What Are You Reading Now?

[happyone]

Finished The Burning Land. It was a typical Cornwell book. The series is about Alfred the Great's repelling the Danes and keeping Wessex from becoming one more Danish Kingdom in Britian. I think this is becoming somewhat like his Sharpes series. That said I enjoyed it.

I've started Thomas Flemings The Perils of Peace. It is about the time between the British surrender at Yorktown in 1781 and the signing of the peace treaty in 1783 and how it almost all came apart. Even after the Cornwallis surrendered there were more than 25000 British troops in the "colonies". I've read alot of Flemings stuff and he is normally pretty good.

[UtahDan]

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.

[CardiacCoug]

The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan.

I really enjoyed that book.

[Flattop]

In the Course of Duty: The Heroic Mission of the USS Batfish by Don Keith

In February 1945, the submarine USS Batfish sank three Japanese submarines over a period of three days, thus earning the redundant-sounding, but catchy title of "the submarine-killer submarine." This book is also the story of how a submarine ended up in a former beenfield in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

Very good.

[LiveCoug]

Paths of Glory, Jeffrey Archer

[Art Vandelay]

[happyone]

Paths of Glory, Jeffrey Archer

I liked that one. Then again Archer is one of the many fiction writers that I follow

[Flattop]

A Tale of Two Subs: An Untold Story of World War II, Two Sister Ships, and Extraordinary Herosim by Jonathan J. McCullough

In May 1939, the submarine Squalus sank to the bottom of Long Island Sound during a training accident. Her sister sub Sculpin was the first ship to find the rescue buoy sent up by the crew of the Squalus. About half of the crew would be saved, and months later the submarine would be raised, refitted, and returned to service with the name Sailfish. But she was known as a hard luck boat, and some called her the Squailfish.

In November 1943, the Sculpin was on a war patrol near Truk Atoll in the central Pacific when she spotted a convoy and started an attack run. The enemy ships zigged and the sub surfaced to make an end-run to set up another attack run. But she surfaced in foggy conditions right under the nose of a Japanese subchaser. In the depth charging that followed the Scuplin was so badly damaged that the crew blew the tanks to surface and abandon ship.

On board was Captain John Cromwell, the commander of a three boat wolf pack of which Sculpin was a part. Cromwell had been read in on the operational plans for the invasion of Tarawa and Makin in the Gilbert Islands; he may also have been aware of Ultra, the breaking of Japanese radio codes. So that he would not reveal these secrets under torture, Cromwell went down with the Sculpin on her final dive.

A few weeks later, the Sailfish encountered a Japanese aircraft carrier and made an attack run. What the crew of the Sailfish didn't know was that the survivors of the Sculpin were on board, being transported to Japan as prisoners of war.

A great read.

[happyone]

Finished The Perils of Peace. I found it an interesting look at the politics inside the Contenintal Congress. Fleming explored the differences between what he called the "militia" mindset of some congress men, esp the Lees of Virginia and the more federal minded congress men led by Morris and Hamilton. He used the financial struggles to explore this. The inablity of the Congress to raise money and tax. Robert Morris was constantally asking Franklin in France to get loans from the French so he could pay the bills.

This also exihibited in the troubles with the Contenintal Army. The were not paid for more than 18 mths! The lack of money also showed in recruiting for the army. I personally didn't realize that there were so few "Conteninals". Washington had less than 6,000 men at Yorktown. There were more French regulars there than Americans. In the south Gen Green had less 1000 conteninals and Gen Wayne in Georgia had less than 600.

He also goes into the behind the scenes politics in the British Parliment and with George III. It took Geo III more than a year to accept that the Americans were going ot be independant.

All in all a good read esp if you want to learn more about the time between Yorktown and the Treaty of Paris.

Next up is a historical novel by Robert Harris Conspirata. It is the second volume of a trilogy about the end of the Roman Rebublc and specifically about Cicero's first consulship.

[landpoke]

The Essential Drucker

[LA Ute]

According to my Kindle I am 46% through The Brothers Karamazov. I am so into the story that I think about it at odd moments, wondering what will happen next and reflecting on the way the characters are developing. It's fun to know I have my mind hooked into something truly great.

[Brian]

According to my Kindle I am 46% through The Brothers Karamazov.

only 2,983 pages to go.

[LA Ute]

only 2,983 pages to go.

Sometimes it seems that way, in the middle of some of the soliloquies on religion.

[Brian]

Just finished "Of mice and men". Embarrassed to admit I had never read this. Very sad.

I'm waiting for the red-eye out of Seattle and I picked up "Killing Pablo" and "Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress". Heard great things about both, can't decide which to start while I wait.....

[il Padrino Ute]

Just finished "Of mice and men".

George and Lennie. Great book.


<-- this cartoon was based on that book. I'm sure you've seen it. It was the one with the pack of dogs chasing a fox and the biggest dog - which also was the dumbest dog - was the one who was saying "Which way did he go, George? Which way did he go?" and "Thanks a lot, George. Thanks a lot."