What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

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parusski
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by parusski »

Just began the audiobook Napoleon: The End of Glory, by Munro Price
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Zorch
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Zorch »

I'm trying to choose among 3 similar books:

The Hunters and the Hunted: The Elimination of German Surface Warships around the World 1914-15 by Bryan Perrett

Battle on the Seven Seas: German Cruiser Battles, 1914-1918 by Gary Staff

The Kaiser's Pirates: Hunting Germany's Raiding Cruisers 1914-1915 by Nick Hewitt

Anyone read them?
Thanks.


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warspite1
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by warspite1 »

ORIGINAL: Zorch

I'm trying to choose among 3 similar books:

The Hunters and the Hunted: The Elimination of German Surface Warships around the World 1914-15 by Bryan Perrett

Battle on the Seven Seas: German Cruiser Battles, 1914-1918 by Gary Staff

The Kaiser's Pirates: Hunting Germany's Raiding Cruisers 1914-1915 by Nick Hewitt

Anyone read them?
Thanks.


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warspite1

I haven't read any of them I'm afraid Zorch - although looking at the reviews on Amazon, it looks like Battle of the Seven Seas should be avoided!
Now Maitland, now's your time!

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Hertston
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Hertston »

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

"To Honor You Call Us" by H. Paul Honsinger

Think of it as Jack Aubrey or Horatio Hornblower in space.

Or Honor Harrington also in space?

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zakblood
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by zakblood »

Flight of the Nighthawks

by Raymond E. Feist

from the Darkwar Saga series
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Sawelios
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Sawelios »

"Hyperion Cantos" of Dan Simmons in not-so-bad Russian translation (with USSR collapse the quality of modern Russian translators is constantly going down).
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by rhondabrwn »

ORIGINAL: Hertston

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

"To Honor You Call Us" by H. Paul Honsinger

Think of it as Jack Aubrey or Horatio Hornblower in space.

Or Honor Harrington also in space?


Not so much... Honsinger's crew is really a throwback to the Napoleonic era British navy. They even carry "Boarding Cutlasses" as required sidearms since swords are less damaging within a spaceship than firearms and high explosives. Boarding enemy spaceships to capture them is also a regular tactic in this fanciful space opera.

It actually works quite well and he makes it fairly believable! Combat takes place at a much closer range than in the Honorverse as well.

And why not send your 9 year olds off to "space"?
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by rhondabrwn »

Just finished

http://www.amazon.com/Assault-Troopers- ... t+Troopers

Half way through

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Strike-Ext ... t+Troopers

There are more books in the series "Extinction Wars" but I'm not sure how far I'll go with this. I almost quit reading half way through Assault Troopers, but my curiosity got piqued by the ending and I grabbed the 2nd book. It's free reading since they are "Kindle Unlimited" books ($9.99 a month with 10 books out at a time). The writing style just doesn't grab me and the main character isn't all that appealing. He starts out a complete loser who somehow manages to become Earth's only salvation and some kind of tactical genius in managing space combat as Human space mercenaries upon whom the life or death of Earth's surviving population depend.

Mixed feelings on this one and I have about 400 more books on my Kindle to get thru this year! [:D] Seems like I add two books for every one I finish. Damn these 99 cent specials and free "teaser" novels to get you to buy into the ensuing series!
Love & Peace,

Far Dareis Mai

My old Piczo site seems to be gone, so no more Navajo Nation pics :(
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by barkman44 »

"The Bombing War"European war 1939-1945 by Richard Overy.
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by warspite1 »

Chamberlain and Appeasement (British Policy and the Coming of the Second World War) by R.A.C Parker is the next cab off the rank just as soon as I have finished Malta.
Now Maitland, now's your time!

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Hotschi
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Hotschi »

These are the books I read, in chronological order, since June, when I last posted in this thread;

Kratoska, Paul H., Southeast Asian Minorities in the Wartime Japanese Empire
- how the Japanese treated the Chinese minorities in the DEI and Malaya, the Moros on Mindanao and adjacent islands, as well as local natives on Sulawesi. You learn a lot of new stuff, as well as some surprises.

Cox, Jeffrey, Rising Sun, Falling Skies: The Disastrous Java Sea Campaign of World War II
- the title was already mentioned in this thread, I consider it a must read for anyone interested in the Japanese early SE Asia conquests. This book opened the "Pandora's Box" for me, as I went into some sort of "reading-frenzy", and ended up reading...

