What Are You Reading Now?

[Surfah]

Finished The Help and liked it quite a bit. I enjoyed listening to it on audiobook as the southern accents and different voices for the main characters really helped add some realism.

Now starting Ender's Shadow also on audiobook and for reading with my eyes a book called Stiff.

Is that Mary Roach's Stiff? That is Gidget's favorite book. She loves Mary Roach and has read all of her books.

[happyone]

Finished Paul Johnson's Churchill. I want to echo LA's evaluation. Excellent intro to Churchill and his life and times. This book is really an overview of his political career and his ups and downs. This is the second Paul Johnson book I've read and will read some more of his books

Interesting tidbits - I'd forgotten just how much of a glory hunter Churchill was as a young man. He was a graduate of Sandhurst, Britain’s West Point. It seems he ended up at every major engagement of the late Victorian Army including the Omdurman and the Boer War. The generals didn't particularly like to see him coming. He was also a war correspondent while a serving officer. He ended up with something like 17 campaign ribbons. He also commanded an Infantry battalion for a year in Flanders during WW I. This was after Gallipoli and before returning to Gov't as the Minister of Munitions.

Currently reading the latest Michael Jecks entry in his Knights Templar mystery series, The Bishop Must Die. This series is set in the reign of Edward II. The series starts in 1316 and is now up to 1326. The author follows the actual historical timeline and drops his characters into it. The main character is an ex Knight Templar who becomes a "Keeper of the Kings Peace" in Devon/Dartmoor and he interacts with the major political figures of the day, including the King and Queen of England and the infamous DeSpenser family.

[happyone]

Finished The Bishop Must Die. It was an enjoyable read. A good escapist novel.

I also finished Daring Young Men. It is a really good look at the Berlin Airlift. An easy read. I learned alot about how the airlift came together and some of the politics behind it.

Interesting Tidbit - All of the American leadership in the Pentagon and the State Department was opposed to the airlift. They didn't think it was possible. The only people who really believed in it were Gen Clay, the US commander in Germany and Harry Truman(I guess he is the one that counted).

Gen Turner, the one credited for the success of the Airlift didn't arrive on the scene until about 3 monthes after it started and immediately upset the command structure in place in Germany. He said that is was an Ad Hoc operation was would fail shortly, if they didn't get there act together. He reorganized the whole thing and made it successful

I don't know what I'll read next, I've got 4/5 books checked out from the library and I'm not sure which one to read.

edit - I've started The Barbary Pirates by William Deitrich. It is a historical novel set in Napolean's France

[Green Lantern]

Man that happyone is a voracious reader. I just finished Game Change and thought it was phenomenal. Absolutely fascinating insights into all of the major players of the '08 race. I was especially surprised about how much I learned about Palin. She comes across as definitely not qualified to be in the running, but more surprisingly her story has a bit of tragedy to it as you realize how shortsighted the McCain campaign was in selecting her. They were so focused on the positive political ramifications of picking this unknown firebrand that they were blind to her weaknesses and really hung her out to dry when they became apparent.

I think Downtown Owl is next.

[happyone]

Man that happyone is a voracious reader...

What can I say, when you are right you're right. I doesn't help that my wife works at the library and is always bringing home books that she thinks I would enjoy I try to alternate one non-fiction with one fiction book.

Any way, just finished Barbary Pirates It was okay, but I don't think it was one of his better efforts.

Currently reading Robin Olds' autobiography Fighter Pilot. He was an ace WW II and had 4 kills in Viet Nam. I think he was the only man to accomplish that.

[MarkGrace]

Well, finally finished No Man Knows My History. I wasn't as impressed by it as I thought I would be, but there was some interesting stuff in there. I think I'm going to read Bushman's book again now that I'm done. But before I get to that, I need to read Kerouac's Desolation Angels and McCarthy's Blood Meridian (which I actually started a while back) -- they've been sitting on my shelf for too long.

[OhioBlue]

Started You Suck by Christopher Moore, and for whatever reason just didn't get into it.

Now reading Last Breath by Peter (?) Stark, a pretty interesting look at the details of dying in different ways.

[happyone]

Finished Fighter Pilot. His views on the way Viet Nam was fought remind me a bit of David Hackworth's, voiced in his book About Face . Olds was a larger than life character. He took over the 8 TFW in Thailand in 1966 and became the only fighter pilot to have kills in WW II (12) and Viet Nam (4). He was an effective and beloved commander. He was famous for the handlebar mustache, way outside of regs, he grew while commanding the 8th. When he returned from Thailand he was told personally by the USAF commanding general to shave it off.

He had very low opinion of the USAF bureaucracy in general and SAC in particular and what he perceived it had done to the fighting capabilities of the fighter wings in Southeast Asia.

Other tidbits - married a Hollywood actress, was an All American football player at West Point and is in the College Football Hall of Fame. His wife used her contacts to keep him from going to Korea. He states he purposely passed on 10-12 chances to get his 5th kill in Viet Nam, because it would have caused his immediate relief for publicity reasons. He didn't record all of his combat missions for the same reason, official total 100, actual total 152.

Well worth the read in you are interested in military topics.

Next up - The Queen's Lover by Venora Bennett. It is a novel about the wife of Henry V of England, Catherine de Valois

[Flattop]

What can I say, when you are right you're right. I doesn't help that my wife works at the library and is always bringing home books that she thinks I would enjoy I try to alternate one non-fiction with one fiction book.

