What book are you reading now?

[SMG III]

The End by Ian Kershaw. The defiance and destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1944-1945. Really well written.

 

[OldSolduer]

Just finished Lone Survivor.

Quite a tale. Remarkable  resiliency .

 

[Journeyman]

Hell, I'm still trying to figure out what health/guilt issues he's talking about....

......like when a bartender knows your drink although with none of the health/guilt issues

  :cheers:

 

[daftandbarmy]

Thanks mainly to excessive air travel I have just finished two books about the USMC in the Pacific War: 'With the Old Breed' and 'Goodbye Darkness'. The HBO series 'The Pacific' is largely based on these two books.

I doubt the HBO program conveys a fraction of the actual horror, the scale and ferocity of the battles described seem simply off the charts, but I note that it includes several incidents that actually happened as described in the books.

It's definitely worth reading the books before seeing the series, so I guess I'll have to watch it again  :nod:

 

[dimsum]

Hell, I'm still trying to figure out what health/guilt issues he's talking about....  :cheers:

Lately it's been financial health.  Drinks in Australia aren't cheap. 

ETA:  I'm also slowly making my way through the Hyperion series by Dan Simmons.  Hyperion (the first book) was very interesting with all the backstories.  Fall of Hyperion (the second book) has been a struggle so far. 

 

[Shrek1985]

Come and take them by Tom Kratman.

Literally just finished Amazon Legion and picked up Come and Take Them.

His books have this great way of shaking up my thinking and making me question my preconceptions. I'd recommend Amazon Legion especially to anyone involved in training.

 

[a_majoor]

Kingston i causing me to sin again; I browsed through a used bookstore and bought several books without even getting partway through "The war that ended peace". Considering the schedule for the next few months, this is amazingly stupid, I am now farther than ever behind the reading pile...

Purchases include:

Walter Russel Mead: "God and Gold; Britain, America and the making of the modern world"
Colin Thubron: "The lost heart of Asia"
M.I Finley: "The world of Odysseus" (a beautiful folio edition)
Tim Severin: "The China Voyage"

This should keep me going until at least 2015

 

[devil39]

Just finished The Heart Of A Dog by Mikhail Bulgakov, a satirical look by a Russian author in 1925 about creating "the new Soviet man".  Funny, biting, angry and very daring given the time frame in which he was writing.  First published in 1968 outside the Soviet Union and apparently first confiscated in 1925 in the Soviet Union.

 

[Dissident]

"One day in August" by David O'Keefe
A new take on Dieppe that is fascinating.

 

[Evancai]

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
The REAL Frank Zappa by Frank Zappa
Guns, Germs and Steel by Jarred Diamond

 

[Journeyman]

"One day in August" by David O'Keefe
A new take on Dieppe that is fascinating.

All the reviews and advertising for the book proclaim it "explains the real purpose of the mission."  I'm curious what O'Keefe believes it was (beyond "redressing the balance of the war"), but not enough to buy the book or dedicate the time -- I have enough backlogged reading already.

Once you find the Caramilk Op Jubilee secret, could you please provide an update...even if just by PM, if it'll change the course of history.  Thanks. 

 

[Dissident]

Please take the time to add it to your list, or at least watch the documentary Dieppe uncovered, which was apparently based on the book.

I am no expert, but the book appears well research and gives a compelling narrative which explains the decisions made. All of it is based on a hunch from the author from 1997(?) leading to recently (2012) declassified documents and a forgotten memoir by a now dead survivor of the raid. Only the last three chapters or so related to the actual landing (out of fourteen chapters).

No spoilers from me though, it will be better that way.

 

[Old Sweat]

As I recall, his theory put foreword in the documentary is that the raid was mounted to seize an enigma machine, as the Germans had just modified their machines and changed their codes. It is an interesting theory, but no more than that.

 

[dapaterson]

There have been many attempts over the years to justify the poor decisions of the German prince who ordered the raid to proceed.  None yet have succeeded.

 

[Journeyman]

Old Sweat, thank you.  Like I said, the curiosity factor just wasn't enough to trump the reading time available.  Now that I know the premise -- "after more than a dozen years of being convinced, former SIGINT'er discovers secret documents that 'prove' Dieppe was all about SIGINT" -- I'll definitely give it a pass.

Even Herbert Marcuse, the godfather of the dehumanizing effects of capitalism, is quoted as saying "not every problem you're having with your girlfriend is necessarily due to the capitalist mode of production."

 

[OldSolduer]

All the reviews and advertising for the book proclaim it "explains the real purpose of the mission."  I'm curious what O'Keefe believes it was (beyond "redressing the balance of the war"), but not enough to buy the book or dedicate the time -- I have enough backlogged reading already.

Once you find the Caramilk Op Jubilee secret, could you please provide an update...even if just by PM, if it'll change the course of history.  Thanks. 

I had to write an essay on Dieppe for an OPME. The blame for the raid could be placed upon several people, including McNaughton and Crerare, and not excluding British SOE and the Government of Canada.

In essence, it was a committee  decision IMO and who is held accountable for committee decisions?

Do I hear crickets chirping?

 

[cupper]

Anybody read Mark Zuehlke's series of Canadian WWII military history?

I picked up Juno Beach and Breakout from Juno when I was home at Christmas and am planning to jump into them after I finish The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling). An excellent read by the way, and I can echo a couple of previous posts that recommend it.

Thuc and Journeyman I can definitely commiserate, my reading pile looks like a library's cart of books to be reshelved.

 

[d_edwards]

1000 years of annoying the French.  By Stephan Clarke

 

[JSoff]

GED Study book, and Pass the CFAT! Complete Canadian Forces Aptitude Test Study Guide and Practice Test Questions.

 

[Biohazardxj]

About to re-read "Space" by James Mitchener.  First read it back in the mid 80s.  Great author, great story.