fatfingers Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 2 hours ago, Whofan said: Thanks for the heads up on those books. I confess I've quite a few of the what if/ alt history books on the kindle, but not those. Also check out the Red Gambit series by Colin Gee about the Western Allies going up against the Soviets in 1945/46 and the Armageddon Song series by Andy Farman which is a series of books set in current day about war with Russia after they invade Ukraine and Poland. Both good reads 👍 Regards, Steve 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted July 3, 2021 Share Posted July 3, 2021 48 minutes ago, fatfingers said: Also check out the Red Gambit series by Colin Gee about the Western Allies going up against the Soviets in 1945/46 and the Armageddon Song series by Andy Farman which is a series of books set in current day about war with Russia after they invade Ukraine and Poland. Both good reads 👍 Regards, Steve I've got the wqhole Red Gambit series on my kindle, as you say it's a cracking read - all 7 books. Again, thanks for the heads up on the Armageddon Song series. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DennisTheBear Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 "Small Wars, Far Away Places" by Michael Burleigh. DennisTheBear 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil.C Posted July 4, 2021 Share Posted July 4, 2021 Laurence Rees, Auschwitz; the Nazis and the final solution. Quite a hard read but incredibly detailed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 On 7/4/2021 at 5:18 AM, DennisTheBear said: "Small Wars, Far Away Places" by Michael Burleigh. DennisTheBear I've just finished reading that, excellent book, good to read about decolonisation that refers to actual colonies rather than libraries or the educational system! I did enjoy his play on words on the Trojan Horse in the chapter about Indo-China, made me laugh 'Moral Combat' by MIchael Burleigh is also a very good book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 The Devil & all his works - Dennis Wheatley. More a reference volume. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullbasket Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 1 hour ago, bentwaters81tfw said: The Devil & all his works - Dennis Wheatley. More a reference volume. Plotting something satanic Frank? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bentwaters81tfw Posted July 5, 2021 Share Posted July 5, 2021 2 minutes ago, Bullbasket said: Plotting something satanic Frank? Yes. I'm invoking the Black Arts on one of my current projects. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravnos Posted July 6, 2021 Share Posted July 6, 2021 Currently just started "God Emperor of Dune" Book 4 in the series, cant wait for the new film later in the year! once I've finished with the Dune saga I'm going to jump back into the cosmere with Rhythm of War Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Admiral Puff Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 Re-reading Iain Banks' The Business. A wonderful, beautifully understated jab at mega-corporations - who else would even contemplate buying a whole country just to get a seat on the UN?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick4350 Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 The Complete Robot by Issac Asimov. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Tapsell Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 On 7/3/2021 at 11:38 AM, Beermonster1958 said: I was also recently presented with Timothy Zahn's "Admiral Thrawn " trilogy : Thrawn Thrawn :Alliances Thrawn:Treason. If you like Timothy Zahn, try his non-Star Wars SF stuff - The Cobra series (three books?); Blackcollar series (two books?) and Spinneret which is a stand-alone novel. They all pre-date his involvement with the SW franchise by some years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danbuoy Posted July 8, 2021 Share Posted July 8, 2021 Currently reading Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy by Max Hastings. Picked it up for a couple of quid from the ever reliable Oxfam bookshop in Nantwich. Excellent read so far. Its always good when you learn stuff about something you thought you were quite knowledgeable on too. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 Now moved on to Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff. A series of connected stories about demonism in 1950s America that also addresses Racism and Segregation. Well written with good characters. This is the third of his books I have read, Bad Monkeys and The Mirage are also well worth reading 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 On 08/07/2021 at 13:05, danbuoy said: Currently reading Vietnam: An Epic Tragedy by Max Hastings. Picked it up for a couple of quid from the ever reliable Oxfam bookshop in Nantwich. Excellent read so far. Its always good when you learn stuff about something you thought you were quite knowledgeable on too. I read this recently and fully agree with you. Well written, and very informative. I confess I knew/still know little about the Vietnam war, but one thing I did pick up on was the involvement of the Australians. I never knew that they sent as many people as they did - nor indeed what those men thought of some US units. Hastings I thought also wrote very well about the civilians - the ordinary people of Vietnam, both north and south, and how the war affected them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted July 12, 2021 Share Posted July 12, 2021 28 minutes ago, Whofan said: I read this recently and fully agree with you. Well written, and very informative. I confess I knew/still know little about the Vietnam war, but one thing I did pick up on was the involvement of the Australians. I never knew that they sent as many people as they did - nor indeed what those men thought of some US units. Hastings I thought also wrote very well about the civilians - the ordinary people of Vietnam, both north and south, and how the war affected them. I read a book some time ago called the Battle For Coral concerning Australians in Vietnam. There was one incident that amused me, General Westmoreland was visiting an Australian unit and spoke to a corporal who was cleaning an M.60 machine gun. Gen. Westmoreland asked the corporal what he thought of the M.60. The corporal did not have a high opinion of the weapon and proceeded to tell Westmoreland in no uncertain terms. The book contained what it said was a photograph of the incident, with the Australian standing up, gesturing at Westmoreland, the general looking stunned, and behind the general, an Australian officer laughing his backside off! Aussies, you've got to love them! 