What are we reading?

[mirth]

Good stuff and easy reads.

The four book set just arrived. I blame you.

Lol. You should really enjoy them. I've read them all many times over the past 30 years. There's a rather extensive universe covered by several book series, if you really get into it. The four Riftwar books are the best though, imho.

[MetalDog]

Good stuff and easy reads.

The four book set just arrived. I blame you.

Lol. You should really enjoy them. I've read them all many times over the past 30 years. There's a rather extensive universe covered by several book series, if you really get into it. The four Riftwar books are the best though, imho.

+ 1 to all of the above

[mirth]

That is quite the sexy looking title. On that page I also found this:

http://amzn.to/2qNyH29

Also sexy.

Very sexy. With all the naval wargaming I've been doing lately, I've had my eye on a number of related books.

[Gusington]

I hate that they're so pricey but kinda like it too. I'm a book snob.

[airboy]

I am currently reading West and East, book 2 of The War That Came Early series by Harry Turtledove.

I wrote a review for "The Big Switch" which was just too weird for my tolerance level.

[airboy]

I've been reading a bunch of light fantasy and SF (or rereading things I've read before) over the last two months because of all of the weird BS coming from my wife's family.

In the last 90 days or so I've read in the history book area:
The Dark Valley: A Panorama of the 1930s - which is depressing.

American Heritage History of World War - Which I would not recommend to anyone here.

The Miracle of Dunkirk: The True Story of Operation Dynamo by Lord - and that was a really good read.  Highly recommend it.

Lonely Vigil: Coastwatchers of the Solomons by Lord which was just awesome!  Great read.

The Good Years: From 1900 to the First World War by Lord which was good, but I've read better of this type of general US popular history.  The one thing that was really interesting was his pulling from many national and regional US newspapers about the Balkans crisis which led to WW1.  The amazing lack of coverage until everyone started actually mobilizing is fascinating.  For many weeks the only newspaper coverage to speak of was how Serbian and Austrian-Hungarian bonds were tanking.


I'm reading "After the Downfall" by Harry Turtledove right now.  A Captain in the German Infantry during the fall of Berlin gets teleported to a different world.  It has been ok so far.

[Gusington]

'The Good Years' sounds very interesting. What do you prefer that is better?

[airboy]

'The Good Years' sounds very interesting. What do you prefer that is better?

Only Yesterday (the 1920s)
and
Since Yesterday (the 1930s)

both by Frederic Allen
They will go on sale every so often on Amazon for $1.99

There is an even better series Our Times but it is not in ebook.  I've strongly considered buying used copies and having them converted to pdf.  Allergies suck for cheap reads.

[Gusington]

Thanks airboy

[MetalDog]

There is an even better series Our Times but it is not in ebook.  I've strongly considered buying used copies and having them converted to pdf.  Allergies suck for cheap reads.

I'd like to thank your allergies for many hours of good reading :)

[JasonPratt]

Finished Hargreaves' Germans in Normandy over the weekend. As previously noted, unlike the D-Day Through German Eyes collection, these accounts are all properly sourced, although the newer collection could perhaps be an interesting supplement to GiN. On the other hand, I could sure understand suspicions that the more infamous collection has cribbed somewhat from GiN for verisimilitude in writing fictional vignettes!

Strictly speaking there's nothing here that anyone who has studied Normandy (and the related North France operations up through the end of August 44) won't have seen before, of course -- in that sense the ostensible eye-witness collection might be more useful (if it's true! ;) ) GiN provides a ton of snapshots from the highest levels to the lowest grunts, although naturally officers get more screentime simply due to being more connected with the big picture and better able to have had their thoughts recorded in various survivable ways: phone transcripts between HQs play a valuable role for example.

The book segues very smoothly into Kershaw's It Never Snows in September, which discusses Market-Garden from German perspectives: Kershaw starts at the tail end of August and the first days of September to set up context for the operation. Kershaw's organization and writing style are a bit different, naturally, and he seems to have relied more on personal interviews than Hargreaves did, which is giving his book (which I'm reading now) a little different flavor. Both GiN and INSiS are quality works either way.

[Bison]

Castles and Crusades PHB and Castlekeeper Guide. 

[mirth]

NERD!!!

[Bison]

NERD!!!

I cannot deny my nerd ways of awesomeness. 

[mirth]

Started re-reading Spock's World over the weekend.

https://www.amazon.com/Spocks-World-Star-Trek-Original-ebook/dp/B000FC0UPI/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1496695499&sr=8-5

Which lead me to order this

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Original-Rihannsu-Bloodwing-ebook/dp/B000N2HCPG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496695431&sr=8-2

mainly for the last two books in the compilation - I've read the other two many times