What are the Forum members reading (1 Viewer)

I've been reading a lot of books issued by Pen & Sword, mainly WW1 and WW2. Inexpensive from Amazon; often available free from downloadable e-books. Recently finished Hitler's Invasion of East Anglia and On the Road to Victory. The latter was an excellent review of the ATS on the Western Front and is well worth reading. Am now reading Air War Malta . . . what those guys went through is incredible! The P&S books cover a lot of unusual topics as well as all the major battles and are both readable and have lots of pictures. Highly recommended.

Bosun Al
 
Winston Churchill As I Knew Him by Lady Violet Bonham Carter. Great friend and admirer of Churchill and a politician of some repute in her own right. This is a source book in many Churchill biographies and been in my reading queue for some time. Like Gettysburg, you can never read too many books about Churchill. :salute:: Chris
 
W.D.E. said:
Just finished "The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West" by David McCullough and just started "Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America" by Eric Jay Dolin.
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I'm a big fan of McCullogh's books and read most. Did not care for The Pioneers as much, not exactly sure why not. Maybe because the characters weren't the larger than life figures of his other books.

What did you think? Chris
 
Almost done with the 500-page, Six Frigates, about the beginning of the US Navy. Will now embark on the 900-page Musashi, the famous Japanese sword's man. I didn't want to read such large books, but when you read poetic lines like, I lay wounded on the battlefield, like a dead leaf floating in the Autumn wind, you got to go for it.
 
Go for Broke said:
Almost done with the 500-page, Six Frigates, about the beginning of the US Navy. Will now embark on the 900-page Musashi, the famous Japanese sword's man. I didn't want to read such large books, but when you read poetic lines like, I lay wounded on the battlefield, like a dead leaf floating in the Autumn wind, you got to go for it.
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Haven't read that one yet, but from one of my favorite authors. Chris
 
Terp152 said:
Haven't read that one yet, but from one of my favorite authors. Chris
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If you like history's hows and whys, you're going to like it. I prefer to be at battle level, witness accounts, how soldiers feel and think. However, it was an eye opener about the politics of the day. I think you read the WWII books, so Six Frigates should be a good precursor for you.
 
Go for Broke said:
Almost done with the 500-page, Six Frigates, about the beginning of the US Navy. Will now embark on the 900-page Musashi, the famous Japanese sword's man. I didn't want to read such large books, but when you read poetic lines like, I lay wounded on the battlefield, like a dead leaf floating in the Autumn wind, you got to go for it.
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GFB,

MUSAHI IS EPIC. I read it in 1997 and wrote the date down in the book when I finished it. One of the single greatest books to come out of Japan and fortunately for me I read it in Japan. After that book, everything made sense to me regarding some pieces of Japanese culture, mentality and spirit. I bought the 3 pack DVD set of the movie starring one of my favorite actors: Toshiro Mifune. I was sad when he died while I was in Japan and his death was like a national mourning.

Anyway, I went on to read the 5 rings and some other footnote books about the author and Musashi. To me, it is War and Peace of Japan, a 100 years of Solitude type of story that resonates with fans of this book for generations. I tackled the book and could not put it down and the only type of book that I want to read that is this long is Aleksandr Solzhenisyn's Gulag Book. It think that one is 10,000 pages.

You will enjoy it. Its funny, interesting, historically accurate and spiritual. The Duel sequence is one the most intense and riveting descriptions of swordsmanship I have ever read. I can't go on enough about this book and it holds a special place in my life since at that time I was studying Aikido in Japan when I read it. It was surreal moment for me to finish this book as a martial arts student in Japan. In other words, the book, legend, lessons and infamy of Musashi allowed me to say "I get it".

