What are the Forum members reading (2 Viewers)

paxtoysoldier said:
Great tradition! Some of the movie merchandise is fun, the films were a good way to renew interest. No Bombadil but I guess that would have slowed them down too much. Dad read them first in 1971 too, 1993 for me. We both read them again every 3 years or so.
Best wishes
Paddy
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paxtoysoldier said:
I think Tom's too powerful and aloof to play a big part in the War of the Ring, it's more dramatic to have humans and elves and dwarves fight the darkness - more like life. Elrond is somewhat dismissive of him and Goldberry as Allies, but he certainly helps the Hobbits! Great side-story, imo. I think he's an angel gone native - he likes Middle Earth but he's not fully invested in it's future. Just a thought.
Keep up happy traditions and stay healthy.
Paddy
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Hi Paddy, sorry I missed these replies, I sometimes get too involved with less pleasant people on the forum :wink2:

The Books became popular again in the 1960's and early 70's, part of the Hippy counter culture or similar I guess. I remember having a Frodo Lives T-shirt and other LotR merchandise when I was a kid. Both of my sons, they are almost 30 now, received a lot of LotR (and Star Wars) action figures etc for gifts when they were young. They still have most of the figures including a huge Balrog made by Neca that my oldest displays on a shelf at his house, wingspan is about 3 feet and he still scares some visitors ^&grin

Yes Tom was high in the rating of entities now in Middle Earth, he was over the Ring conflict thing, if ever involved at all, just wanted to do his own thing in his country.
 
...plenty of time to read at the moment...

...."With The Jocks - A Soldier's Struggle For Europe 1944-45" by Peter White...

...Peter White is the officer who recounts his time serving with the KOSB's....he was also something of an artist, so in the book are sketches completed by him of scenes of battle / relaxation / etc.....all very good....gritty and relentless....

...a worthy way to spend your time.....

Jocks.jpg
 
Just finishing up Deborah and the War of the Tanks 1917. By John A. Taylor
Pretty good read.especially since the tank D51 Deborah was uncovered in 1998 and is in a museum in France.

Also in the middle of Soldier Sahibs by Charles Allen. Very good book about the Taming of the Northwest Frontier.

Dave
 
I am reading the Andy Maslen series with the character Gabriel Wolfe, ex para/SAS and now a problem solver for the UK government. Also like the Orphan X series by [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Hurwitz.
For great Roman fiction you cannot go wrong with S Scarrow or [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Fabbri or Riches. If you want another great historical fiction read try [FONT=Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif]Gilman and his man at war series, great read about an English archer who becomes a knight and fights in France during the 100 year war. [/FONT][/FONT]
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"Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hell" by Tom Clavin. An entertaining read on the old west. He wrote a similar book on Dodge City.
 
Added a trio of books recently. One is an old friend I re-acquired after many years, "The Diplomacy of the Balkan Wars, 1912-13" by Helmreich and is a superb work on the subject. The other 2 are WW2 titles that are recently published. The first is "South Pacific Air War, Vol.3: The Coral Sea & Aftermath, May-June 1942" by Claringbould and Ingman. It is a very nice SB production with many illustrations (many in color) and it is highly detailed. 247 pages from Avonmore Books. The other book is a very interesting and highly researched and detailed work called "HMS Hood: Pride of the Royal Navy" by Daniel Knowles. It is 415 pages, published by Fonthill, is heavily illustrated and tells you just about everything relating to Hood that one would want to know. Also of note is that this book is very heavy due to the high quality of the paper used in it's production. I highly recommend all 3 of these books. -- Al
 
Just got this book yesterday. Contains 51 topographic maps with historical explaination of every aspect of the Battle of First Bull Run that you can imagine. Maps include troop positions and movements at the Regimental level as well as elevations, buildings, roads, corn fields, wheat fields, grain fields, pastures, woods, and fence lines. I also have the book "The Maps of Gettysburg" by the same author which is also a very good read as well as geographical reference.
 

