What are you currently reading ?

[John Cook]

This book has nothing to do with wargaming but I enjoyed it so much that I had to recommend it.
Oyster Isles: A Journey Through Britain and Ireland's Oysters by Bobby Groves.  The author is Head of Oysters for an international hospitality company and has been in the Oyster business all his life.
The book is about a road-trip, on a Triumph Bonneville motorbike, of all the places and farms in the UK and Ireland that produce Oysters.  If you like your food and, in particular, if you love oysters, this charming book is well worth a read.  If you don't know your rocks from your natives, you will by the time you've finished reading. 

[kipt]

Finished "The Battle Of Pickett's Mill: Along The Dead-line" by Brad Butkovich.  He has also written 8 ACW scenario books, including one on this battle.

It was part of Sherman's march to Atlanta, and another out flanking maneuver, but it did not go well for the Union side.  The book has much tactical detail and relatively good maps.  In a couple of places right flank, east, west seemed to be confused and in one map a unit attributed to the wrong state, but not so in the text.

I will plan do fight the scenario and this is a good background for it.

I like his stuff.

[kipt]

Finished "Cain At Gettysburg" by Ralph Peters.  This is one of the best, if not the best, book on combat that I have read.  The author is a retired LTC, US Army and has written several ACW novels as well as others, some under the pen name of Owen Parry.

The novel follows the 26th North Carolina and the 26th Wisconsin (the Sigel Regiment - so Germans).  He also does a great job with the various commanders of both sides.  No change to the outcome and follows the historical facts.

Highly recommended.

[John Cook]

Just finished a couple of books about the Battle of Lissa.  'The Battle of Lissa 1866' by Quintin Barry and 'The Battle of Lissa - 20 July 1866' by Zvonimir Freivogel.  I was hoping for an account of the naval campaign in the Adriatic from both books but only one of them delivered in that context. 
Quintin Barry's book is subtitled 'How the Industrial Revolution Changed the Face of Naval Warfare' and that is really what it is about.  Barry starts with an overview of sailing warships in the early 19th Century and works his way through the development of steam power, the introduction of the ironclad, naval ordnance and ammunition, which he does in the first 14 of the 26 chapters.  All very interesting but I really didn't want to read about the American Civil War or the naval race between Britain and France in the 1860s.  There are a couple of chapters about the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies and two more about their respective commanders in 1866.  The campaign leading to the Battle of Lissa, the title of the book, is only covered in six chapters towards the end.  He concludes with a discussion of the aftermath of the battle and the decline of the armoured ram in the latter part of the 19th Century.  Well enough written and interesting enough, it is really misnamed and, as a result, was a disappointment.  There are some illustrations but there is no order of battle or detailed descriptions of the ships of the respective navies, so it is not very useful from a wargaming point of view.
Zvonimir Freivogel, in contrast, gets straight into the subject with an overview of the events leading to the war of 1866 and a brief description of ironclad development followed, in chapter 2, with a description of Austrian and Italian naval preparations.  From then on the book is all about the naval campaign in the Adriatic culminating in the battle of Lissa.  Much better illustrated with contemporary photographs of most of the ships, Freivogel's maps (charts?) are more detailed with each ship individually identified.  Freivogel also has comprehensive orders of battle with details of each ship, including their captains, speed, displacement, armament and, where appropriate, armour thickness and its disposition.  If you want that kind of detail, and a book about Lissa and the campaign specifically, Zvonimir Freivogel's account is a better choice.

[toxicpixie]

Gah, the Freivogel book sounds good. I have to stop reading this thread again or I'll end up spending the house keeping on books

Currently I have a Battletech novel on the go (entertainingly mindless, acrid beams of cyan annihilation flash boiling tons of armour off walking tanks), and have Lest Darkness Fall ready for our jaunts.

[kipt]

Finished "Stonewall Jackson at Gettysburg" by Douglas Lee Gibboney.  Jackson survives his wounding at Chancellorsville and the two Corps (Longstreet and Jackson - no three Corps now) head north. The premise for this book is an "unpublished memoir" by a young lad who becomes an additional ADC to Jackson.

The first day is similar to history, but Jackson pushes for the heights at Cemetery Hill, causing the Union to retreat to the Pipe Creek position.  After seeing the Yankees dispositions, Longstreet holds the line and Jackson moves to outflank.  All does not go well and ultimately the Union prevails.

Jackson is shot by Union soldiers in April 1865, just prior to the surrender and this time does not survive.

Interesting but light.