John from Texas
 
Combat said:
Suntup Press has gone a great job with "Blood Meridian" by Cormac McCarthy. I really like the design of the lettered edition:


Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - Suntup Editions
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I'm a big fan of Suntup and their fine editions, but cannot come close to affording the lettered or numbered editions that they offer. I have been able to purchase some of the more affordable Artists Editions, which are the least expensive of the Suntup productions. Suntup has also done the McCarthy book "The Road", which, like "Blood Meridian", was only offered in the lettered or numbered edition. Copies of "The Road" on the secondary market are now approaching $2000 for the numbered edition and far past that for the lettered. They are beautiful but just so far beyond my wallet all I can do is drool and dream. -- Al
 
lancer said:
I'm a big fan of Suntup and their fine editions, but cannot come close to affording the lettered or numbered editions that they offer. I have been able to purchase some of the more affordable Artists Editions, which are the least expensive of the Suntup productions. Suntup has also done the McCarthy book "The Road", which, like "Blood Meridian", was only offered in the lettered or numbered edition. Copies of "The Road" on the secondary market are now approaching $2000 for the numbered edition and far past that for the lettered. They are beautiful but just so far beyond my wallet all I can do is drool and dream. -- Al
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I've been lucky enough to get a couple of the numbered editions like Red Dragon and Misery, but couldn't keep buying them. So I've lost the rights to the newer releases. There is likely to be a Haruki Murakami book in the near future. Probably 1Q84. I'll really be kicking myself if I can't get that one. Have you read Blood Meridian? It would make quite a film.
 
Combat said:
I've been lucky enough to get a couple of the numbered editions like Red Dragon and Misery, but couldn't keep buying them. So I've lost the rights to the newer releases. There is likely to be a Haruki Murakami book in the near future. Probably 1Q84. I'll really be kicking myself if I can't get that one. Have you read Blood Meridian? It would make quite a film.
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Actually, I have not read it. I'm embarrassed to admit that The Road is the only McCarthy book I have read. I do have a few piled up in my ABE basket but haven't bought them yet. I would have loved to have gotten the Suntup AGE's of Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, but missed them both and am currently unwilling to pay secondary market prices for them. I do have 4 AGE's on order and I believe they are close to being done with delivery over the next couple of months. -- Al
 
lancer said:
Actually, I have not read it. I'm embarrassed to admit that The Road is the only McCarthy book I have read. I do have a few piled up in my ABE basket but haven't bought them yet. I would have loved to have gotten the Suntup AGE's of Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon, but missed them both and am currently unwilling to pay secondary market prices for them. I do have 4 AGE's on order and I believe they are close to being done with delivery over the next couple of months. -- Al
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I think you would like Blood Meridian. A kind of violent Clint Eastwood western. An American Horror Story.
 
Just finished re-reading both Volumes of Aussie Armour In Vietnam. 500 pages each Volume. The so-called experts said that the Mighty Centurion would not succeed in NAM. {sm4} Ask the Infantry who had many lives saved by Canister rounds clearing the Jungle and Bunker busting track turns.

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Northgate Woods said:
Just finished re-reading both Volumes of Aussie Armour In Vietnam. 500 pages each Volume. The so-called experts said that the Mighty Centurion would not succeed in NAM. {sm4} Ask the Infantry who had many lives saved by Canister rounds clearing the Jungle and Bunker busting track turns.

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Those look interesting.

The Centurion was updated in South Africa as the "Oliphant" and was still in service in the late eighties at Cuito Cuanvale against the Cubans .

Great tank
 
Oddly, finished Dead Man's Walk on audio books a few days before Larry McMurty's death. One of the worst books I've ever read. :rolleyes2: May read/listen to Lonesome Dove, but nothing else from him. Also finished The Washington War, the story of the war production and grand strategy by the military and civilian chiefs (War Production Board, Joint Chiefs, etc). Good book, highly recommend it. Now reading Normandiefront, mainly about the Wehrmacht 352d Division with German veteran interviews. Chris
 
Halfway through this book. French colonial officer who fought in many wars in the little known 1720's-1740's in North America.

Mark


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