What book are you reading now?

[SeaKingTacco]

Fifteen years after it was published, I've finally read No Holding Back (2004) by some guy named Reid or Read or something.

Over the last couple of decades there's been a lot of interest shown by Canadian military authors in the Normandy campaign. This volume adds significantly to the historiography. The book is about Operation Totalize, the first battle fought by First Canadian Army. Going back to the original documents, the author presents a new perspective on the reasons for, and the aims of, the operation. He also goes over the plan in detail, concentrating on the fire plan and the use of strategic bombers in a tactical role.

There is a lot of information presented and the book was not written for the first-time reader. You'd better know something about the Canadian Army and the campaign before digging into this or you might find it confusing. As the author also refutes points in earlier books about Totalize, if might be good idea to be aware of the writings of English, Roy, Kitching, Meyer (Kurt not Hubert) and Stacey.

(The reader should also be aware that the author uses 8th Reconnaissance Regiment and 14th Hussars interchangeably.)

Lots of maps and line drawings as well as appendices, including the infamous "Who Killed Michael Wittmann?"

Overall, a must have for anyone with a serious library about the Canadians in the Second World War.

Cheers,
Dan.

I am reading exact same book! It is meaty- the author's perspective on the state of the Canadian Army in 1944 is not one that I had given much thought to, previously. He also looks at Simonds, Crerar and Keller with a staff trained officer's eye, vice a historian. This gives a unique perspective.

An excellent book.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Just finished the The Operators : Inside 14 Intelligence Company by James Rennie. Its an account Rennie's time in 14 Int Company in Northern Ireland.  Unfortnately, most of the book is actually about his selection process and training and only a small part is about operations in Northern Ireland.

Necro-bump here because I just finished this book as well.  Detailed, but yes, focusing on selection rather than ops.

Now into "MRF Shadow Troop: The untold true story of top secret British military intelligence undercover operations in Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1972-1974", which focuses far more on ops than training (which appears to have been on-the-job during this phase of the evolution of the team).

 

[Jarnhamar]

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (thanks Brihard); and

The Swoly Bible: The Bro Science Way of Life

 

[Cloud Cover]

Has anybody read: “ Casual slaughters and accidental judgments : Canadian war crimes prosecutions, 1944-1948”

I am about to download it. I might list it as a student resource comparative text for CIJ this summer. We’ll also be reviewing some of the events from more recent Canadian conflicts.

Cheers

 

[dangerboy]

Has anybody read: “ Casual slaughters and accidental judgments : Canadian war crimes prosecutions, 1944-1948”

Cheers

Sounds interesting. I thought that Kurt Meyer was the only war criminal that Canada prosecuted during WWII, were there others?

 

[Rifleman62]

The Kamloops Kid.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanao_Inouye

https://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/video-gallery/video/6524

 

[Eye In The Sky]

Making a start at World Without End to kick off the New Year.  I've really enjoyed this series, although it took my better half some effort to convince me I'd enjoy it.

It's certainly a nice change after reading AOIs, checklists etc while on course.

 

[Cloud Cover]

Sounds interesting. I thought that Kurt Meyer was the only war criminal that Canada prosecuted during WWII, were there others?

I’ll let you know.

 

[Cloud Cover]

Ok one thing I can tell you about this book is I was surprised at the trials for treason of a few Canadian POWs captured at Dieppe who subsequently served in SS units as volunteers. That is something I hadn’t read much about before. Anyone on this forum ever studied this before?

 

[FJAG]

"A Warning" by Anonymous.

It's not really a good book for those concerned about Trump's inability to govern in a coherent manner as virtually every anecdote set out here has already made the press in one way or another. In short nothing new here.

It's not a good book for Trump supporters or apologists either because it carries no persuasive arguments that will make them change their minds. Again, these are all arguments they've heard before and haven't responded to.

The author is clearly a Republican who feels that his party has lost all focus and the moral high ground in the way it continues to enable bad government. The last two chapters are perhaps the most telling. He feels that removing Trump from office early, even if successful, will end in disaster for the country because Trump and his hard core supporters will not go quietly into the night. He puts his hope on there being a white knight Republican who will be able to challenge Trump but expects that will not happen. His second suggestion is to withdraw support for Trump and let the Democrats have the next presidency because Republicans can be a good opposition until their next opportunity. He voices his concerns that in essence the Democrats will, once again, be too split and eat their own or put forward someone who is too liberal for the country and thus not capture the uncommitted centre.

Bit of a distressing and depressing read, quite frankly.

:cheers:

 

[tomahawk6]

I am reading Sacred Duty by Senator Cotton.Its a great read about the Old Guard and Arlington. Its very impressive and its a pleasure to read. The Senator while on active duty was assigned as a platoon leader to the Old Guard.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=sacred+duty&hvadid=78202830235746&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&tag=mh0b-20&ref=pd_sl_257i3eluz1_e

 

[Cloud Cover]

Title: The Green Reich
Author: Drieu Godefridi
Subject: Yeesh.

