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Read any good books lately?

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  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Saturday, April 24, 2021 1:19 PM

keavdog

I just started reading Killer Angles

 

A great read,and a decent movie.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Saturday, April 24, 2021 12:51 PM

I just started reading Killer Angles

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    August 2019
  • From: Central Oregon
Posted by HooYah Deep Sea on Saturday, April 24, 2021 11:30 AM

Stikpusher mentioned Gettysburg / The Killer Angels; but though I did enjoy the film, it lost alot in the transformation. In the book you always knew where you were and what part of the battle(s) was occuring. In the movie, if you were not a student of the ACW, or at least Gettysburg, there were several points that would be confusing.

And on top of that, even back then, there were very few trees on the battlefield at Little Round Top. It was not in the woods as depicted. THey could have found a more appropriate area.

"Why do I do this? Because the money's good, the scenery changes and they let me use explosives, okay?"

  • Member since
    January 2010
Posted by rob44 on Saturday, April 24, 2021 10:20 AM

There was a showtime original movie "Heroshima" that was superb in depicting the development  and political situation on both sides with the use of the Atomic bomb. If you can find the DVD it is well worth the time!

https://www.amazon.com/Hiroshima-Complete-Miniseries-Kenneth-Walsh/dp/B01IDHQYWY

 

 

 

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Friday, April 23, 2021 2:52 PM

It really is more of a coming of age story set in a war zone than it is a war movie.  The book was well written.

Blackhawk down was pretty good come to think of it.

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Friday, April 23, 2021 1:32 PM

I never read Jarhead, but I did not care for the movie at all. Hopefully it was written better as a book than it was filmed. It did not have a tale worth really seeing as a movie. I would not have been happy paying movie theater prices to see it, even back when it came out. As a rental from wherever it was not even worth paying for to watch.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by keavdog on Friday, April 23, 2021 12:47 PM

Jarhead and We Were Soldiers were pretty good - though the hollywood ending of We Were Soldiers was crazy not in the book, but made for good TV and they only covered X ray, the first 1/2 of the book.  Albany would make a movie in it's own right.

Thanks,

John

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Friday, April 23, 2021 12:38 PM

"The Day of the Jackal", and "The Odessa File" were both great movies, but I've never read the novels, so I can't comment on those. "Band of Brothers" and "The Longest Day" were both great in their own right, as was "A Bridge Too Far". But all had omissions from the source materials, and some composite/altered charterers for screen purposes that somewhat detract from what they could have been. 

A few films that I've seen that altered from their source books but came out so good that you love them as much if not more are: "The Right Stuff", "Bridge Over the River Kwai", and "Guns of Navarone". 

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Bethlehem PA
Posted by the Baron on Friday, April 23, 2021 8:57 AM

HooYah Deep Sea

Which brings up a good point; are there any movies out there that are as good or better than 'the book'? I know that none that I've seen that were based on a book were as good as the book, and most were seriously sub-standard.  

Off the top of my head, I can think of a couple of movies, or series, that were as good as the original books:

Fred Zinnemann's "The Day of the Jackal"

"The Odessa File"

"The Longest Day"

"Band of Brothers"

"Fellowship of the Ring" After that one, Jackson's films got progressively worse, as they deviated more from the books, both the remaining books of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit".  He should have stuck with producing high-quality 1/32 scale kits of WWI airplanes

A list of movies which fail to capture the book from which they're scripted is probably more data than the forum's server can handle.

The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.

 

 

  • Member since
    July 2004
  • From: Sonora Desert
Posted by stikpusher on Thursday, April 22, 2021 11:34 PM

HooYah Deep Sea

Which brings up a good point; are there any movies out there that are as good or better than 'the book'? I know that none that I've seen that were based on a book were as good as the book, and most were seriously sub-standard. 

 

A few come to mind. Gettysburg was an excellent film adaptation of The Killer Angels. The Bridges at Toko Ri was also a great adaptation of the novel. The Dogs of War did a fine job of translating that novel to the big screen, updating that tale from the late 60's to the early 80's. I'm sure that there are more.

 

F is for FIRE, That burns down the whole town!

U is for URANIUM... BOMBS!

N is for NO SURVIVORS...

       - Plankton

LSM

 

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, April 22, 2021 10:30 PM

HooYah Deep Sea

Which brings up a good point; are there any movies out there that are as good or better than 'the book'? I know that none that I've seen that were based on a book were as good as the book, and most were seriously sub-standard. 

 

I don't know, but the Lord of the Rings comes close.

 

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    January 2010
Posted by rob44 on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:45 PM

I also reccommend Rick Atkinson's trillogy of the war in Europe. Both trilogies are magnificent

  • Member since
    January 2010
Posted by rob44 on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:42 PM

I finished Ian Toll's Magnificent trilogy about the war in the Pacific. I reccommend it highly

  • Member since
    August 2014
  • From: Willamette Valley, Oregon
Posted by goldhammer on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:37 PM

I think a lot of that is due to compressing a book into a two hour movie, and making it viable to a wider audience.  But yes, agree whole heartedly

I'd like to see Clancy's "Bear and Dragon" done, but doubt it will be made.

  • Member since
    August 2019
  • From: Central Oregon
Posted by HooYah Deep Sea on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:24 PM

Which brings up a good point; are there any movies out there that are as good or better than 'the book'? I know that none that I've seen that were based on a book were as good as the book, and most were seriously sub-standard. 

"Why do I do this? Because the money's good, the scenery changes and they let me use explosives, okay?"

