) ;-)

I read about 20% of The Wild Blue and was bored to death so I stopped reading it.

Going to have to read one of the other several thousand books I have for the Kindle.

GMorrison

I enjoyed FP too. I would like to read the book about Dietrich as I don't know too much about him. He certainly was right at the center of things throughout the whole Hitler era.

I didnt know a lot about him either until reading the book. The book charts his rise from an NCO in WWI throughout the rise and fall of the NAZI's. As I said earlier, it is very unbiased. It goes into what he may have known or not known about Malmedy and other war crimes, as well as Hitler's state of mind as the war went on.  Good book.

I enjoyed FP too. I would like to read the book about Dietrich as I don't know too much about him. He certainly was right at the center of things throughout the whole Hitler era.

I've just finished up two very good books recently. "Fighter Pilot" about Gen. Robin Olds and "Hitler's Gladiator, the life and wars of Sepp Dietrich".  Fighter Pilot is well known and has been talked about on the forums before. The book on Sepp Dietrich was interesting. It is written in an unbiased way and seems to be well researched.

Yes, big, thick books....

They are books, right?

Does "Anatomy and physiology" and "Human Kinetics" count? It is interesting and educational so....

That is a decent read Mike. Read that one several years ago, but not one I will read again every so often like "Ghost Soldiers", "Incredible Victory" or "The Longest Day"....

I finally finished up "Wings of Gold". On the one hand it gives short shift to the big picture of the carrier war. On the other hand it brings a far more up close and personal view to that war. The attrition/loss rates of those naval aviators was pretty high and even when we were an unstoppable juggernaut, lots of brave young men were to never come home. Not to mention the junior and mid grade officer views of the senior leadership. Overall a very good book. Now to finish up "The Guns of August" in the next few days. Talk about learning something on every page. I am oh so glad that I picked up this book.

I just started reading this on my Kindle today.

I read over 30 books in 2012. By far the most I have ever read in a year.

A Kindle and a job in security was the reason.

Hi

Still reading  " A DIRTY JOB " by CHRISTOPHER MOORE. Weird ! ( a loaner from a neighbor )  Now I usually read CLIVE CUSSLER and authors like that , and of course ANYTHING on WW 2 ships ! The most impressive books I think I've read over the years are ones like " MEIN KAMPF " by you know who . and other WW-2 generals and admirals .

You certainly get an insight into their thinking . Now I do like , and I guess it's cause I can look at all the great " pichurs" is the SQUADRON/SIGNAL and OSPREY books .   Tanker-builder

I love reading about people in general, so bios are my favorite, like the one's I've read on/by John Lennon, George Harrison, Jackie Chan, John Madden, Jim McMahon, Kenny Stabler, Denis Potvin, Rita Hayworth, Chuck Yeager, Erich Hartmann, well, you get the idea. Right now I'm reading Rickenbacker's, and it's awesome!

Dang right!

Nothing beats the classics Sub... Shakespear, Dumas, Dickens, Conrad, Hemingway, Seuss...

Just read "Green Eggs and Ham" for the upteenth million time, this time for my grandsons. No one can deny that this is a good book.

"Under Ice" the biography of Waldo Lyons: arrived today.

It's all about developing the technology to sail submarines below the polar ice cap. Won't mean much in just a few years.

I just finished "Reports of the Inspectors of the Mine in the Anthracite Region of Pennsylvania for the Year 1883", an old book that I got off eBay. Being from a coal-mining background and family, I've been researching the history of Scranton Pa's mining.

This book was fascinating, talking of all the improvements, accidents, deaths, and hazards of mining coal--as well as the lessons learned and recommendations for future miners. It has diagrams, pull-out maps and illustrations, and I genuinely couldn't put it down.

I ordered five more copies of reprints from different years of the late 1800's.

I just finished Shelby Foote's three volume series "The Civil War". The clash of personalities among the Union and Confederate General Officers was a surprise, and Lincoln was different from what I always believed.

Jim

Just finished Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent, and am now reading T.E. Lawrence's Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph.

" I Could Never be so Lucky Again "  by Gen Jimmy Doolittle .  His accomplishments and contributions to aviation are amazing to read about. He did so much more than just the Tokyo raid.

G- I read Tarzan as a kid and couldn't really get into it.   But I'd like to read John Carter sometime to see how it fares in print- the movie wasn't terrible but I didn't know the story.  

Dre

While not exactly a thinking-man's books, I've recently completed re-reading my collections of Conan- The Barbarian  and Deadpool (continuing series) comics...  good stuff and no critical thinking is necessary.

The last real book I read was Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel, a very interesting look into why the world's civilizations developed the way they did.   Truly a thought provoking read.

www.amazon.com/.../1881325407

if you REALLY liked Crytonomicon, you might also lilke Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon; it also has a  Marine, submarines and Swartzkommando