Womack, Tom, The Dutch Naval Air Force Against Japan: The Defense of the Netherland East Indies, 1941-1942
- deals primarily with the missions of the rapidly dwindling numbers of different Dutch seaplanes.

Messimer, Dwight R., In the Hands of Fate: The Story of Patrol Wing Ten, 8 December 1941-11 May 1942
- brilliant book, the U.S. Navy PatWing 10 was stationed in the Philippines at start of the war, and was forced again and again to retreat south to evade the advancing Japanese. Also covers the Wing's history until disbandment.

Winslow, Walter G., The Ghost that Died at Sunda Strait
- about USS Houston. Winslow was one of the scout planes pilots onboard Houston. His book tells the story from the "limited" view of the sailors and servicemen onboard, so expect some "Fog of War", which makes it a very interesting read.

Carlton, Mike, Cruiser: The Life And Loss of HMAS Perth And Her Crew
- wanted to know the story about the Aussie cruiser which went down alongside USS Houston. Covers the whole history of the ship, from the Mediterranean to it's final fate. Highly recommended.

Grose, Peter, An Awkward Truth: The Bombing of Darwin, February 1942
- since USS Houston departed Darwin the day prior to the attack, I also wanted to know what happened there the day after. This book tells it, not only the actual attack, but also what happened in Darwin shortly afterwards. Interesting stuff.

Grose, Peter, A Very Rude Awakening
- and since Grose, an Australian journalist, also wrote about the Japanes Midget-sub attack at Sydney Harbour, I read this one as well.

Williford, Glen M., Racing the Sunrise: The Reinforcements of America's Pacific Outposts, 1941-1942
- What a source, also for WitP-AE modders! Every convoy, every plane, every unit, every round of ammunition or piece of equipment shipped to the Philippines prior to 7th of December '41, with dates, ports of departure, escorts, names and number of ships, etc etc, including redirected convoys (the famous Pensacola-
convoy) as well as cancelled ones, is mentioned. Simply "Wow!"

Bartsch, William H., December 8, 1941: MacArthur's Pearl Harbor
- How MacArthur lost his offensive striking power plus most of his fighter force on Day 1 of the war, very good read. Bartsch wrote two more books about U.S. pursuit squadrons in the Philippines and at Java, but I haven't purchased them yet, but am of course interested.

Morton, Louis, The Fall of the Philippines
- This one I got for a less than 2 Euros or so as e-book, but be warned. It's the most horrible formatting I ever witnessed in any e-book I ever read - or saw on the reader of my wife. Almost unreadable, but once you get to understand the rythm of the awful formatting, it's a very very good book about the whole Japanese conquest of the Philippines. And the story doesn't end with the surrender on Corregidor, but also continues with events in the Visayas and Mindanao until final surrender of all forces. I think it's availavle to read online, but am not sure. Just avoid the e-book version - OTOH it's less than inexpensive...

Dyess, William E., Bataan Death March: A Survivor's Account
- Ed Dyess survived, was imprisoned in POW camps on Luzon and Mindanao - and escaped in 1943. He reached the U.S. in August the same year to tell the story of the Death March for the first time in the U.S. He died in late 1943 in California in a flying accident piloting a P-38.

Guardia, Mike, American Guerrilla: The Forgotten Heroics of Russell W. Volckmann
- Volckmann escaped Bataan after the surrender there, managed to reach North Luzon to wage guerilla war against the Japanese - and survived the war.

Leasor, James, Singapore - The Battle That Changed The World
- now jumping west to Malaya, the 3rd book I read about Singapore's fall.

Cheah, Boon Kheng, Red Star Over Malaya
- deals with Chinese and Malay resistance against the Japanese during WWII, the clashes between Chinese and Malays during and after the war and the British reoccupation of Malaya. Very interesting read, since refreshingly this book is NOT written from a Westerner's perspective, but it stops a year short of...

this one, which I started two days ago, Barber, Noel, The War of the Running Dogs: Malaya 1948-1960, about the Communist insurection against each and everyone in Malaya who wasn't a communist, be it Chinese, Indian, European, or Malay. Can't tell much of it yet, but starts promising.

