What Are You Reading

[Feraud]

Finished Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. An amazing story of WWII POW survival.
I can recommend this and her prior book Seabiscuit.

 

[djd]

Sapper's Bulldog Drumond - The Black Gang. Amazingly violent

 

[Happy Jack]

Paddy Whacked
The Untold Story of the Irish American Gangster
T.J. English
Great book and you don't want to put it down!!


This is a light,fun read,with History not well known

 

[WH1]

The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie (yes House/Bertie Wooster) a very good if off beat spy thriller of all things.

I particularly love the fact that he discusses/uses the OODA loop (he refers to it as the Boyd Loop) as part of the story line.

One reviewer refered to the book as a combination of The Day of The Jackal and Code of the Woosters.

 

[djd]

That's odd- I bought that book when it first came out (in the 80s?) and enjoyed it. Its now had 'sudden' success due to Hughs worldwide fame post-House! I understand the book has now been a huge success in France

 

[WH1]

Ironically I found it on Amazon for my kindle while looking for books on John Boyd. I didn't realize that Laurie had written any novels. Apparently this was his first. There is also a short interview with him in which he references P.G. Wodehouse as the "finest and funniest writer I have ever read."

He also recommends Kyril Bonfigliolo, with whom I am not familiar but according to Wikipedia, "Bonfiglioli's style and novel structure have often been favorably compared to that of P. G. Wodehouse. Mortdecai and his manservant Jock Strapp bear a fun-house mirror relation to Wodehouse's Wooster and Jeeves. The author makes a nod to this comparison by having Mortdecai reference Wodehouse in the novels." I guess I will have to find some of his work now.

 

[Indy_Rhodes]

Nearly finished "Seven Pillars of Wisdom" by T.E. Lawrence.

Cracking true story, written beautifully with intelligence and insight.

 

[Diamondback]

Larry Correia's Hard Magic: Book 1 of The Grimnoir Chronicles. LC just had a book-signing here in Seattle, so my copy is personally inscribed with a cryptic reference to a project we've been working together... (well, me working, him advising and guiding)

 

[AmateisGal]

Finished Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken. An amazing story of WWII POW survival.
I can recommend this and her prior book Seabiscuit.

I second this! I wholeheartedly recommend Unbroken. Amazing story, amazing writing, too!

 

[AmateisGal]

Just finished The Perfect Nazi by Martin Davidson. Martin is half Scottish, half German. His grandfather was in the SS during WW2. Fascinating account of how he discovered just how deep his grandfather was in the Nazi machinery. Chilling, too.

 

[Corto]

Just started Evelyn Waugh's "Sword of Honour" trilogy after giving up on Ewart Brooke's "Proud Waters". Waugh's take is (so far) a cynical and unsentimental take on WWII. Wouldn't expect anything else from him...

 

[Diamondback]

Larry Correia, Hard Magic: Book 1 of The Grimnoir Chronicles, personally inscribed copy.

And still digesting Shattered Sword.

 

[AmateisGal]

Last night, I started Wartime: Understanding and Behavior in the Second World War. No light reading on this one!

 

[djd]

The Female of the Species - a Bulldog Drummond story by Sapper. Great fun!

 

[WH1]

Churchill's Cigar by Stephen McGinty
An excellent history of the great man and his prolific useage of Cigars. It was my read while enjoying several good cigars.

Wine and War: The French, The Nazis. and the Battle for France's Greatest Treasure by Don and Petie Kladstrup
Especially interesting history of the survival of the French wine and champagne industry under occupation. Very interesting in dealing with collaboration and the legacy of Petain and Vichy. (Unfortunately no wine here to enjoy with this one.)

 

[ii-5-i]

"The Awakening Land" (trilogy)

I re-read this masterpiece by Conrad Richter every couple of years.

 

[Wally_Hood]

Finished At Home in Mitford, by Jan Karon. Enjoyed it. The unmortified part of my personality wanted to tag it "an Episcopalian Mayberry," but Baptists and Presbyterians are alive and well in Mitford. Karon has an great ear for dialogue.

 

[djd]

Margery Allingham's 'Traitors Purse' . An excellent Albert Campion story set in wartime England

 

[DNO]

Always have more than one book on the go. Currently:

Star Island by Carl Hiaasen

The Deputy by Victor Gischler

No Higher Purpose...part one of the history of the Royal Canadian Navy in WW2.

 

[Joel Cairo]

The History of Mr Polly by H.G. Wells, sorry all but it's on one of those modern new fangled e-readers