Robert Posted March 22, 2021 Share Posted March 22, 2021 On YT l have been listening to Fingerprints of the Gods by Graham Hancock. I have read the book but listening to it makes you wonder even more. Regards Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted March 25, 2021 Share Posted March 25, 2021 (edited) There's a riot going on, by Peter Doggett. A stirring tale of revolutionaries and the '60's counter culture ....... Set principally in America, it describers the rise of the Yippies, hippies, Black power protest groups, and anti war rebels, together with a liberal mixing in of the music scene and how it too became embroiled in the "revolution". Edited March 25, 2021 by Whofan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skodadriver Posted March 28, 2021 Share Posted March 28, 2021 Currently reading "Witchfinder" by Andrew Williams, a fictionalised version of the aftermath of Kim Philby's defection to the USSR and the hunt for the fourth and fifth Cambridge moles in British intelligence. A good read for anyone who enjoys "faction". Before starting "Witchfinder" I read "On the Beach" by Nevil Shute which had been on my "books I really should read" list for several years. It's a true period piece and a book which requires almost total suspension of disbelief with its amazingly serene image of the end of human civilisation following nuclear war. I've never been Shute's greatest fan (I much prefer Eric Ambler) but if you can ignore its implausibility the story rattles along at a good pace and there are some genuinely moving moments particularly towards the end. Dave G 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 I've just finished re-reading 'Goodbye, Mickey Mouse' by Len Deighton. If you don't know it, it's a superb novel based around an American fighter group in 1943/44. Great characterisations and the flying combat sequences are brilliantly written. Of course, you do come away from it with the necessity to start building P.51's! I wish some enterprising decal manufacturer would produce decals of fictional aircraft, I would love to do 'Kibitzer' or Major Tucker's 'Jouster' 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 2 hours ago, 593jones said: I've just finished re-reading 'Goodbye, Mickey Mouse' by Len Deighton. If you don't know it, it's a superb novel based around an American fighter group in 1943/44. Great characterisations and the flying combat sequences are brilliantly written. Of course, you do come away from it with the necessity to start building P.51's! I wish some enterprising decal manufacturer would produce decals of fictional aircraft, I would love to do 'Kibitzer' or Major Tucker's 'Jouster' Agreed, an absolutely superb book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 For about the forth time, over the years, Stephen E Ambrose, Citizen Soldiers. Just amazing what those boys were put through. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBaron Posted March 30, 2021 Share Posted March 30, 2021 Left feeling battered by events over the past few weeks so have activated the emergency escape route of re-reading the whole Aubrey/Maturin cycle by Patrick O'Brien from now until summer. A world unto itself. Robbie the Post also recently delivered Lewis Hyde's A Primer for Forgetting, and David Graeber's Debt: The First 5000 Years, for when the brain is more resilient again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 Burma, the longest war, 1941-45 by Louis Allen. At 636 pages it is a fair old door stop but the first couple of dozen pages read well so I'm rather looking forward to it. Having read several books that covered aspects of this campaign, I'm looking forward to getting an overview. Steve. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete F Posted March 31, 2021 Share Posted March 31, 2021 SAS: Rogue Heroes – the Authorized Wartime History by Ben MacIntyre (2016). Even if you have read many books about military history the early exploits of the SAS will amaze you. If they made this into a film no one would believe it was true. The book is very readable and takes the reader though the sometimes hilarious, sometimes emotional, but always daring evolution of the unit during the desert war to the brutal special forces NW Europe campaign from 1944 - 45. I think one of my favourite moments was when the SAS discovered that if they were engaged in the nocturnal planting of bombs etc behind enemy lines a challenge by an enemy sentry could be responded to with a "F off, mind your own business!"* in the appropriate language and that usually did the trick. Fantastic stuff. *Apologies for the F - hope the context allows for it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted April 5, 2021 Share Posted April 5, 2021 Picked up Vox, by Christina Dalcher. A kind of re imagining of the Handmaid's tale; not too bad, intriguing premise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cherry268 Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 Just finished "Vulcan on the line" by Brian Carlin Great insight into working on early B1's Next one is " My target was Leningrad" by Philip Goodhall Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 (edited) Having finished Vox and There's a riot going on, decided to read King of Kings, by Wilbur Smith, for an easy, uncomplicated, blood and thunder yarn. So far, that's just what I'm reading! In the pipeline, a birthday present, Harrier 809 and "A brief history of 7 killings" a fictionalized account of the murder of Bob Marley. Edited April 14, 2021 by Whofan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 Just finished Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. As with a lot of his books there is a goodly amount of philosophysing about society and the decline of the American way. But the action sequences and technical descriptions are good so I'll forgive him. Just about to start, Bill Bryson, Mother Tongue. An old favourite. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted April 14, 2021 Share Posted April 14, 2021 1 hour ago, Pete in Lincs said: Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. It has long been a favourite, the movie adaptation wasn't all bad either I thought. Steve. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted April 15, 2021 Share Posted April 15, 2021 Dredged another one from the stash, 'Coward At The Bridge', by James Delingpole. This was the second book in a series set in the Second World War and featured Lt. Richard Coward, who, to inherit the family estate from his father, who dislikes him, has to win the Victoria Cross, otherwise the estate goes to his brother. This book takes place during Operation Market Garden and is quite a good read, rather better than the first in the series, 'Coward On The Beach', Operation Overlord. There was supposed to be a third book, 'Coward In The Woods' but that either never appeared, or if it did, disappeared very rapidly. The character of Richard Coward is supposed to be a Flashman for the Second World War, and has an interesting history, referred to in the book, including winning the DFC in the Battle of Britain, serving with the LRDG/SAS in the Western Desert, Stalingrad (with the German army (!)) and the Burma campaign. How he managed all this was presumably to be explained in further books, but he must have been a very busy chap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete in Lincs Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 I've just been lent a copy of Borneo Boys. Helicopter operations in Malaysia in the early sixties. Bill Bryson was swiftly put aside last night and I started on this. Got up to page 60 already but then had to sleep! A lot of the memoirs are from four new pilots with shiny new wings who were trained up on Whirlwinds and sent straight out there. I'm reminded of the Harry Benson book Scram! (which I'd like to acquire again if anyone has a spare copy?) Due to the lack of power in the high/hot conditions these guys mostly flew solo so they could carry more. They more or less made it up as they went along. Fascinating stuff, and I can't wait to get back to it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 On 14/04/2021 at 09:50, stevehnz said: It has long been a favourite, the movie adaptation wasn't all bad either I thought. Steve. The film was on one of the satellite channels last night, thouroughly good film. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 Am on the second volume of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers Of London series, Moon Over Soho. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 On 4/15/2021 at 5:49 PM, 593jones said: Dredged another one from the stash, 'Coward At The Bridge', by James Delingpole. Dredged is about right for these, I’d say. I had high hopes when I started reading the first one, but frankly, it was awful. Dreadfully written attempt to blend Commando comics with Flashman without the narrative momentum of the former or literally anything of what makes the latter so great. Now, I may be biased, given that GM Fraser is up there with Len Deighton and Patrick O’Brian in my pantheon of authors I’ll go back to again and again. But Delingpole seems to me to have completely missed the essence and point of his oh so obvious sources, and to be completely tone deaf to how flat his attempt falls... but YMMV, obviously. best, M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmatthewbacon Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 16 minutes ago, jackroadkill said: Am on the second volume of Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers Of London series, Moon Over Soho. So you have many treats in store, then... best, M. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jackroadkill Posted April 16, 2021 Share Posted April 16, 2021 1 minute ago, cmatthewbacon said: So you have many treats in store, then... best, M. Certainly have; I've read them all bar the latest one before and I love them. Very odd but very funny and tongue-in-cheek. The last one, False Value, is on the way as we speak, so I'm re-reading the series to get properly revved up for its' arrival. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 9 hours ago, jackroadkill said: Certainly have; I've read them all bar the latest one before and I love them. Very odd but very funny and tongue-in-cheek. The last one, False Value, is on the way as we speak, so I'm re-reading the series to get properly revved up for its' arrival. The author's knack is to make what seems odd perfectly normal within the book. And, as you say, very funny, very tongue in cheek, beautifully drawn characters, what's not to like? like yourself, I've read them all - hold on a mo - I believe there's a novella within the framework of the series I haven't read. Drat. Thanks for the heads up on the latest. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted April 17, 2021 Share Posted April 17, 2021 16 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said: Dredged is about right for these, I’d say. I had high hopes when I started reading the first one, but frankly, it was awful. Dreadfully written attempt to blend Commando comics with Flashman without the narrative momentum of the former or literally anything of what makes the latter so great. Now, I may be biased, given that GM Fraser is up there with Len Deighton and Patrick O’Brian in my pantheon of authors I’ll go back to again and again. But Delingpole seems to me to have completely missed the essence and point of his oh so obvious sources, and to be completely tone deaf to how flat his attempt falls... but YMMV, obviously. best, M. Oh, I certainly agree with you regarding the first book, Coward On The Beach, it was poor, but the second was somewhat better (I've certainly read worse). I bought both books at the same time, had I not, and just read the first, I would probably not have bought the second. The Flashman link was, quite obviously, a non-starter, just something to hang a proposed series of books on; as you say, the author does not have GMF's writing skills or imagination, so if you're biased regarding GMF then so am I! Incidentally, my favourite in the Flashman series is 'Flashman In The Great Game', but they are all superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davecov Posted April 18, 2021 Share Posted April 18, 2021 I am currently reading "On a Cushion of Air" by Robin Paine and Roger Syms, which tells the story of Hoverlloyd and the Cross-Channel hovercraft service it ran along with rivals Seaspeed. It also covers the development of the hovercraft from the SR.N1 up to 2012 (date of book's publication). It also covers the stories of Sir Christopher Cockerell, Saunders-Roe and the entry of Vickers-Armstrongs into hovercraft production. It is a beautiful book containing lots of photos, drawings and technical information in it's 700 pages which also include lots of anecdotes from crews, engineers, builders, maintainers, cabin staff and a lot more besides. One particular part made me smile and it concerns the recovery of SR.N4 "Swift" from the beach at Sangatte in 1971. An RAF crash rescue crew was in attendance and their senior officer said "he knew all about the SR.N4" and produced the instructions from the 'Airfix' model kit! Talking of the Airfix kit, I am about to start building one this week and this mighty tome will come in very handy. Dave 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bootneck Posted April 19, 2021 Share Posted April 19, 2021 Hi Dave, how detailed are the drawings? Would there be enough detail to scratchbuild some models? If so, then I may have to invest in a copy. cheers, Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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