What Are You Reading Now?

[Northwestcoug]

Wow. Thanks Happy!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Wow. Thanks Happy!

Ha. It is always embarrassing to recommend 1 book and then watch happyone list 50 books he has read on the topic.

[Jeff Lebowski]

guns of august is a/the classic. all quiet on the western front is a good quick fictional read too.

Just found an old paperback copy on my bookshelf that I bought about 37 years ago. Surprised I hung on to it all these years. I am going to give it another read.

[Northwestcoug]

One other note - there is a YOUTUBE channel exclusively on WWI - Episodes were released weekly 100 yrs after the events retold in the episode. In addition to the weekly episodes, there are a whole lot of special ones discussing tactics, weapons, personalities etc. Also highly recommended if interested

The Great War

Happy reading

Just watched a few of those YouTube videos. Looks like my free time is booked for the foreseeable future...

[chrisrenrut]

I believe it. I am a 1/4 of the way through and it has been great. Makes me sad that o am working from home and don't have my 15 minute commute to listen to it.

Did you listen to the first two books in the series first? Or just start with Lonesome Dove?

The first two are Deadman’s Walk and Comanche Moon.

[BigPiney]

Did you listen to the first two books in the series first? Or just start with Lonesome Dove?

The first two are Deadman’s Walk and Comanche Moon.

I did not. I started with Lonesome Dove. The narrator only did that book and that was the first book in the series by the author. It stands on it own.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I did not. I started with Lonesome Dove. The narrator only did that book and that was the first book in the series by the author. It stands on it own.

The other books aren’t nearly as good.

[BigPiney]

The other books aren’t nearly as good.

Thanks.

I'm currently listening to the third in the Hillary Mantel, Thomas Cromwell- Wolf Hall series. I think I like this one the best. The other two were ok, but overrated imo, not worthy of the Booker.

[happyone]

I haven't posted what I have been reading for a while, so....

I just finished A_Peace_to_End_All_Peace. I don't know if this was the book that JL was reading that prompted him to ask about recommendations for more about the Ottoman Empire, but... I thought it was a fascinating look at the Great War in Middle East and how strategic goals changed over time. I didn't realize just how involved Winston Churchill was, even after the war. The story is mainly told from the British/Turkish POV. It seems that everyone was trying to get out of Sykes-Picot from the moment it was signed. The Brits didn't want the French there at all, the French wanted more, the Ottomans had no say. I hadn't realized just how much Britain/France wanted the US to accept some of the League of Nation Mandates -esp Palestine - Pres Wilson said not only no, but hell no. Wilson doesn't come off very well.

I also read a couple on India/Afghanistan by William Dalrymple

Return of a King. This one is about the "Cluster F***" that was the British Invasion of Afghanistan in 1839 - The First Anglo-Afghan War. If there was a mistake to be made the British made it. The most famous episode of this war is the British/Indian retreat from Kabul to Jalalabad in January of 1842. Of the 15K, 5 K troops and another 10K camp followers, or so people who left Kabul exactly one made it to Jalalabad, Surgeon William Brydon. The rest were either captured (mainly high value Europeans), killed by the tribes during ambushes in the passes or captured, stripped naked and turned out in the weather. Most of the troops in the retreat were native Indian (Sepoys) but there was on British regiment in the retreat - the 44th Foot. Acting are rear guard it was wiped out. There is a famous painting of the action, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willia...len_(1898).jpg. The British came back with a vengeance the next year and "Raped, Killed, Pillaged and Burned" their way through Eastern Afghanistan, captured Kabul, declared victory and went back to India

The Anarchy is the other of Dalrymple’s books I've finished. It looks a just how a private corporation - The East India Company (EIC) conquered the Subcontinent.

Mr. Dalrymple tells the story of the EIC from its beginnings in 1599 in a modest suite of rooms (5 windows wide) in London to it's becoming the most powerful company in history. At one point the EIC accounted for more than 50% of Britain's foreign trade. He ends his main tale with Sir Arthur Wellesley's - the future victor at Waterloo, victories in the early 1800s. He does have a short chapter on the demise of the company. The author is very anti EIC for the most part. The Company benefited from the collapse of the Mogul Empire and he subsequent splintering of the native gov'ts, but in expanding their control and power the EIC had in no way a walkover. Many of the native rulers were as well equipped and led as the company forces. The author states that Tipu Sultan's, Wellesley's main foe, Artillery Park was the equal of any European army. In addition to the splintering of the Native Gov'ts, but EIC was graced with at least 2 exceptional Generals - Robert Clive and the a fore mentioned Wellesley. Lord Cornwallis, a very good general in spite of what happened in the US Revolution, was also a main figure in the conquest.

Also highly recommended

[SteelBlue]

Just in case anyone missed the announcements, Colson Whitehead won his second Pulitzer for fiction on Monday for The Nickel Boys.

[SeattleUte]

Last week I finished Richard Evans’s trilogy on Nazi Germany. A 2,500 page pager turner. My favorite parts remain the rise of the Nazis, Stalingrad, and the last days of the downfall. One of the most interesting parts of this interpretation was Evans’s reliance on contemporary diaries of Germans during the Third Reich, including Jews (usually of mixed marriages, which is whey they were able to keep a diary and beater witness), and even hard core followers of Naziism (including women). Evans summarizes the most prominent of these diaries including the fates of the diarists conveniently in the fifth chapter of the seventh section of the third volume. Some of the diaries only became available in the past 20 years before publication of the book. “Further reading recommendations” would definitely include these diaries.

He relies on Shirer as a witness a lot, which is interesting. Shpeer, one of the most interesting characteris in this saga that is full of supremely interesting characters, is a supremely unreliable narrator. But you’d think that his books would still be in print. They’re not.

[Pelado]

Last week I finished Richard Evans’s trilogy on Nazi Germany. A 2,500 page pager turner. My favorite parts remain the rise of the Nazis, Stalingrad, and the last days of the downfall. One of the most interesting parts of this interpretation was Evans’s reliance on contemporary diaries of Germans during the Third Reich, including Jews (usually of mixed marriages, which is whey they were able to keep a diary and beater witness), and even hard core followers of Naziism (including women). Evans summarizes the most prominent of these diaries including the fates of the diarists conveniently in the fifth chapter of the seventh section of the third volume. Some of the diaries only became available in the past 20 years before publication of the book. “Further reading recommendations” would definitely include these diaries.

He relies on Shirer as a witness a lot, which is interesting. Shpeer, one of the most interesting characteris in this saga that is full of supremely interesting characters, is a supremely unreliable narrator. But you’d think that his books would still be in print. They’re not.

I think I just found my new signature quote.

[BigPiney]

Just in case anyone missed the announcements, Colson Whitehead won his second Pulitzer for fiction on Monday for The Nickel Boys.

:eyeroll:

This book actually wasn't stupid like The Underground Railroad and was actually fairly good.

[SeattleUte]

Quoting out of context is dishonest and defamatory.

[SeattleUte]

:eyeroll:

This book actually wasn't stupid like The Underground Railroad and was actually fairly good.

The Pulitzer often blows it, actually. The problem is the effort to reward accessible books actually caters to the lowest common denominator. Now you have politics tainting the process.