Agrees climate change is real. Agrees global warming caused by humans to a very large extent. Writes that the Green Movement is more about a form of anti-capitalist environmental authoritarianism.

If you want to read something different about the chaos of current political activism, this is not a bad book but i wouldn't take it for gospel.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Most of the way thru the Kindle version of "The Noise of War: A Tale of Ancient Rome", part of a series of novels set in ancient Rome written by a writer who appears to be still in the U.S. Army.  He spends a lot of time writing about not just Romans fighting bad guys, but about how the soldiering feels and some of the politics of Rome in the day.  I'm finding it a good brisk read.

Just downloaded another book I just found out about:  "Moon of the Crusted Snow", a story set in a northern Ontario Indigenous community dealing with a power outage and the collapse of the rest of society.

 

[tomahawk6]

Binge reading the Thomas Kydd naval series.

 

[FSTO]

All Blood Runs Red

The life of Eugene Bullard.

Boxer, Pilot, Soldier, Spy
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43838523-all-blood-runs-red

 

[LittleBlackDevil]

Ok one thing I can tell you about this book is I was surprised at the trials for treason of a few Canadian POWs captured at Dieppe who subsequently served in SS units as volunteers. That is something I hadn’t read much about before. Anyone on this forum ever studied this before?

Guys in the British Free Corps/Britisches Freikorps? I didn't realize there were any Canadians that joined up. From what little I've read it was pretty much a big "nothing burger" that was never more than a platoon in strength.

I have read more about other foreign volunteers in the SS like the French Charlemagne Division and the Belgian Walloon Legion. Interesting characters. My take on them is that they were a mix of Nazi sympathizers and (mostly Catholic) men who were extremely concerned about the Soviets taking over all of Europe and signed up so they could fight against Bolshevism (vs. fighting for the Third Reich). A fine distinction, perhaps, but a distinction nevertheless and I believe many of these men really thought (rightly or wrongly) they were doing what needed to be done to protect their homelands from being conquered by the Bolsheviks.

 

[BeyondTheNow]

Just finished Different Seasons by Stephen King. A compilation of 4 novellas:

1. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption
2. Apt Pupil
3. The Body
4. The Breathing Method

I borrowed it a while ago strictly for #1. (Shawshank Redemption is one of my favourite movies, and I’ve always wanted to read the inspiration for it...just never managed to get around to it...no better time than the present!) The novella is quite different from the movie, like usual, but a great read. For anyone who hasn’t read it, I won’t spoil it too much, but I think I liked the character of Red in the book just as much as the movie, despite the obvious differences. (It’s also nice taking note of the subtle nods the movie makes to the book.)

I saw the movie Apt Pupil quite some time ago and don’t really remember it, so have no clue how it compares. The story is sufficiently dark though.

The Body was the inspiration for Stand By Me, also a beloved movie on my list of faves. I enjoyed them both equally, but for different reasons. There are some differences, but overall the feelings evoked during each version are the same, which is why I enjoyed it I think.

I wasn’t familiar with The Breathing Method prior to this book. It’s haunting and full of the type of graphic imagery and detailed description King is known for. I liked it.

I’ve read It, Cujo, Pet Sematary, Tommyknockers, 11-22-63 and this. He’s an acquired taste I think, but if one is curious who hasn’t read any of his books before, I’d recommend one of his shorter stories in order to get a feel for him. If the length of the book isn’t a deterrent (such as the approx 1,150 pages of It), 11-22-63 is excellent also, and thankfully not 1000+ pages long.

To sum it up: The character of Jake goes back in time to try and stop the Kennedy assassination. (Don’t watch the series...it’s awful, IMO.) There are a ton of Easter eggs throughout the story from several of King’s other popular books.

 

[FormerHorseGuard]

I am a big fan of W.E.B Griffin books, but he is now dead, any recommendations for books with massive story lines?

I have read a lot WW2  history and enjoy Canadian military history books, but for casual reading it was always Griffin and Clancy. Both authors now dead. looking for something new to read

 

[Cloud Cover]

Have you tried Jeff Shaara’s books?

 

[exspy]

I am a big fan of W.E.B Griffin books, but he is now dead, any recommendations for books with massive story lines?

Have you tried The Gray Man books by Mark Greaney? A very popular series about a rogue CIA... well I'll leave it to the author to explain it when you read it. You can find the series list here: https://www.fantasticfiction.com/g/mark-greaney/gray-man/.

I've read them all in order and enjoyed most of them. The first one grabbed me right into the series. They're all available for free to download if you know where to look.

Cheers,
Dan.