What are we reading?

Started by Martok, March 05, 2012, 01:13:59 PM

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Toonces

I am just not enjoying The Caine Mutiny.  I'm at the "Yellow Stain" chapter.  I'm really trying to like this book, it gets such great reviews.  It might just be Wouk.  I didn't get through War and Remembrance either. 
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

Gusington

^I was the same way with Guns of August by Margaret Tuchman. Loving the era and loving her books The Proud Tower and a Distant Mirror, I thought it would be a slam dunk. It wasn't for me. Just could not get through it. And I am a reader that tries to power through almost anything I commit to.

It happens, breh.



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

GDS_Starfury

Glantz's Leningrad....   :HideEyes:
Toonces - Don't ask me, I just close my eyes and take it.

Gus - I use sweatpants with flannel shorts to soak up my crotch sweat.

Banzai Cat - There is no "partial credit" in grammar. Like anal sex. It's either in, or it's not.

Mirth - We learned long ago that they key isn't to outrun Star, it's to outrun Gus.

Martok - I don't know if it's possible to have an "anti-boner"...but I now have one.

Gus - Celery is vile and has no reason to exist. Like underwear on Star.


Toonces

I finished The Caine Mutiny.  It was ok.  The movie was better.

I'm in between books now.  I just don't know what to read.  I did the first chapter of Dreadnought - what a sleeping pill.
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

SirAndrewD

"These men do not want a happy ship. They are deeply sick and try to compensate by making me feel miserable. Last week was my birthday. Nobody even said "happy birthday" to me. Someday this tape will be played and then they'll feel sorry."  - Sgt. Pinback

Tripoli

#5855
Quote from: Toonces on January 31, 2024, 12:11:17 PMI finished The Caine Mutiny.  It was ok.  The movie was better.

I'm in between books now.  I just don't know what to read.  I did the first chapter of Dreadnought - what a sleeping pill.

Just a suggestion: Would Hornblower or  Patrick O'Brian scratch the maritime itch?  Another truly great  non-fiction book, if you haven't read it yet is "Japanese Destroyer Captain".  There is an audio version, but I'd get the book itself.  It will never leave your bookcase once you've read it: https://www.amazon.com/Japanese-Destroyer-Captain-Guadalcanal-Battles/dp/1511395931
"Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?" -Abraham Lincoln

Toonces

^ Thanks for the suggestion.  I just borrowed Japanese Destroyer Captain for my Kindle.

I'm still working through Dreadnought...got to Part 2: The Navy.  I'm not sure I'm going to stick with it.  I will say, though, that after finishing Castles of Steel and some of Dreadnought I'm considering a re-read of Gordon's The Rules of the Game.  I think I'll get a deeper read now with more background information.

I'm also reading The Longest Night: A Military History of the Civil War (it's ok...not much new information here.  I might be hitting diminishing returns with my Civil War reading), and I'm on my third try with Atkinson's The Guns at Last Light, part 3 of his WW2 in Europe trilogy.  Something about his writing - his use of short quotes all over the place - really jars me and grates on my nerves. 
"If you had a chance, right now, to go back in time and stop Hitler, wouldn't you do it?  I mean, I personally wouldn't stop him because I think he's awesome." - Eric Cartman

"Does a watch list mean you are being watched or is it a come on to Toonces?" - Biggs

nelmsm

Reading Commentaries on the Gallic War by Julius Caesar.  Wondering if even the Gauls could keep all those tribes straight.

ArizonaTank

#5858
Just finished a nice, but slim book about the US writing the Japanese Constitution after WWII.

"The Only Woman in Room," by Beate Sirota-Gordon

It is an autobiography by one of the writers of the Japanese Constitution.

I don't think it is the kind of book that most on this forum would be interested in...but you never know.

Beate Sirota-Gordon was a young Jewish woman from Austria, who 'escaped' the Nazis by moving to Japan before the war. She grew up in Japan, and just before the war, went to the US to study. She eventually became a US citizen, and worked for MacArthur's Tokyo occupation headquarters (GHQ) just after the war.