  • Member since
    April 2012
Posted by nearsightedjohn on Thursday, April 22, 2021 9:15 AM

Agree with Surface_line's posting above, Black Noon is the best auto racing book I’ve ever read. Very interesting story about Mickey Thompson’s controversial history at Indy. The other best auto racing book is “Go Like Hell” by A.J. Baime, which was the book that the “Ford V Ferrari” movie was based on. Movie was entertaining but the book is much better, so good I read it twice.

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Thursday, April 22, 2021 12:07 AM

I just finished a book about the (Big) Sur coast south of where we live, "South Coast, Lonely Coast".

Based on the old folk song, which is a good one and has been covered by Pete Seeger, the Kingston Trio and others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1psCACHj4as&ab_channel=ceb2633

 

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    December 2020
  • From: Kansas
Posted by DM1975 on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 11:15 PM

To Hell and Back, The Last Train from Hiroshima. you won't regret it. 

  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Vancouver, the "wet coast"
Posted by castelnuovo on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 1:47 PM

"Balkan Babel: The Disintegration Of Yugoslavia From The Death Of Tito To kosovo war". If there ever was a book that made me lose sleep, this was one. An excellent book on the situation before and during the war. All the rot and arguing that was going on and we, the youth, either didn't care about or did not understand in the few occasions when our parent talked to us about it. Just how much almost nobody actually wanted Yugoslavia, the artificialness of it all. It is sad and disturbing to read. And this after I have read quite a few books about us. A hard read but in some strange way almost liberating. 

 

  • Member since
    September 2020
Posted by VintageRPM on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 12:38 PM

Presently, I am "binge-reading" the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich. They are hilarious books about a bumbling New Jersey bounty hunter.

As a mystery & detective fan, I can also recommend the following series:

The Harry Bosch books by Michael Connolly. Yes, the Amazon Prime series L.A. detective.

The Marcos Didius Falco books by Lyndsey Davis. Hard-boiled detective in ancient Rome.

The Bernie Gunther books by Phillip Kerr. The books center around Germany and Germans from 1929-1959. Especially interesting if you are a student of the WWII.

 

  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 11:15 AM

Hi;

 I am still on Are Ke Jyre's 100 book series of Star Force. Interesting premise in them.

  • Member since
    September 2006
  • From: Bethlehem PA
Posted by the Baron on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 9:40 AM

For me, "Shattered Sword" was also an introduction to John Lundstrom and his "First Team" books, too.  I wasn't aware of any research into the naval air war in the first year of the Pacific war, beyond the older works by Prange.  I enjoy Lundstrom's books very much.

The bigger the government, the smaller the citizen.

 

 

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Wednesday, April 21, 2021 3:47 AM

I've started my 10th book (yes ten) of 2021.

I've been reading Stephen King's The Dark Tower series and just started the final book, book VII. I first read the first book in the mid 80s as a college student and forgot about it. Last year, I found one of the later books in a thrift shop for a$1. I found others on eBay and I think it took me about $12-13 to collect the entire series.

For those of you not familiar with The Dark Tower (no, it's not horror), when he was younger, he wrote a story that was inspired by the spaghetti western movie, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.

The main character is based on Clint Eastwood's portrayal of the gunslinger as he navigates the fantasy world in search of the Dark Tower. There's wizards, demons, old west towns and gunslingers who are akin to the old knights of the round table. But they look like Ol' Clint.

  • Member since
    January 2020
  • From: Maryland
Posted by wpwar11 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 10:08 PM

ohms
Bitcoin Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich. Think of it as the sequel to The Social Network. Finished it in a few days, which I only do for really engrossing books.

Going to pick this up.  I love his book on the MIT blackjack team.

  • Member since
    May 2020
  • From: North East of England
Posted by Hutch6390 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 2:18 PM

"Sicily '43" by James Holland - an excellent examination of Operation Husky, with views from British, Canadian, American, German, and Italian - civilian as well as military - participants.

"Troy" by Stephen Fry.  I've read (or tried to read) a few accounts of this classic tale, but found it hard to follow.  T.E. Lawrence's translation of Homer's Iliad was about the best up to now but it stopped short of the climax - no wooden horse!  This one still needs some concentration but - as the author repeatedly reminds the reader - you don't need to remember every detail, just the gist will do.  And it works!

 

Vell, Zaphod's just zis guy, you know?

   

TakkaTakkaTakkaTakkaTakkaTakka

 

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 1:19 PM

modelcrazy

Nino, not so much a Dauntless but it has definitely helped me with the Akagi. 

Tojo, good book. Finished one that before Shattered Sword.

 

Loved Shattered Sword,still one of my favorites,love to re read it over.

  • Member since
    July 2014
Posted by modelcrazy on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 1:10 PM

Nino, not so much a Dauntless but it has definitely helped me with the Akagi. 

Tojo, good book. Finished one that before Shattered Sword.

Steve

Building a kit from your stash is like cutting a head off a Hydra, two more take it's place.

 

 

http://www.spamodeler.com/forum/

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 12:19 PM

Spearhead, by Adam Makos

Tank warfare accounts by both Allied and German,great read.

  • Member since
    September 2014
Posted by rooster513 on Tuesday, April 20, 2021 11:34 AM

Just finished Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson. I learned a lot about it's final voyage and German U-boats early in the war. For those who haven't read his books, he has a great way of writing non-fiction in a very interesting way. He reads more like historical fiction. Another great one of his that I recently read is In the Garden of the Beasts about ambassodor Dodd in 1930's Germany.

-Andy

  • Member since
    June 2008
Posted by lewbud on Monday, August 24, 2020 8:57 PM

Getting into The Good War by Studs Turkel. It's on oral history of WWII.  It's an easy read so far.

Hooyah,

If you get a chance check out Jocko's podcast on YouTube.

Buddy- Those who say there are no stupid questions have never worked in customer service.

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