What are we reading?

[Gusington]

Just finished Lines of Departure by Marko Kloos and it was excellent...better than Terms of Enlistment IMHO. People giving it poor reviews are arses. Definitely buying the next two books in the series.

Now about to start reading 'The Sea Wolves - A History of the Vikings' by Lars Brownnorth.

[bbmike]

So I started My Enemy, My Ally (again). It didn't take long before the first ???  A Horta crew member.
I remember an early Star Trek novel with a Horta crew member. Please tell me if this novel is the one where [spoiler in white text]later the Horta comes screaming through the atmosphere to save the day. [/spoiler] If so, I'll stop now.

[BanzaiCat]

Got a chance to do a lot of reading on my flights this week and got just over halfway through Invasion Rabaul: The Epic Story of Lark Force, the Forgotten Garrison, January - July 1942. It's a great read but admittedly I lost track of all the different groups as they fled through the jungles of Rabaul. Still, it is a fascinating insight into the Australian defense mindset at the outbreak of war; it was a tragedy just waiting to happen.

[Sir Slash]

Just picked-up, "War At The End Of The World" by James Duffy and by B.H. Liddell Hart, "Scipio Africanus- Greater Than Napoleon". Which to start first?

[Hancock]

Dead Wake by Eric Larson.  Well researched and written story of the sinking of the British Cunard luxury liner Lusitania by a U-Boat just off the coast of Ireland in 1915...an act that arguably finally pushed the US into WWI.  Perspectives from the passengers and crew, the U-Boat captain and Great Britain's/Germany's strategies in battling for domination of the seas around the islands.  And the mind numbing series of events that, despite many warnings of potential German attacks on all shipping, led to the unescorted passenger liner falling victim to a U-Boat prowling where it was not intendedd to be.  A great read.

[airboy]

I'm reading Shattered Sword about Midway.  Totally different take on the IJN and Yamato.  The authors claim that many critical aspects on the IJN, their strategy, strategic result of the battle, and even a couple of things about the battle itself were historically wrong.  The authors went back to Japanese source documents.

I'm more digesting this book than doing a straight read.  It contradicts much of what I thought happened from the IJN strategic and tactical doctrine from other Midway books I've read that it is a slow go with quite a bit of bookmarking.

[DoctorQuest]

Re-reading "Protector" by Larry Niven. Great yarn around how humans were a lost colony of an alien race known as the Pak.

I'll read just about anything by Niven.

[bob48]

^I love the 'Ringworld' books.

[DoctorQuest]

One of my favorite Niven works is the short story collection "Neutron Star". It has several stories featuring Beowulf Shaeffer, starship pilot and man about space. Good stuff.

[Gusington]

About to start Enoch's Device by Joseph Finley, a historical fantasy thriller set in 10th century France. Just finished up some Osprey reading on Pict warriors and fortresses.

[WallysWorld]

Finished Adam Hochschild's "King Leopold's Ghost" and I highly recommend it.

Started Peter H. Wilson's "Europe's Tragedy: A New History of the Thirty Years War". Might buy Ageod's game on this war depending on how this book goes.

[Gusington]

Glad you liked King Leopold's Ghost. One of my favorite books on African history. Makes it hard to look at 'poor little Belgium' the same way after reading it.

[WallysWorld]

Glad you liked King Leopold's Ghost. One of my favorite books on African history. Makes it hard to look at 'poor little Belgium' the same way after reading it.

Yes, definitely so. Interesting to read that even after Belgium took over the colony, things didn't change much.

[Gusington]

Yes. What struck me was that the Belgians could have changed the status quo there but instead used it to milk the Congo for all it was worth and more. Classic imperialism, unfortunately.

[Greybriar]

I am in the middle of reading Midnight Rising: John Brown and the Raid that Sparked the Civil War by Tony Horwitz.