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mestell said:
Just got this book yesterday. Contains 51 topographic maps with historical explaination of every aspect of the Battle of First Bull Run that you can imagine. Maps include troop positions and movements at the Regimental level as well as elevations, buildings, roads, corn fields, wheat fields, grain fields, pastures, woods, and fence lines. I also have the book "The Maps of Gettysburg" by the same author which is also a very good read as well as geographical reference.
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Gottfried has done many useful works of the ACW. His map volumes also include Fredricksburg, Antietam, Bristoe Station and Mine Run, and the Wilderness, as well as books on the brigades and artillery of Gettysburg. I found his book on the brigades to be very informative. -- Al
 
I prefer to actually Hold a book, however this morning I downloaded my first free online book via my local library which remains closed due to Covid19.

The Halo series may not be among the literary greats, but I enjoy the action and reminds me of when I played the XBox Halo games with my Two sons.

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Been on a book buying splurge of late and picked up many interesting titles. One of the more interesting titles is "Crommelin's Thunderbirds: Air Group 12 Strikes the Heart of Japan" by Bruce and Leonard, a 1994 Naval Institute Press publication. It is a book about naval air ops off the USS Randolph during the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns. Really well done. Another really interesting title I have gotten is "Victory Fever on Guadalcanal: Japan's First Land Defeat of WWII" by William Bartsch, a 2014 Texas A&M Press book. It is the highly detailed story of the first Japanese attempt to throw the US Marines off the Canal at the Battle of the Tenaru River. This action resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Ichiki force of the Japanese Army on August 20/21, 1942, and kicked off the months long struggle for Guadalcanal. It's been a great read. -- Al
 
George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London. Not the typical intense works by Orwell. This is more lightlight-hearted.
 
lancer said:
Been on a book buying splurge of late and picked up many interesting titles. One of the more interesting titles is "Crommelin's Thunderbirds: Air Group 12 Strikes the Heart of Japan" by Bruce and Leonard, a 1994 Naval Institute Press publication. It is a book about naval air ops off the USS Randolph during the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns. Really well done. Another really interesting title I have gotten is "Victory Fever on Guadalcanal: Japan's First Land Defeat of WWII" by William Bartsch, a 2014 Texas A&M Press book. It is the highly detailed story of the first Japanese attempt to throw the US Marines off the Canal at the Battle of the Tenaru River. This action resulted in the almost complete destruction of the Ichiki force of the Japanese Army on August 20/21, 1942, and kicked off the months long struggle for Guadalcanal. It's been a great read. -- Al
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Got another good PTO book today, a history of an underappreciated and under-written about battle, "Scratch One Flattop: The First Carrier Air Campaign and The Battle of the Coral Sea" by Robet Stern, published in 2019 by Indiana University Press. There are few books on this battle in the individual sense so this is an important addition to PTO lit. I have already skimmed several chapters and the book is very detailed and clearly written. Stern is of the opinion that it is hard to 'award' the Japanese any sort of victory accolades, even in tactical terms. It is a US victory thru and thru. -- Al
 
mestell said:
Just got this book yesterday. Contains 51 topographic maps with historical explaination of every aspect of the Battle of First Bull Run that you can imagine. Maps include troop positions and movements at the Regimental level as well as elevations, buildings, roads, corn fields, wheat fields, grain fields, pastures, woods, and fence lines. I also have the book "The Maps of Gettysburg" by the same author which is also a very good read as well as geographical reference.
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I have a couple of editions and have considered getting this one as well. Good pick up Mike. Chris
 
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Just re-read Walter Lord's "Incredible Victory", to observe the anniversary of the Battle of Midway. The book still holds up, despite new and better understanding of the details, because Lord really tells the stories of the individuals, so it is history from their perspective.

Next up will be "The Longest Day", for the D-Day anniversary.

Prost!
Brad
 
theBaron said:
Just re-read Walter Lord's "Incredible Victory", to observe the anniversary of the Battle of Midway. The book still holds up, despite new and better understanding of the details, because Lord really tells the stories of the individuals, so it is history from their perspective.

Next up will be "The Longest Day", for the D-Day anniversary.

Prost!
Brad
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Both great books, even though, as you say, certain aspects are more clear with the advantages of more recent research. "Incredible Victory" is still a very highly recommended book (#4 on their list) by the Battle of Midway Roundtable (www.midway42.org), even though it is some 53 years old at this point. The forum states that it's errors are few and minor and can generally be "attributed to the limits of known and unclassified information in 1967". It is a great read. -- Al
 
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