What are you reading - Part II

[Pete in Lincs]

I'll take any excuse to reread the work of Mr Pratchett.

 

I'm currently nearing the end of Donald L Millers' Eighth Air Force. Unputdownable!

[Whofan]

41 minutes ago, jrlx said:

Hi @Whofan

 

Thank you very much for your comments on O'toole's book and recommendation on Tim Shipman's books. I'll take a look at both of Shipman's.

 

Having lived in the UK while I was doing my MSc Project, I'm always interested in better understanding the country and the people.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

Jaime,

 

I think that is something very difficult - we don't understand ourselves sometimes!

[jrlx]

Finished reading Carlo Rovelli's "Reality is not what it seems" a week ago. Highly recommended for those interested in the History of Science and Modern Physics.

 

I immediately started reading Michael Benson's "Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece".

 

It's proving to be an real page turner.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

 

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

Well, I shifted from the Eighth Air force to my old copy of Guy Gibson's Enemy Coast ahead.

It's been sitting undisturbed on the shelf for too long. Still a good read. How unprepared for war they were.

Not necessarily their fault, the Force had been run down and it took time to get up to strength and to relearn forgotten skills. 

[Pete in Lincs]

And now I find that Gibson and his Wife lived for a short time in a Pub that I now deliver beer to! 

The Lion and Royal in Navenby, just South of Lincoln.

[593jones]

3 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

And now I find that Gibson and his Wife lived for a short time in a Pub that I now deliver beer to! 

The Lion and Royal in Navenby, just South of Lincoln.

Is that the one where the landlady fried Gibson's smoked salmon in batter?  Gibson never did say whether he and his wife enjoyed it!

[jrlx]

I've finished reading Michael Benson's "Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece".

 

It's a page turner and extremely interesting and detailed for fans of the film or the book.

 

Keeping in the same mood, yesterday I started reading Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End", one of the books discussed by Kubrick and Clarke while creating "2001".

 

This version has an author's introduction and a revised first chapter, to bring the book up to date (1989).

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

[593jones]

3 hours ago, jrlx said:

I've finished reading Michael Benson's "Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece".

 

It's a page turner and extremely interesting and detailed for fans of the film or the book.

 

Keeping in the same mood, yesterday I started reading Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End", one of the books discussed by Kubrick and Clarke while creating "2001".

 

This version has an author's introduction and a revised first chapter, to bring the book up to date (1989).

 

Cheers

 

Jaime

 

 

Have you read 'The Lost Worlds of 2001' by Clarke?  It's his own account of the journey from 'The Sentinel' to the film.  Very good, and, naturally, very well written, it includes some of the ideas considered but not used.  My copy is getting very tattered, must get myself a replacement!

[jrlx]

47 minutes ago, 593jones said:

Have you read 'The Lost Worlds of 2001' by Clarke?  It's his own account of the journey from 'The Sentinel' to the film.  Very good, and, naturally, very well written, it includes some of the ideas considered but not used.  My copy is getting very tattered, must get myself a replacement!

Not yet. Unfortunately seems to be out of print...

[593jones]

I'm currently reading 'Patrick O'Brian A Very Private Life' by Nikolai Tolstoy.  As a long time admirer of the Aubrey/Maturin series of books it's interesting to find out about their author's life.  Tolstoy is well placed to write the biography as he is O'Brian's stepson and it does seem a pretty impartially written book, O'Brian does not come across as a particularly likable person, and, to judge from the many incidents related, should never have been allowed behind the wheel of a car!  The remarkable number of near tragedies make it a wonder he ever reached old age!

 

One piece of information did make me wonder, though.  O'Brian had a brother who served in the RAAF in the Second World War, and who was, according to Tolstoy, a giant of a man, so much so that the cockpit of his aircraft had to be raised to allow him to sit inside.  Since the airman, F/O Sidney Michael Russ, served in Bomber Command, presumably Tolstoy is suggesting that the aircraft was so fitted on the squadron.  I have to say, not having heard of anything like this before, I find it rather hard to accept.  Certainly a strange story.