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 As I've just bought the new paperback of V2 by Robert Harris, I had a look at the first chapter, and to my surprise I found I'd got to page 55 in what seemed no time at all. I've finished Elvis Costello's memoir, which I found very interesting, and a good read, and started a biography of Steve Jobs, so here I am again, reading two books again! V2 is proving a real page turner, and after a second session I'm now up to page 141 of 378, so I've left Steve Jobs at the point in 1975 when he found a Apple, to finish V2. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 4 hours ago, Whofan said: As I've just bought the new paperback of V2 by Robert Harris, I had a look at the first chapter, and to my surprise I found I'd got to page 55 in what seemed no time at all. I had a book like that, The Devil Is A Gentleman, turned out that it had been printed with around twenty pages missing. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 1 hour ago, 593jones said: I had a book like that, The Devil Is A Gentleman, turned out that it had been printed with around twenty pages missing. Ouch! I should think that's quite a difficult thing for a publisher to do. There are no pages missing in my copy of V2, I'm happy to report. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 6 hours ago, Whofan said: Ouch! I should think that's quite a difficult thing for a publisher to do. There are no pages missing in my copy of V2, I'm happy to report. Yes, it was very annoying, it was a book I really wanted to read (biography of Dennis Wheatley). Returned to Amazon and refunded with no problem, but still annoyed. Glad to know V2 is all present and correct. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted July 13, 2021 Share Posted July 13, 2021 2 hours ago, 593jones said: Yes, it was very annoying, it was a book I really wanted to read (biography of Dennis Wheatley). Returned to Amazon and refunded with no problem, but still annoyed. Glad to know V2 is all present and correct. I've read the Philip Baker bio of Dennis Wheatley; was that the one? In fact, he's one of my favourite authors, I first read the devil rides out back in the early '60's - it was passed around in school (much as Lady Chatterley's lover was). I have a box in the loft with every one of his novels in. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
593jones Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 14 hours ago, Whofan said: I've read the Philip Baker bio of Dennis Wheatley; was that the one? In fact, he's one of my favourite authors, I first read the devil rides out back in the early '60's - it was passed around in school (much as Lady Chatterley's lover was). I have a box in the loft with every one of his novels in. Yes, that's the one, what was your opinion of it? Wheatley is one of my favourite authors, too, particularly the Black Magic and the Roger Brook series', I learned a lot of Napoleonic history from reading Dennis Wheatley! I always enjoyed the Duke de Richeleau and Gregory Sallust characters as well. It's a pity Wheatley is little read these days, not in the current fashion, I suppose. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted July 14, 2021 Share Posted July 14, 2021 19 minutes ago, 593jones said: Yes, that's the one, what was your opinion of it? Wheatley is one of my favourite authors, too, particularly the Black Magic and the Roger Brook series', I learned a lot of Napoleonic history from reading Dennis Wheatley! I always enjoyed the Duke de Richeleau and Gregory Sallust characters as well. It's a pity Wheatley is little read these days, not in the current fashion, I suppose. I enjoyed it, I am sure. (It was about 10 years ago!) The only ones that I didn't quite take to were the couple of books that dealt with interwar Russia, with a lot of exposition on Russia. The Roger Brook and De Richeleau books were probably my favourites I suspect I liked his sci fi books a bit more than the Gregory Sallust ones. If course, his occult books were extraordinary, especially for a teenager who'd never really come across the concepts! I have a fond memory of embarrassing my father when I had bought the book the Eunuch of Stamboul (I was about 13 or 14), and as him "What's an Eunuch?" I remember him wriggling in his char and looking away from me and saying "ask your mother" Honestly, when I found out, I couldn't believe how embarrassed he was! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_W Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 19 hours ago, Whofan said: I have a fond memory of embarrassing my father when I had bought the book the Eunuch of Stamboul (I was about 13 or 14), and as him "What's an Eunuch?" I remember him wriggling in his char and looking away from me and saying "ask your mother" Honestly, when I found out, I couldn't believe how embarrassed he was! My mother once got a Trivial Pursuit question "what is the difference between a Stallion and a Gelding?" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whofan Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 3 hours ago, John_W said: My mother once got a Trivial Pursuit question "what is the difference between a Stallion and a Gelding?" I bet everyone else laughed!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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