What are we reading?

[trailrunner]

About to start The Fall of Berlin 1945 by Antony Beevor.

I read that book last year.  Good book.

[trailrunner]

I just finished these two books:





War of the Rats is a story that's been done before in the book and movie Enemy at the Gates, so it was pretty familiar to me.  I thought War of the Rats was OK, but not spectacular.  The book spends a lot of time in character development, which I expected and wanted in a novel.  But I didn't find the German sniper's character very plausible, and I also didn't find the endgame very plausible either.

The Last Citadel was a bit better.  Again, there was a lot of character development, which I wanted, especially on the Russian side.  I've read about Kursk and Pokhorovka, but I wanted to see it from the soldiers' view, and I got some of that in the book.  The description of tank operations was interesting, but when I was done, I didn't find the story to be tight.  I guess it was enjoyable enough, and I've always found historical fiction to be a good way to learn.

Since we're talking about books -- I recently found out that I have privileges to the Pentagon library.  Nice!   :D

[Gusington]

I enjoyed War of the Rats very much.

Almost done with the Fall of Berlin and its even better than Beevor's Stalingrad, if possible. It's a true work of art.

[Martok]

Don't laugh, but I'm just now getting around to reading The Once and Future King by T.H. White for the first time.  Given it's pretty much considered the gold standard for modern Arthurian storytelling (and a benchmark for modern fantasy in general), I figured I should probably finally sit down and give it a go. 

[MetalDog]

The lesser known, Book of Merlyn is decent, too.  Once And Future King is pretty good.  I wish you happy reading.  :bd:

[Martok]

Thanks MD!  Yeah, Book of Merlyn is also mentioned in the beginning, so I may have to check that out as well. 

[bob48]

I finally got around to starting 'Crete' by Beevor.

[Gusington]

^How is it?

[bob48]

Excellent. I'm about half way through it, and its very illuminating. Its a campaign that I was pretty vague about, but as usual, Beevor covers it all in astounding detail and in a very readable way. Its also interesting in that Prince Phillip served on a destroyer in this campaign.

[mirth]

I finally got around to starting 'Crete' by Beevor.

I'm about halfway through. Great read.

[Gusington]

Beevor should be the Official Grogheads Author.

[mirth]

Beevor or Max Hastings. Both are brilliant.

[bob48]

I finally got around to starting 'Crete' by Beevor.

I'm about halfway through. Great read.

Both sides made some incredible cock-ups.

[mirth]

I finally got around to starting 'Crete' by Beevor.

I'm about halfway through. Great read.

Both sides made some incredible cock-ups.

You ain't kidding. I just read about the 2nd drop on Maleme. Why Student thought it was okay to try and drop east of the Tavronitis is baffling. Just as baffling as pretty much everything the Brits did there.

[bob48]

Plus its Freyberg's obsession with a sea landing, when all the evidence said 'no sea landing'. One good push at the airfield would have won the day. But hells teeth, the Cretan people were a ferocious lot.