What are we reading?

[Martok]

Oy.  Have started going through my dad's books -- so many!  It includes a fair bit of WWII material; I wish I knew more about the authors to better separate the wheat from the chaff. 

Ha! -- well, goes to show that I can read and hear a fair bit on a topic and yet never run across something widely known to others!  O0 But I'm relatively minor on WW1 studies; I don't think I've even read Guns of August and the prequel or sequel to that (though I do have them). I've read The Sleepwalkers, on the politics going into WW1, but as far as overview books that's it. Everything else I've picked up piecemeal from reading widely on other things, or watched some overview documentaries.

Well I definitely can't claim to be an expert on WW1 either, or even an amateur enthusiast (that would be our resident Jewish Dawi :D ).  I guarantee I'm even more hit-and-miss in my knowledge than you are; I just happened to have come across that bit about the German fleet where you didn't.  I just take it for granted you're better read about most topics in general.  O:-) 

[Gusington]

Jewish Dawi. I like that. Not more than The Jewish Missile, though.

[JasonPratt]

Well, Tolkien did base his dwarven language(s?) partly on Hebrew, so, y'know, there's that.

Up to August 1911 now, iirc.

[Gusington]

Just finished Heir to the Empire. Very good - felt a little drawn out for the last 100 pages.

Thinking of reading Darth Plagueis next.

[JasonPratt]

No! -- read sequel to Heir you must! Yes, yes, the trilogy finish!

[Gusington]

I don't have them yet - but they are in my Amazon cart.

I really want to read Plagueis, though...

[Martok]

If I have to drive to upstate New York and hit you over the head with the other two books, I will.   

[Gusington]

I'm ready for you. In the interim, I cracked open the 4 box set of Star Wars guides I recently got - basically small texts on the Jedi, the Sith, Bounty Hunters and the Empire. Halfway through the Jedi one now. Very nice little text and it even smells good. Darth Plageuis is just a hair away from being cracked open as is Zahn's first book in the later series, Thrawn. Got some WH40k ready to go too - Titanicus, The Gothic War and the Rogue Trader omnibus. Been waiting to read these forever too. It's been a good winter for classic scifi reading for me after years of neglect!

[Martok]

Yes, that sounds like a pretty solid list.  O0 


I'll issue just one warning about Thrawn -- or for that matter, any of Zahn's later novels featuring Thrawn (the character) -- and then I'll shut up:  If you read any of those books before reading Dark Force Rising and The Last Command, you'll definitely come across a number of spoilers (both major and minor) in regards to the original Thrawn trilogy.  Not sure how (or even if) that might affect your enjoyment of the other two books in the trilogy when you get around to them, but I would've felt derelict in my duty if I didn't at least give you a heads-up. 

[Toonces]

What's up with the nerd love-fest in this thread?   :nerd:

;)

[Gusington]

Thanks Martok - I still have time to squeeze in the last two books in that first Thrawn series before I get sci-fi burnout and move back to historical reading, etc.

And welcome Commander, we've been waiting 😎

[MetalDog]

If you're in a sci fi mood, try Leviathan's War by James S. A. Corey.  An ice hauler out by Saturn finds a black op ship with a deadly virus.  A small crew from the hauler grabs the ship and broadcasts its find and starts a war between Earth, Mars, and the Belt.  Meanwhile, a detective in the Belt gets a secret mission to find a missing heiress and his pursuit leads him to losing his job.  At loose ends, he continues to pursue the search for the heiress.  It's the first book of a trilogy.  I haven't read the final two.  But the first is shaping up pretty good.

[Staggerwing]

^ A very good series.

I started it a while ago and next thing I knew, it was an acclaimed tv show ("The Expanse") with 3 seasons on Syfi (now on Amazon Prime for season 4).

[ArizonaTank]

Reading "Collapse of the Third Republic", by William Shirer who is famous for "The Rise and Fall of Third Reich".

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07QGXK6ZW?pf_rd_r=67P2YH4V7J9G5DCG1AJG&pf_rd_p=ab873d20-a0ca-439b-ac45-cd78f07a84d8

"Collapse" attempts to explain how the Germans were able take France down in six weeks in May-June 1940.

I am about 1/3 in, and the book has spent a great deal of time discussing the fault lines within the French government, military and social foundations. France had many of the issues we see today in the US. Particularly around tribalism in politics, and a monied class using its influence to not pay taxes. A distant warning from history perhaps? Probably not, there were also many differences, particularly the fact that as a parliamentary system, the French changed governments constantly, making it hard to get things done. 

A bit of a hard slog for me, since there is so much politics.  It still is interesting to see the other side of events such as Hitler's occupation of the Rhineland and Czechoslovakia. There really was not much backbone in either French or UK responses to Hitler before Poland. Still the book is teaching me a great deal that I did not know, so I will finish it.

[Toonces]

^ I've started Rise and Fall a couple of times, but I always bog down about 1/2 way and have to start over.  It's very good, though; I'd like to get through it at some point.

As I mentioned in the China thread, I've been re-reading The Stand again.  This is probably the 30th time I've read it, so no plot surprises, but I just enjoy the journey.  It's interesting how much King got right in the first 1/3, seeing how the Coronavirus activity is playing out for real.

I'm also working through The Rules of the Game again, this time reading the entire book and not skipping the boring middle, and I've been working through Gibbon's Decline and Fall for about a month now, and making real progress.  Now that is tough reading.