What are you currently reading ?

[fsn]

I've read quite a few of the Max Mad series by MJ Trow.  He's a aging history teacher who falls into murder mysteries.

He spends his spare time recreating the Charge of the Light Brigade in 1:1 in 54mm.

Great fun.

[Hertsblue]

JUst finished Engineman by Eric Brown. Middle-of-the-road science fiction, tending a little towards the theistic. Capable story-teller, though.

[toxicpixie]

Finished "1636: Seas of Fortune".  This is the 15th book in the series "1632"  It is alternate fiction where the US town of Grantville gets deposited in Germany during the Thirty Years War.  The latest book takes place in South and North America, which is influenced by the "uptimers" encyclopedias and maps.  Didn't like it as much as those that take place in Europe.

I quite liked the first couple (1632 & 1634?) but after that it all got too hard to track; well, too much by too many people that I could be bothered to track! Love the shared world idea for writers, and I like the amusing clash of culture and technology and societies but too much wandering around from too many people. Too many cooks and all that...

[kipt]

Just finished "A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire" by Geoffrey Wawro.  Its amazing how bad, naive, unprepared, delusional the Austrian leadership was.  Even though I know the history, one expects the Austrians to collapse before 1915.  Only thing that saved them in the beginning was the bad logistics of the Russian Empire (later it was the Germans that saved them).  Conrad was worse than McClellan in my mind, and I don't like McClellan.

[Techno]

Got through about seven talking books in the last three weeks, the last of which was "Transition" by Iain Banks.
That one was fun. A bit difficult to follow at times, as it dealt with 'folk' who zipped around alternate versions of earth....But I enjoyed it.
Hope today's library van is going to bring me one of the 'historical' tales about ancient Rome, (which Ray recommended in an earlier post).
Cheers - Phil

[Hertsblue]

Picked up a copy of Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant from a charity stall in Southend a couple of weeks ago. Some of the stories seem vaguely familiar - I put that down to various BBC productions over the years - but the man could write!

[FierceKitty]

...and did he ever hate Germans!

[Leman]

Just finished Quintin Barry's Franco-Prussian War Vol.1 as a sort of refresher course.

[cameronian]

Just finished "A Mad Catastrophe: The Outbreak of World War I and the Collapse of the Habsburg Empire" by Geoffrey Wawro.  Its amazing how bad, naive, unprepared, delusional the Austrian leadership was.  Even though I know the history, one expects the Austrians to collapse before 1915.  Only thing that saved them in the beginning was the bad logistics of the Russian Empire (later it was the Germans that saved them).  Conrad was worse than McClellan in my mind, and I don't like McClellan.

Please, please, please do NOT believe everything you read in Wawro; he is frequently wrong and always predudiced against Austria; I haven't read his book but I would bet money its stuffed with derogatory comments about the non German races of the Monarchy. His book on the Austro Prussian war is ruined by poor scholarship and appalling bias.

[cameronian]

Just finished Quintin Barry's Franco-Prussian War Vol.1 as a sort of refresher course.

Have you read Prof Howard's book on the FPW, now that IS good.

[Leman]

Whatever you do don't read Wawro's book on the Franco-Prussian War. It's awful and full of very elementary mistakes, like forgetting that the Prussian Garde du Corps existed. On the other hand Michael Howard's book is still the best single volume overview of the war. essential for any FPW gamer.

[cameronian]

Indeed.

[Techno]

Listening to...."Vespasian....Tribune of Rome." (Robert Fabbri)
Damn fine, so far !
Thanks, Ray.
Cheers - Phil.

[kipt]

"Please, please, please do NOT believe everything you read in Wawro; he is frequently wrong and always prejdudiced against Austria; I haven't read his book but I would bet money its stuffed with derogatory comments about the non German races of the Monarchy. His book on the Austro Prussian war is ruined by poor scholarship and appalling bias."

I thought he was pretty even handed in his treatment of the nationalities.  His family comes from the old Austria-Hungary - eastern Galicia - so perhaps there is some bias, but not recognizable to me.  I have the Austro Prussian book but haven't read enough other books to comment on poor scholarship and bias.


"Whatever you do don't read Wawro's book on the Franco-Prussian War. It's awful and full of very elementary mistakes, like forgetting that the Prussian Garde du Corps existed."

Not sure what part you are talking about here.  The chapter on Gravelotte references the Prussian Guard on pages 170, 173, 175, 176, 177, 179.  Granted he discusses Steinmetz a lot, and how he got hammered, but he hasn't forgotten the Guard in this chapter.

Not defending him, but the writing style works well as far as I am concered.

[Leman]

The Garde du Corps was a cavalry regiment.

[Hertsblue]

The cavalry regiment from a status point of view.

[kipt]

My mistake for reading too fast.  And I have the unit painted.

[howayman]

Reading The Battle of the Narrow Seas by Peter Scott.
WW2 small ships shooting the hell out of each other at 50 yards and 30 knots.
10mm MTBs anyone?

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Bit big those - but 1/3000th I have.

IanS

[Hertsblue]

Wow! 1/3000th destroyers are small enough....