[Procopius]

17 minutes ago, 593jones said:

One piece of information did make me wonder, though.  O'Brian had a brother who served in the RAAF in the Second World War, and who was, according to Tolstoy, a giant of a man, so much so that the cockpit of his aircraft had to be raised to allow him to sit inside.  Since the airman, F/O Sidney Michael Russ, served in Bomber Command, presumably Tolstoy is suggesting that the aircraft was so fitted on the squadron.  I have to say, not having heard of anything like this before, I find it rather hard to accept.  Certainly a strange story.

There's a bit on him here: https://www.ozatwar.com/russ.htm

 

He doesn't appear to have been the pilot of the Lancaster, but rather the observer (bomb aimer? navigator?) so it does seem rather unlikely that anything was raised. 

[593jones]

Thanks for the info, there, Procopius, and very fast too!  He sounds an interesting character, rather more interesting in fact than his more famous brother!  A bullock driver and timber fettler (whatever that may be).  His service record has him listed as Air Navigator from 16/04/42, so presumably he managed to fit inside the fuselage of a Lancaster.  Presumably one of those family stories that go around and end up being exploded.

[stevehnz]

Finished Hollands "Normandy 1944" I thought it a really good read, an easy style that doesn't get bogged down by dry minutiae but I did get annoyed by the maps, of which there were quite a few, often not showing the locations, town, villages, terrain features that are mentioned in the passages that the maps refer to. As a map nut, this irritated me to bits, my Michelin maps came into play often.

Now reading "DH.9, from Ruin to Restoration" by Guy Black, absolutely loving it & really enjoying the nuts & bolts details. Grist to my mill.

Steve.

[Kiwidave4]

Just finished 'A Sharp Left Turn' by Mike Chunn. My daughter gave it to me for Christmas, and although I was hoping for a book on Triumph motorcycles, (!) it actually was a good read and filled in some gaps in my knowledge of the Kiwi music industry. Mike is probably best known as a founding member of Split Enz, but he has had a long and influential career in NZ music. A good read if only for the reminder of what NZ was like in the fifties and sixties and the way we managed to live and survive in a time that was just so different. 

[Whofan]

4 hours ago, Kiwidave4 said:

Just finished 'A Sharp Left Turn' by Mike Chunn. My daughter gave it to me for Christmas, and although I was hoping for a book on Triumph motorcycles, (!) it actually was a good read and filled in some gaps in my knowledge of the Kiwi music industry. Mike is probably best known as a founding member of Split Enz, but he has had a long and influential career in NZ music. A good read if only for the reminder of what NZ was like in the fifties and sixties and the way we managed to live and survive in a time that was just so different. 

 

Thanks for the heads up on this author and book, which I will look out for.

 

I'm always reluctant to recommend books I've read because personal taste is so different (ie what I like someone else won't!) but I will say that Winos Rhinos and Lunatics, and Maybe I should have stayed in bed, both by Deke Leonard, were for me a terrific read, describing "the flipside of the rock n roll dream" (ie the music industry) and in the same way as your book does for NZ describes the South Wales in the '60's I grew up in.

 

I've just finished Shadow by James Swallow, a competent if slightly too long spy/action thriller, and an now well into Anthony Beevor's Arnhem. 

[Whofan]

Having got about 1/3 of the way through Beevor's Arnhem, I've also started Tom Bradby's Secret Service as my bed time book.

 

Anthem is not so much upsetting to read just before going to sleep, but it's making me think far too much about how ego and planning are not good bedfellows.

 

A straightforward spy thriller is more conducive to sleep. 

[BIG X]

This arrived yesterday afternoon...

 

 

...along with a Tamiya 1/35 Kubelwagen and a separate engine for it.  I'm not normally a fan of Haynes Manuals - as I'm not what you might call a 'petrol head' - but I thought it would be a good reference for the build - we shall eh...

