What are you currently reading ?

Started by goat major, 03 November 2012, 06:40:05 PM

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KTravlos

I wish you a fast and full recovery.

Steve J

Get well soon old chap. SWMBO and I have been fighting off a cold the past few days, praying it doesn't turn into said Aussie flu. We've been consoling ourselves by binge watching 'Line of Duty' whilst alternating between being too hot or too cold.

Leman

Binge watching when not sleeping is quite a good way to cope. I use my Amazon Kindle Fire in bed, which has a superb HD picture. What's been getting me through? The Crown, Travellers, Upstart Crow, the Good Place, Lucifer, Vikings and anything with Bruce Willis in, plus the resumption of the new Startrek. On the mend, but this is definitely the worst illness (not counting muscle injuries) I've had since glandular fever in 1971.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

Steve J

Glad to hear that there's light at the end of the tunnel.

As for reading, going through 'Uniforms of the American War of Independence' by Digby Smith et al. Very informative and with some good overviews of the conflict.

kipt

Finished "Destroyer Captain" by Roger Hill.

Roger Hill was a British naval officer who was in command of a destroyer in WWII.  He was on the PQ17 convoy, convoy to Malta and D-Day to list a few of his deployments.

A very interesting book with great descriptions of his ship(s) and crew.  He had the HMS 'Ledbury', the 'Grenville' and the 'Jervis'.

The introduction has an interesting but sad commentary about his looking for work after the war.  He says "The English post-war world had no use for damaged destroyer captains, which was fair enough - no-one owed us a living; but some took it a bit far.  One oil company personnel manager said to me when I sought any kind of work, 'You boys have got to find out the facts of life. You have had all the glamour of the war whilst we were being bombed in London...' and so on.  I knocked him right out of his beautiful leather chair: (I did not get the job).

He ended up moving to New Zealand and got work as a 'seagull' which is casual labour on the wharf, loading and unloading ships.  Sad this.

fsn

Part way through The Soviet Airborne Experience [Illustrated Edition] by Col Glantz.

Interesting stuff about the birth of airborne forces, and the Soviet experience of using them.

Got to the bit where they think it's a good idea, but have purged all the officers who know what they're talking about.
Lord Oik of Runcorn (You may refer to me as Milord Oik)

Oik of the Year 2013, 2014; Prize for originality and 'having a go, bless him', 2015
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kipt

Finished "Stalin's Hammer" by John Birmingham.  This is a continuation of his "Axis Of Time" novels that I noted before, but some 10 years after WWII ended.  This has a bunch of James Bond cold war action with the Russians being the bad guys.

A main character is Harry Windsor, red-headed, who is now not in the succession to the Throne.  In fact, since he came from 2021 into 1942, he is older than his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth.

Stalin is still alive and has deployed an orbital kinetic energy system.  The action is that both sides are trying to keep or snatch a German scientist.  The poor German goes back and forth.

At the end, the Russians have started WWIII and attacked across the Fulda gap after using their kinetic energy weapon to take out the defending allied forces, as well as knocking out the allies' satellites.  Supposedly there are more novels about that but I haven't seen them as of yet.

Fun read.

kipt

Finished "The Good Years: MacArthur and Sutherland", by Paul Rogers.  Rogers was Sutherland's stenographer starting in the Philippines and went with him to Australia.

The book discusses the happenings from before the war started to Buna, September to December 1942.  A subsequent book, which I have not yet started, continues the story.

Interesting to read about the happenings and people in MacArthur's HQ.  At this point Sutherland speaks for MacArthur. but the next book is "The Bitter Years" when there is a falling out between Sutherland and MacArthur.

Interesting look at command during the war in this theater.

paulr

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on MacArthur :-\
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

kipt

My thoughts on MacArthur... My opinion is that he was ego driven but this book presents him in a much better light.  Rogers ended up working for him so is sympathetic (so far; I haven't read the second book yet).

However, all men, and women for that matter, that make a name for themselves need to have confidence in themselves.  MacArthur was good and seemed to get the most out of his command.  Ultimately he forgot the chain of command and Truman "retired" him.

He was Chief of Staff of the US Army and his time after he first retired and went to the Philippines was probably more difficult than he thought it would be.  His attitude towards Marshall was somewhat strained but correct.  After all, everyone in the army was subordinate to him.  He came back as a 4 star, but still Marshall outranked him at that point.  He handled that with grace.

It puts him in the same school as Montgomery, Mark Clark and Patton as far as ego driven, but competent.  Along with Admiral King, they were bullies, but in a war that isn't necessarily bad.

Malbork


Leman

And the good news is I am virtually back to normal (ernergy levels still lower than before), continuing to plan and paint (hurrah) the 1870-71 Armee du Nord, and re-reading Douglas Fermer's translation of Leonce Patry's The Reality of War.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

paulr

Thanks Kipt, definitely agree on the ego, need to do some more reading on the 'competent' at some point
Lord Lensman of Wellington
2018 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2022 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!
2023 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

kipt

Re: Armee du Nord.  I have that painted for my "Sappy Nappy" rules. We played the Hallue battle from the "1870" Weigle rules. French held their positions at the north due to the range of the Chassepot (Prussians couldn't cross the Hallue) and held their positions in the south due to the entrechments.

I have photos but the change to Photobucket has left me out. I have Flickr but haven't tried posting from that. Several other battles we have done: Ladonchamps, Mars la Tour and yesterday we did Noisseville.

Leman

Litterally just put Patry's book down after reading about Pont Noyelle. Haven't played a Weigle game for a good few years now; the big battles have been replaced by BBB which are a much more manageable set. However, since buying 1871 and seeing how Bruce has 'cleaned up' his rules. I am now planning to play his scenario for Villers Bretonneux.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!