What are you reading - Part II

[Mick4350]

The recent edition of Scale Aircraft Modelling has been released in today's newsagents down town.  It's the April 2021 ( V43,#02 ). I'll let you know how well proofread it is...🧐

[jean]

Hi everyone who knows how to read,

 

Something unusual has happened to me.

A good friend of mine had taken over the farm of Ian Smith, the last Prime Minister of Rhodesia, after working for him as a manager.

Obviously the farm in Shurugwi was "liberated" as a result of the land invasions that raged through Zimbabwe from 2000 onward.

My friend Owen was given most of Ian Smith's possessions when the latter left for South Africa a sick, old man.

Recently we visited Owen in Harare and he offered us to choose whatever we wanted out of a big pile of memorabilia having belonged to Ian Smith and his wife.

 

Now, for those of you who do not know, Ian Smith joined the RAF while studying in South Africa, in 1941.

He became a fighter pilot, first flying Hurricanes with 237 (Rhodesia) Squadron in North Africa. then Spitfire Mk IX in Italy and all the way to Germany with, if my memory serves me right, 130 Squadron.

He even survived a terrible accident in North Africa and was shot down by flak in Italy. So he sure did his bit for King and Country.

 

Anyway, beside a beautiful white metal Spitfire IX mounted on top of a Spit cylinder head, I found two books, which I am finding rather fascinating.

Here is the first one:

 

 

and the second one, which is a limited first edition, and written by one of my "heroes":

 

 

The cherry on top of the cake is what I found, once back at home:

 

 

So I have become unwittingly the custodian of a very small piece of history, meaningless but for a very few of us.

 

Have fun and never stop reading!

 

JR

Edited July 23, 2021 by jean

[Pete in Lincs]

I've almost finished reading this, 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Forgotten-Voices-Second-World-War/dp/0091897351/ref=sr_1_1?crid=4B5RMKU7BMHG&dchild=1&keywords=forgotten+voices+of+the+second+world+war&qid=1627068063&sprefix=forgotten+voices+of+the+second%2Caps%2C164&sr=8-1

 

A fascinating read. Full of facts. At times quite gory with details of injuries, and at other times I laughed out loud. 

At Arnhem, Major Wilson MC* of the 21st Independent Parachute Company marched up to a German position and admonished the (elderly) soldiers there for shooting at him! They lowered their weapons in shock!

Track down a copy if you can. This is a brilliant record of a fabulous generation.

 

*He won the Military Cross at Cambrai in WW1.

[Whofan]

I've got 2 books on the go at the moment, Andrew Marr's the making of modern Britain 1901 - 1945, and the latest David Baldacci, Daylight.

 

I've had the Andrew Marr book in my reading stash for about 10 years now, the Baldacci less than 12 hours!

 

In total,  my reading stash is now 62 books, and I am seriously concerned that they now form a NGTBRIML stash!

 

(Not Going To Be Read In My Lifetime)

 

[Pete in Lincs]

20 minutes ago, Whofan said:

(Not Going To Be Read In My Lifetime)

Dammit Man! Delegate! You could get people to read them to you as you sleep.  😴

[Whofan]

11 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Dammit Man! Delegate! You could get people to read them to you as you sleep.  😴

Good idea!!

 

 

[Pete in Lincs]

I'm rereading The Last Escape, Published in 2002 & by John Nichol & Tony Rennell. It's been some years since the last read.

In the depths of Winter in 1945 hundreds of thousands of Alllied POW's were force marched West, away from the Russian forces that may have liberated them.

They were sometimes given only very short notice that they were on the move. Malnourished, badly dressed and ill equipped, there was a large death toll.

Of course they had to be guarded, and it wasn't unknown for the prisoners to carry the weapons of their elderly & infirm guards!

This book was possibly the first time that details of this little known wartime episode were published. 

[stevehnz]

Have just put away "Circling the Sun" by Paula McLain, a novelised version of the life of Beryl Markham up to the time of her Transatlantic flight. Thoroughly enjoyed it. For anyone who has enjoyed her "West with the Night" or Karen Blixen's "Out of Africa", I'd very much recommend it. The scary thing was reading her source list at the end of the book, I had most of the books she mentioned.  