I used alternate between fiction and non-fiction, but several years ago I started reading more non-fiction. Now I read 3-5 non-fiction for every fiction; 1 or 2 WWII, 1 or 2 non-WWII, and 1 LDS. Whether I read 1 or 2 WWII or non-WWII depends on how fast I finish the first one.

I am currently reading volume 3 of Bob Woodward's Bush at War series, State of Denial. Good read, but not a pretty picture.

[frank ryan]

I'm almost done with Bad Cop, it is a memoir about a guy who served on the NYPD for a few years, joining on a whim of sorts.

Here is the description:

From Publishers Weekly

For almost four years after the 2001 World Trade Center tragedy, freelance writer Bacon chronicles his quest in this humorous book to do his best as a New York City cop, yet the arduous task of law enforcement was much more than he imagined. Self-described as a hip, overeducated liberal, the author had worked at home for five years for an online company before joining the NYPD force, but the collective experience of the police academy and being a Harlem beat cop eventually wears him down emotionally. Everything gnaws at his resolve, including the grueling cycle of drug collars, the rousting of crooks and a crush on a disinterested Latina police officer. When Bacon later unravels during a security detail in a manic Jerry Lewis–style comic scene, he writes: I was no good as a bad cop and not bad enough to be a good cop. I'm lucky I made it out alive. Bacon, now a scuba instructor on Maui, provides readers with a madcap yarn of handcuffs, broken hearts and the thin blue line.

[happyone]

Finished The Queen's Lover. While it is about Catherine de Volies and Henry V of England, it is more about the relationship Catherine had with Owain Tudor, her second husband and the grandfather of Henry VII. It was interesting, not riviting.

Currently reading George Washington's Great Gamble: and the sea battle that won the American Revolution by James Nelson. It is about the Yorktown campaign and the Battle of the Chesepeake.

[woot]

Per somebody's recommendation (Nikuman?) I'm almost done with book 2 of Stieg Larson's Millennium trilogy. It's been a very long time since I read a thriller, but both of these have been excellent. Before his recommendation I just assumed they were chick books. The first movie adaptation was also really well done, I thought. There were extensive cuts, but the mood and intrigue were mostly present and the acting was really good.

[Flattop]

Countdown to Victory: The Final European Campaigns of World War II by Barry Turner

This is a story about the last six months of the war in Europe, "as seen by fighting men and civilians from both sides." The popular conception of this period is that the war was all but over. Turner makes the case that the reality was far different. If the Germans had succeeded in their December counteroffensive, the fighting could have gone on for months, even years. After the Allied victory in the Battle of the Bulge, some of the most desperate battles on the western front took place during the campaigns to close and cross the Rhine, and during the drive into the heart of Germany. "Those who were there saw the chaos and the tragedy, great acts of courage and as many cruel excesses," writes Turner. "Their stories finally put to rest the easy assumption of inevitable victory." Excellent book.

[wuapinmon]

Since I read all of the books I took with me on my trip, I started re-reading Clancy´s Without Remorse. I have to say that it´s still pretty good.

[happyone]

I used alternate between fiction and non-fiction, but several years ago I started reading more non-fiction. Now I read 3-5 non-fiction for every fiction; 1 or 2 WWII, 1 or 2 non-WWII, and 1 LDS. Whether I read 1 or 2 WWII or non-WWII depends on how fast I finish the first one.

I am currently reading volume 3 of Bob Woodward's Bush at War series, State of Denial. Good read, but not a pretty picture.

I think I am drifting that way. I read a lot more non-fiction than I used too. Alot of the non-fiction I read is in the general miltary genre, not specifically limited to WWII/Korea.

Any way finished George Washington's Great Gamble: and the sea battle that won the American Revolution . It is a good look at the campaign season of 1781. It opens and closes with the siege at Yorktown. It really doesn't talk all that much about the sea battles in the Chesapeak until the very end, however Washington's feeling that he had to have control of the sea in a constant theme.

The book follows Cornwallis' march from South Carolina to Virginia and Yorktown and his battes with Nathaniel Greene. It also covers the British operations in Virginia before Cornwallis got there in Sept. Those efforts were commanded by one Benidect Arnold.

One of Nelson's main points was that Washington understood that the US could only win the war, if they somehow got control of the sea. Up until the middle of '81, Britian had total control of the sea lanes. The arrival of De Grasse changed that. The book concludes with the De Grasses and Rodneys Battle of the Capes where Rodney was defeated and all but ensured Cornwallis' surrender.

Interesting Tidbits - Cornwallis and his superior, Clinton, didn't directly correspond with each other, all there dispatches went through Secretary Germain in London. This led to alot of confusion. at what was going on and just where Cornwallis was and what he was doing. Also Cornwallis and Clinton really didn't see eye to eye on strategy

I am constantly amazed at how small the Revolutionary Armies were. Cornwallis had roughly 8000 men at Yorktown, Washington about 14,000. Cornwallis really didn't want to fight at Yorktown, but was assured of relief so he stayed.

If you are interest in the Revolution at all, this is a must read.

Currently reading Whirlwind: The Air War Against Japan, 1942-1945 by Barrett Tillman.