What are you currently reading ?

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

Previous topic - Next topic

kipt

Finished "Gettysburg Magazine" January 2019 Issue 60.

Some of the articles:
What Does the Evidence Say? this is about the decision to fight at Gettysburg.
Who Commanded the Iron Brigade?
Farnsworth Brigade in the Gettysburg Campaign.

Always good tactical studies and supporting maps.

Ben Waterhouse

Arma Pacis Fulcra

kipt

Finished "Be Your Own Napoleon: How would you command ten of history's greatest Battles?" by William Seymour.

This is a bad title as the battles show options at certain points of a battle or campaign, but you don't get to choose.  It was published before with the title of "Yours to Reason Why" (which I think I also have somewhere in my library, but couldn't find it).

The ten battles/chapters are:
Hastings
Crecy Campaign
Agincourt Campaign
The Third Civil War
Saratoga, Setting the Scene
Saratoga, Confidence and Confounded
Saratoga, Defeat and Surrender
Waterloo, 1-17 June
Waterloo, 18 June
Background to Chancellorsville
Chancellorsville
Gettysburg
Palestine 1917
Anzio; background to beachhead
Anzio; Battle for survival
Anzio; Breakout.

Somewhat dated (written in 1982).

kipt

Finished "The German Fleet at War: 1939-1945" by Vincent P. O'Hara.  Very good as it describes all sizes of actions, from the Bismarck to S-Boats.  This is very similar to the naval book I previously read and posted here which had individual actions in the different theaters from 1914 to 1918.

This does not discuss the U-Boats, but the surface fleet.  After the major units were eliminated or bottled up, the Germans fought to avoid defeat rather than to dominate the waters around Britain.  However, they did a good job of this against the Russians.

Lots of small actions and well worth the read.

steve_holmes_11

The Pikeman's Lament (Again).

I have so many Dan Mersey rules, with similar, but different mechanisms, that I want to be sure I'm playing with the correct set of rules.

Shedman

The Tricolor on the Atlas: Or, Algeria and the French Conquest by Moritz Wagner

kipt

Finished "The Last Kingdom" by Bernard Cornwell.  this is Book 1 of his The Saxon Tales.  Mid 800's in Saxon England where the main adversary is the DAnes.  This follows the life of a young boy, Uhtred, who is a Saxon, but raised by the Danes.

This is well written, better I think than the Sharpe series (and I am much more interested in the Napoleonic Wars than the dealings in early Britain).

Enjoyed it immensely and am now in the third book of the series.

Leman

Apparently it was the inspiration for the Peter Pig Longships game.
The artist formerly known as Dour Puritan!

Raider4

Can thoroughly recommend the Warlord Chronicles: The Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur. Wonderful reads.

mollinary

Quote from: Raider4 on 24 February 2019, 08:03:22 PM
Can thoroughly recommend the Warlord Chronicles: The Winter King, Enemy of God and Excalibur. Wonderful reads.

Entirely agree. They are, I recall reading, Bernard Cornwell's personal favourites. They are certainly mine, excellent reads.
2021 Painting Competition - Winner!
2022 Painting Competition - 2 x Runner-Up!

Steve J

The Warlord Chronicles are brilliant and I enjoy re-reading them, even though I know the story!

fsn

Hmmmm. Seems I am in a minority. I thought the Anglo-Saxon novels of Cornwall were not as good as his Sharpe's series. However, did think that the Sharpe range did dip in quality after Sharpe's Waterloo

Also disappointed with his Starbuck series. Not a Cylon in sight.

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
3 votes in the 2016 Painting Competition!; 2017-2019 The Wilderness years
Oik of the Year 2020; 7 votes in the 2021 Painting Competition
11 votes in the 2022 Painting Competition (Double figures!)
2023 - the year of Gerald:
2024 Painting Competition - Runner-Up!

FierceKitty

Quote from: kipt on 17 February 2019, 03:46:04 AM
Finished "Be Your Own Napoleon: How would you command ten of history's greatest Battles?" by William Seymour.

This is a bad title as the battles show options at certain points of a battle or campaign, but you don't get to choose.  It was published before with the title of "Yours to Reason Why" (which I think I also have somewhere in my library, but couldn't find it).

The ten battles/chapters are:
Hastings
Crecy Campaign
Agincourt Campaign
The Third Civil War
Saratoga, Setting the Scene
Saratoga, Confidence and Confounded
Saratoga, Defeat and Surrender
Waterloo, 1-17 June
Waterloo, 18 June
Background to Chancellorsville
Chancellorsville
Gettysburg
Palestine 1917
Anzio; background to beachhead
Anzio; Battle for survival
Anzio; Breakout.

Somewhat dated (written in 1982).

The sort of history book that assumes combat started in 1066 doesn't hold my attention to the bottom of the first page.
I don't drink coffee to wake up. I wake up to drink coffee.

mmcv

Quote from: fsn on 24 February 2019, 10:10:36 PM
Hmmmm. Seems I am in a minority. I thought the Anglo-Saxon novels of Cornwall were not as good as his Sharpe's series. However, did think that the Sharpe range did dip in quality after Sharpe's Waterloo

Also disappointed with his Starbuck series. Not a Cylon in sight.



I'm with you on that one, even though my historical interests have generally tended more towards ancients than Napoleonic, I did find the Anglo-Saxon Tales to be a bit more plodding than Sharpe. In some ways they're different purposes, Sharpe being more standalone adventures rather than an ongoing saga. But while I enjoyed the first Anglo-Saxon books as they came out I lost interest after that and never picked up the later ones. I was never able to get into the TV version of it either.

I do remember enjoying the Warlord Chronicales though!

steve_holmes_11

Quote from: kipt on 24 February 2019, 02:45:32 PM
Finished "The Last Kingdom" by Bernard Cornwell.  this is Book 1 of his The Saxon Tales.  Mid 800's in Saxon England where the main adversary is the DAnes.  This follows the life of a young boy, Uhtred, who is a Saxon, but raised by the Danes.

This is well written, better I think than the Sharpe series (and I am much more interested in the Napoleonic Wars than the dealings in early Britain).

Enjoyed it immensely and am now in the third book of the series.

Good ripping yarns, through I occasionaly wondered whether he would announce himself as Captain Uthred of the South Essex.
Spoiler alert: He gains an Irish sidekick in a later book - though no volley gun has emerged yet.

I was impressed by the care in describing Alfred's Wessex and the relations between the Saxon and Danish kingdoms of the time.
I also enjoyed the links between locations in Alfred's time and their modern equivalents - all done without breaking the flow of the story.