 

Steve

[TheBaron]

On 12/28/2019 at 5:51 PM, jrlx said:

immediately started reading Michael Benson's "Space Odyssey: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke, and the Making of a Masterpiece".

Jaime,

If you can get hold of a copy of a Jerome Agel's long out of print:

- it was compiled not long after the film's cinema release and is a fascinating contemporary record of it's making and reception, with lots of period detail.

 

Just finished David Buttler's:

leant to me by a friend as it's nearly impossible to obtain a copy at anything approaching affordability. One of the best monographs on an individual aircraft I can recall reading.

 

Just about to start:

as I read his The Tartar Steppe years ago and still retain a vivid impression of mood from it. Despite being different in subject it shares a bleakness with:

[qn30jEkPz7]

On 10/01/2020 at 09:00, Whofan said:

Having got about 1/3 of the way through Beevor's Arnhem, I've also started Tom Bradby's Secret Service as my bed time book.

 

Anthem is not so much upsetting to read just before going to sleep, but it's making me think far too much about how ego and planning are not good bedfellows.

 

A straightforward spy thriller is more conducive to sleep. 

It is a very good account but really not an easy read. Depressing that again and again throughout so many lives, bodies material and human potential are squandered

[Whofan]

26 minutes ago, LostCosmonauts said:

It is a very good account but really not an easy read. Depressing that again and again throughout so many lives, bodies material and human potential are squandered

That's it in a nutshell.

 

And what makes it so bewildering is that by all accounts Monty was very careful not to put men to unnecessary risk, and yet,  at least as far as I have read so far, he seems to have adopted a less cautious approach to planning for this operation.

[Des]

Arnhem was one of a couple of books I picked up on an offer at Tesco during the summer and I have just got round to starting it this week.     As a former TA 'Para' I was more aware of the actual battle and tenacity of those taking part rather than the planning (or lack thereof) and politicking leading up to it and have to say that neither Montgomery's point scoring nor Browning's compromises reflect well on either compared to men such as Urquhart and Sosabowski who cautioned against the obvious flaws in the plan but epitomising Airborne Spirit led from the front anyway.

[Harley John]

18 minutes ago, Des said:

neither Montgomery's point scoring nor Browning's compromises reflect well on either compared to men such as Urquhart and Sosabowski who cautioned against the obvious flaws in the plan but epitomising Airborne Spirit led from the front anyway.

I'm reading it as well and agree with you.

[Pete in Lincs]

Taking a break from military history reading. My Daughter in law has lent me her copies of Phillip Pullmans' His Dark materials Trilogy. 

Book number one was filmed as The Golden Compass some years ago. I rather like the alternate universe feel of the books.

 

Having said the above, In a charity shop today, I found a copy of Valiant Boys for 1.99! So, what is a bloke supposed to do? It joins the queue of 'must reads' upstairs.

[Wez]

1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Taking a break from military history reading. My Daughter in law has lent me her copies of Phillip Pullmans' His Dark materials Trilogy. 

Book number one was filmed as The Golden Compass some years ago. I rather like the alternate universe feel of the books.

They are a brilliant series of books, I really liked the Subtle Knife in particular. The recent BBC series of His Dark Materials was very, very good.

[jrlx]

I've finished Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhood's End" a few days ago. I found it interesting but with an unexpected theme from a rationalist as Clarke (won't go into details to avoid spoilers). However, it should be noted that in the original edition Clarke put a note at the beginning saying that "the author does not agree with the opinions expressed in the book" and in the Foreword of my edition he said even more in disagreement.

 

After finishing that one, I immediately started reading "Das Klimabuch: Alles, was man wissen muss, in 50 Grafiken" by Esther Gonstalla

 

Yes, it's in German but if you master the language it's well worth the reading. I've been slowly reading it and have already learned something new with each graphic.

 

Cheers

 

Jaime