[Hwiccee]

The Army of Maria Theresa (1st edition) by Duffy. An excellent read and a lot of useful stuff regarding the polyglot nature of the army, the language issues and their impact on C&C as well as losses incured whilst on campaign. So far plenty to take away for use on the wargames table or to explain those blunders etc.

Yes an excellent book but now a little dated. I would recommend reading his modern updates of this work - 'Instrument of War' and 'By Force of Arms'.

[fsn]

At last!


Received today! Seems to be comprehensive at nearly 400 pages in four parts:

• The Sick Man of Europe (overview)
• Armies of the Sultan
• Ottoman Warfare (campaign history)
• Dress Equipment & Standards (the best bit)

No proper OOBs I can see, but a good meaty read about a corner of the Napoleonic war I know so little about.

So now I just need to finish the Napoleonic Danes, Imperial Romans and that impulsive foray into the Cold War; and I'm waiting for the promised Israeli half tracks ... and the Ancient Indians - then I can crack on with some Janissaries.   



Looking forward to the Danes taking on the Ottomans.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

 

[kipt]

Finished "Valley Of The Shadow" by Ralph Peters. another in his ACW genre.  This is Early and Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley in 1864.  Well developed characters (the generals and staff were actual figures) and has voices from the enlisted ranks and company grade officers for continuity and color.  No breaks in the flow of his writing

After reading "Cain At Gettysburg" I bought 4 more of his ACW novels at a used bookstore when on vacation last week.  I am very impressed by his writings.

The group I am in, the Gentleman's Wargaming Society, will be playing the battle of Cedar Run (1862 with Stonewall Jackson) and I plan on giving the players a copy of "Cain at Gettysburg", it has impressed me so much.

the board will be set up next weekend and then I will post pictures.  We will be using Brigade Fire and Fury rules.

[paulr]

Looking forward to the pictures Kipt, I hope all enjoy the game

[Big Insect]

Just finished Adrian Tchaikovsky's 'Shards of Earth' sci-fi book - Book One in a trilogy.
Published by TOR - ISBN: 978-15290-5190-2.
I've not come across Tchaikovsky before as a lot of his earlier works appear to be (what I would call) 'Alternative Fantasy' - the 'Shadows of the Apt' series- and a few other linked/associated sets of Sci-fi books. He's also written a GW 40k novel as well. He seems very prolific and also very varied in his output.

Initially, I was  bit 'sniffy' about 'Shards of Earth' as it had all the hallmarks (& technology traits) of a number of other current sci-fi books by the likes of Banks, Asher and Reynolds (all favorite sci-fi reads of mine) but slowly the book has grown on me and in the end it became a 'binge-read'.

Interesting plot line (I wont give anything away) - around the arrival of a massive alien entity (called The Architect - there appear to be more than one) that uses gravity as a weapon to dismantle planets - by brute force. With an apparent total disregard for the life on that target world.

Any similarities to an early Star Trek episode - the one where the 'Emissary' arrives over earth and in an attempt to communicate with the (by then extinct) whales in Earths sea, starts to destroy the planet by accident - is probably purely coincidental. As is the brooding presence of the 'sense of evil' that stalks the 'un-space' in the film Event Horizon. Or the use of human 'psychics' - a bit like in Babylon 5. 
But I found it a galloping ride of a space opera - some interesting 'new' weapon/technology types and new alien races.

I shall be off investigating the next book in the trilogy and might also take a look at some of his other sci-fi offerings. The Fantasy books don't look likely to be something I'd go for however.

It will be interesting to see if the rest of the Architect trilogy is as good.

Mark

[FierceKitty]

The more up-to-date Duffy books really need an attentive editor.

[Steve J]

Sadly Helion don't pay to have their books edited or proof read, or at least that used to be the case. Hence the rather hit or miss output from them which is a shame, as they really do have some interesting stuff. I have a few of the late Mike Embree books and the first I read was a real slog, with the odd repeated paragraph here and there, lack of clarity in places. A good editor and proof reader would have made a huge difference.

[Chris Pringle]

Sadly Helion don't pay to have their books edited or proof read, or at least that used to be the case.

Actually Helion definitely do pay to have at least some of their books copy-edited - I happen to know one of their freelance copy-editors - but I suppose not all freelance copy-editors work to the same standards, or perhaps not every book can justify the cost of copy-editing. (For instance, understandably, they don't copy-edit the works I've translated for them.) If a particular book doesn't look as though it's been edited properly, maybe Helion just got a duff freelancer, and hopefully won't use that person again.