MacArthur was frustrated by the Japanese Bureaucrats' several failed attempts to write a meaningful constitution to replace the pre-war one that had let the militarists run the Government. So Doug took 25 of his folks, including Beate Sirota, put them in an old ballroom and gave them a week to write the constitution. Sirota personally wrote the clause that gives equality to the sexes. The constitution they put together is more or less the same one Japan has now.

Anyway, the book really covers a historical niche within a niche. But I am fascinated by the Occupation years so I found it to be a great read for me.

https://www.amazon.com/Only-Woman-Room-Memoir-Rights/dp/022613251X/ref=sr_1_6?crid=YBXMPV20SMI9&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hF3ufnGgjK6XcsKvcdf6cHbxCtFFtskRU0GxjdyfrzUUvJnsLcIRMrwIpEfGq6nNMUJE3FmHZkf-DJG1vhc5CnrJDGjj7nKqeV2zPwhR65rI2U7hVJqZktFP5gmU1RRNUM7A8-UmTPxckr9_PrazB8_dFn86zasNplpCm7oyU8fTjBFpt2YIoZbQ7xOGddCVfrXV69CPsAqObK-VR1qwgOzeAe6YXl0s-4Iw2nkbbMc.ml9ceqEYjKZyw27qFme3_lHEY6Xmo5C-Zhcz0UWm69k&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+only+woman+in+the+room&qid=1709237078&sprefix=the+only+woma%2Caps%2C148&sr=8-6
Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

ArizonaTank

#5859
Finally taking on one of my long term 'in the queue' books, Doris Kearns-Goodwin's, "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln."

The book is a hefty, at nearly 1000 pages and I am about 1/3 in.

It is clearly a book about politics, and not my usual thing, but I am enjoying it quite a bit.

https://www.amazon.com/Team-Rivals-Political-Abraham-Lincoln/dp/0743270754/ref=sr_1_1?crid=12M63PO5RDN0J&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.hvfWVnrPRxEgkkNiDM9oAMQJa4kxyC3SbPif0RT-gJ3Kg6tCJlMafAp0K9q4aE0rgSOwdrhuh4z2N9RR7IS4iCLwOqqapUZR6kF6haF95B4072cBUhkCbXUByElyvxaVOw_Q8fSgHCqmRNi4vWYNlS_6Hxa-TyI09-old8qZVEpv7LbscUCaSbBohx3rNLZNJg95OLuwqwBKi4bNogwLWxrtj62utMEF629qrdQrSOk.x74wuYT7xWsYKkTMC55dYXqqaJZeVvcvkgBQP4S_O7Y&dib_tag=se&keywords=team+of+rivals+the+political+genius+of+abraham+lincoln&qid=1709918766&sprefix=team+of+riva%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-1

The book inspired Steven Spielberg's movie "Lincoln." The book includes one of Lincoln's long jokes about Ethan Allan and the British, that is also part of the movie. It's a great story, and one of my favorite parts of the movie:


Johannes "Honus" Wagner
"The Flying Dutchman"
Shortstop: Pittsburgh Pirates 1900-1917
Rated as the 2nd most valuable player of all time by Bill James.

GDS_Starfury

Toonces - Don't ask me, I just close my eyes and take it.

Gus - I use sweatpants with flannel shorts to soak up my crotch sweat.

Banzai Cat - There is no "partial credit" in grammar. Like anal sex. It's either in, or it's not.

Mirth - We learned long ago that they key isn't to outrun Star, it's to outrun Gus.

Martok - I don't know if it's possible to have an "anti-boner"...but I now have one.

Gus - Celery is vile and has no reason to exist. Like underwear on Star.


Gusington



слава Україна!

We can't live under the threat of a c*nt because he's threatening nuclear Armageddon.

-JudgeDredd

Windigo

My doctor wrote me a prescription for daily sex.

My wife insists that it says dyslexia but what does she know.