The Book Topic

[Guest Hans Engström]

Murph kindly reminded me (inadvertently) of this when he PMd me asking if I wanted a copy of "Three Hearts and Three Lions" (I already have it, classic fantasy, recommended).

 

So what else are we reading?

[Von Richter]

Got two good 'uns for Christmas.

'No Parachute' by Arthur Gould Lee. This is a classic tale of the early birdmen. The author and his mates trying to hold their own in outdated Sopwith Pups against the flying circus. Their Squadron got the Camel just as ground strafing came into fashion and Lee was shot down three times in a week!

'Into Battle With 57 Squadron' by Roland Hammersley DFM. The book relates his training as a Wireless op/Airgunner in WW2. The author went on to fly Lancasters with B Flight from East Kirkby in Lincolnshire. My mate's Dad was in B Flight 57 Squadron which makes the read a bit more piognent.

The airfield, now restored, is home to Lancaster 'Just Jane' and is one of our favourite haunts during the summer.

http://www.controltowers.co.uk/E/East_Kirkby.htm

[Ms Glottis]

Twist of the Wrist II. Keith Code.

 

And polishing the motorcycle.

 

Joanne - a very damp, rather disgruntled Ms. Glottis

[Ol Paint]

"Tanks for the Memories"--a collection of oral stories about the 712th (I think) Tank Battalion in WWII. Very interesting.

 

"Vees for Victory"--I started this one before the holidays, but haven't picked it up since I got back. A history of the development of the Allison V1710. I highly recommend this one.

 

Douglas

[Guest aevans]

Faithful by Stewart O'Nan and Stephen King (yes, that Stephen King). This book chronicles the 2004 baseball season as seen through the eyes of two Red Sox fans. You don't have to be a baseball fan to like this book, though ti helps to pick up some of the details. But the biggest part of the book is the buddy story -- two guys who have a passion for the same thing, and share it with each other. It's also hilariously funny at times. O'Nan stays up past midnight to watch Boston lose yet another game by just one run, and screams at his televison: "Why do you suck so much?" Or the long-running and oft-recapitulated hatred that both have for anything Yankee -- King: "the Great Satan Jeter"; O'Nan: "the [Yankee] Stadium, where the only sellouts are the players". This is probably the final word on a baseball season where the truth two novelists lived was indeed stranger than any fiction.

[Lentzner]

It's been out for a while, but Moneyball by Michael Lewis is a great book. It's about baseball, statitstics, and most of all, business. It's an easy read and highly entertaining.

 

Matt

[Guest aevans]

It's been out for a while, but Moneyball by Michael Lewis is a great book. It's about baseball, statitstics, and most of all, business. It's an easy read and highly entertaining.

 

Matt

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King and O'Nan have a lot to say about Moneyball, none of it particularly complimentary. The whole idea is like Steinbrenner's checkbook (talk about sucking so much) -- it distorts the game.

[Lentzner]

King and O'Nan have a lot to say about Moneyball, none of it particularly complimentary. The whole idea is like Steinbrenner's checkbook (talk about sucking so much) -- it distorts the game.

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That surprises me since the Bosox, along with Toronto and LA, are one of the new "Moneyball" type teams. Bill James (inventor of Sabrmetrics) works for the Red Sox. Boston even offered Billy Beane (GM of Oakland) a job and he was within inches of accepting it. They probably broke the "Curse of the Bambino" due to the edge that was gained by running a Moneyball style club. It makes no sense for a Boston fan to criticize it.

[Guest aevans]

That surprises me since the Bosox, along with Toronto and LA, are one of the new "Moneyball" type teams. Bill James (inventor of Sabrmetrics) works for the Red Sox. Boston even offered Billy Beane (GM of Oakland) a job and he was within inches of accepting it. They probably broke the "Curse of the Bambino" due to the edge that was gained by running a Moneyball style club. It makes no sense for a Boston fan to criticize it.

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Like I said, they have a lot to say about it. In the end, unless I read it entirely wrong, they don't think OBP and Power had much to do with Boston winning. I would tend to agree, considering how many baserunners Boston managed to strand in losing games over the season, and how many games the Sox lost by one run -- in the AL of all places.

[sabotshooter 88]

Stalking the VietCong by Stuart Herrington.

 

He was involved with Operation Phoenix. So far it's pretty interesting. He covers the history of insurgency tactic within the Vietminh. More to follow

[DesertFox]

"Empire from the Ashes" by David Weber

 

SF novel where the moon is a battlestation named Dahak which has been in robit for the last 50,000 years.