All these books above give a good overview of and some insight into the history of SE Asia during WWII. And since I am a reading-addict the bibliographies in the books mentioned above filled up my ever increasing "to-buy"-list, which I should rather rename to the "I wish I had"-list...

Apologies for the long-winded post, I confess I got carried away.
"A big butcher's bill is not necessarily evidence of good tactics"

- Wavell's reply to Churchill, after the latter complained about faint-heartedness, as he discovered that British casualties in the evacuation from Somaliland had been only 260 men.
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AbwehrX
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by AbwehrX »

Wow I need to catch up on some of those. Thanks Hotschi!
Zorch
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Zorch »

Williford, Glen M., Racing the Sunrise: The Reinforcements of America's Pacific Outposts, 1941-1942
- What a source, also for WitP-AE modders! Every convoy, every plane, every unit, every round of ammunition or piece of equipment shipped to the Philippines prior to 7th of December '41, with dates, ports of departure, escorts, names and number of ships, etc etc, including redirected convoys (the famous Pensacola-
convoy) as well as cancelled ones, is mentioned. Simply "Wow!"

I liked this one...sadly the only one on your list that I've read.
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Greybriar »

The Confederate War by Gary W. Gallagher
This war is not about slavery. --Robert E. Lee
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rhondabrwn
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by rhondabrwn »

ORIGINAL: rhondabrwn

Just finished

http://www.amazon.com/Assault-Troopers- ... t+Troopers

Half way through

http://www.amazon.com/Planet-Strike-Ext ... t+Troopers

There are more books in the series "Extinction Wars" but I'm not sure how far I'll go with this. I almost quit reading half way through Assault Troopers, but my curiosity got piqued by the ending and I grabbed the 2nd book. It's free reading since they are "Kindle Unlimited" books ($9.99 a month with 10 books out at a time). The writing style just doesn't grab me and the main character isn't all that appealing. He starts out a complete loser who somehow manages to become Earth's only salvation and some kind of tactical genius in managing space combat as Human space mercenaries upon whom the life or death of Earth's surviving population depend.

Mixed feelings on this one and I have about 400 more books on my Kindle to get thru this year! [:D] Seems like I add two books for every one I finish. Damn these 99 cent specials and free "teaser" novels to get you to buy into the ensuing series!

Finished the 2nd book and it was much better than the first. I'm moving on to book three to give that a try.
Love & Peace,

Far Dareis Mai

My old Piczo site seems to be gone, so no more Navajo Nation pics :(
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by warspite1 »

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Chamberlain and Appeasement (British Policy and the Coming of the Second World War) by R.A.C Parker is the next cab off the rank just as soon as I have finished Malta.
warspite1

Well! Chapter 1 was about as interesting as watching paint dry [:(] but fortunately things seem to have improved markedly in chapter 2 [:)]

The author is ripping into everyone, Chamberlain, the US, the British and particularly the French so he's not biased!!!!
Now Maitland, now's your time!

Duke of Wellington to 1st Guards Brigade - Waterloo 18 June 1815
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Orm
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Orm »

The author is ripping into everyone, Chamberlain, the US, the British and particularly the French so he's not biased!!!!
He is not ripping the Germans? [X(]
Have a bit more patience with newbies. Of course some of them act dumb -- they're often students, for heaven's sake. - Terry Pratchett
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warspite1
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by warspite1 »

ORIGINAL: Orm
The author is ripping into everyone, Chamberlain, the US, the British and particularly the French so he's not biased!!!!
He is not ripping the Germans? [X(]
warspite1

Sorry - yes, i have no reason to believe this is a Hitler apologist at work. I would stop reading if that was the case.
Now Maitland, now's your time!

Duke of Wellington to 1st Guards Brigade - Waterloo 18 June 1815
Zorch
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Zorch »

2015 being the bicentennial of Waterloo there are several books coming out...I'll have to set aside some time for them.
It's also the 600th anniversary of Agincourt. And the Somme's 100th is next year. Too bad John Keegan's no longer with us.
Rodwonder
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RE: What Book Are You Reading at the moment?

Post by Rodwonder »

On my table is... Death of the Leaping Horse- Jason D. Mark, Snow & Steel- Peter Caddick- Adams, Drama Between Budapest and Vienna- Georg Maier... Light reading [8D]
Rod T DeMore
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