[DB]

Max Arthur's "Forgotten Voices of the Second World War".

 

The WWI book was pretty good, so I picked this up just before Christmas. It seems that I've picked up a taste for history books that concentrate on eyewitness comments, rather than the opinionated detailed analysis (I can get that here )

 

David

[Guest Hans Engström]

Tad Williams "Shadowmarch"- seems OK so far

[Jim Martin]

My mother-in-law bought "Me and Big Russ" for Christmas. I'll be reading it on the flight (I've been under pressure, people will be offended if I don't). We'll see how it is.

[Michael Eastes]

I'm currently reading "The Battle of Salamis",by Barry Strauss. It's a good read; thanks for the loan, Sarg.

 

Next in line is "A War of Nerves" by Ben Shephard. Comrade Rubberneck mentioned it in a post a few weeks back, and it looks like a good study of shell shock/combat fatigue/PTSD and the various treatments through the 20th century.

[vardulli]

just finished The Hell Riders about charge of the light brigade

 

bought it a week ago

 

 

[Corinthian]

Back to reading "The Deceivers" by Thaddeus Holt, a book on WW2 Allied deception operations. Thick book, good read. Still not finished. Most interesting subject.

 

Done with "Team Yankee" a few weeks ago. Great book - thanks for the recommendations from previous threads.

[ABNredleg]

"Quartered Safe Out Here: A Recollection of the War in Burma" by George Fraser.

 

His Flashman books were a hoot, and his biography is good reading so far.

Edited January 10, 2005 by ABNredleg

[FlyingCanOpener]

Castles of Steel- Robert Massie

 

The Hunt for the Graff Spee- Dudley Pope

 

The Royal Navy, Seapower and Strategy between the Wars- By Christopher Bell

[Allan W]

Finished 5 books while on vacation in Florida over Christmas.

 

First was Death Ground by Daniel Bolger. Subtitled "Today's American Infantry in Battle" it presents 8 separate stories covering US Infantry in action in Haiti, Panama, Desert Storm, Somalia and Liberia. Except for Bolger's infantry uber alles attitude that gets a bit tiresome after a while, it was an enjoyable read.

 

Second was When Thunder Rolled by Ed Rasmus. I loved this book. It's written by an F-105 pilot about his expriences flying the F-105 early in the Vietnam War. It's an example of how autobiographical war books should be written.

 

Third was Stalingrad by Antony Beevor. It was the first book that I had read on the East Front and seemed to provide a reasonable overview of the battle and why it occurred, although I would have liked to seek more detail on the fighting in the city itself.

 

Fourth was Rising Tide by Gary Wier and Walter Boyne. It is the story of Russian Submarines in the cold war and it is a chilling tale. Well worth the read.

 

Fifth was Tigers in the Mud by Otto Carius. Interesting book that was very easy to read because of the short chapters. It put a human face on the German Army that you don't often see. Rather than the military machine that some people make it out to be, Cariuis' book shows that it had its share of incompentants and cowards just like other armies.

 

If I were to rank the books in terms of my enjoyment, When Thunder Rolled would be first, followed by Rising Tide, Tigers in the Mud, Stalingrad and finally Death Ground.

[Jeff]

Trying to finish Castles of Steel after putting it down due to elections, homebuying, moving and holidays. I'm just shy of halfway through. I was unpacking my books and realized I have a LOT of books I've bought and never read, sheesh.

[Ol Paint]

Am partway through "The Sea Hawks," but got sidetracked watching "'Allo 'Allo--Season One" instead. "The Sea Hawks" is an autobiographical book by a USN officer who spent 2 years on PT boats during WWII. From 1940-1942, he was on destroyers. Decent read, so far, although he zips through his destroyer time in the matter of a couple of chapters--and those chapters are mostly about the girls he met.

 

I also liked "When Thunder Rolled." I thought the bit about the "High G Snap Rolls" was good.

 

Douglas

Edited January 7, 2013 by Ol Paint

[Kenneth P. Katz]

I'm catching up on back issues of Wings, Airpower and Air Forces Monthly that I have bought over the last few years and never got around to reading.

[Fritz]

Right now "The Second Foundation" by Asimov.

[Paul G]

Currently reading Bill Bryson's, A Short History of Nearly Everything. Got hooked on his A-trail book, very reader-friendly author. His book on Australia was good too.

 

This could be called "science for dummies". Interesting read though as he puts a writers twist on the hard sciences. You can tell he's very interested in the personalites involved.