Just begun, "The Borneo Boys" by Roger Annett, helicopters in the war confrontation with Indonesia in Borneo in the 1960s.

Steve

[FalkeEins]

fascinating catching up with this thread as ever..

and having also just finished 'V2'  (..must read his 'Munich' too..)  I picked up two more well-done war/adventure/thriller/crime stories;

 

'The night raids' by Jim Kelly

 

DI Eden Brooke investigates a case of looting and murder in wartime Cambridge against a background of Luftwaffe raids on key infrastructure targets. 

Without giving too much away, the thrilling denouement sees Heinkel He 111 pilot Leutnant Helmut Bartel confront the prime suspect!

 

'Estocada' by Graham Hurley

 

Condor Legion and Me 109 ace Dieter Merz is 'persuaded' by British Intelligence to attempt to thwart Hitler's plans for the annexation of the Sudetenland 

 

[psdavidson]

Just starting Fatherland by Robert Harris (ebook)

Part way through The 39 Steps by John Buchan (audiobook narrated by Robert Powell)

[Whofan]

3 hours ago, FalkeEins said:

fascinating catching up with this thread as ever..

and having also just finished 'V2'  (..must read his 'Munich' too..)  I picked up two more well-done war/adventure/thriller/crime stories;

 

'The night raids' by Jim Kelly

 

DI Eden Brooke investigates a case of looting and murder in wartime Cambridge against a background of Luftwaffe raids on key infrastructure targets. 

Without giving too much away, the thrilling denouement sees Heinkel He 111 pilot Leutnant Helmut Bartel confront the prime suspect!

 

'Estocada' by Graham Hurley

 

Condor Legion and Me 109 ace Dieter Merz is 'persuaded' by British Intelligence to attempt to thwart Hitler's plans for the annexation of the Sudetenland 

 

Did you think V2 WAS up to his usual standard? I'm not entirely sure.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the other books.

[Mick4350]

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Complete and Unabridged audiobook. Read by Douglas Adams.

[cmatthewbacon]

20 hours ago, Whofan said:

Did you think V2 WAS up to his usual standard? I'm not entirely sure.

 

Thanks for the heads up on the other books.

@Whofan I thought V2 felt a bit short and slight, if I’m honest. Given Robert Harris is known for his extensive research, I wonder if the pandemic limited his access to sources and locations to enrich the world the story is set in…

 

best,

M.

[Whofan]

2 hours ago, cmatthewbacon said:

@Whofan I thought V2 felt a bit short and slight, if I’m honest. Given Robert Harris is known for his extensive research, I wonder if the pandemic limited his access to sources and locations to enrich the world the story is set in…

 

best,

M.

Just how I felt.

 

I remember commenting on the what's your latest acquisition thread after buying it I had got to page 55 in no time at all.

 

I would agree with you on the pandemic limiting him.

[psdavidson]

Goodbye to all That by robert Graves (audiobook narrated by Martin Jarvis)

[Mick4350]

Adventures of a Cold War Fast-Jet Navigator. The Buccaneer Years by Wing Commander David Herriot. ISBN 978 1 52670 659 1.

[Procopius]

I just finished Arms, Autarky, and Aggression, by William Carr, a short and very readable account of how the intersection of German foreign policy goals, industry, and Nazi ideology played out from 1933-1939. 

[Mr T]

9Just finished an ebook of 'Wasp' by Eric Frank Russell. It is a bit dated (published in 1957-8), but quite a good read from an inventive and underrated British science fiction author. 

[fatfingers]

On 7/27/2021 at 7:59 PM, Pete in Lincs said:

I'm rereading The Last Escape, Published in 2002 & by John Nichol & Tony Rennell. It's been some years since the last read.

In the depths of Winter in 1945 hundreds of thousands of Alllied POW's were force marched West, away from the Russian forces that may have liberated them.

They were sometimes given only very short notice that they were on the move. Malnourished, badly dressed and ill equipped, there was a large death toll.

Of course they had to be guarded, and it wasn't unknown for the prisoners to carry the weapons of their elderly & infirm guards!

This book was possibly the first time that details of this little known wartime episode were published. 

Will have to track this down as my Granddad was one of the prisoners! Thanks Pete 👍

 

Regards,

 

Steve

[Pete in Lincs]

16 minutes ago, fatfingers said:

Will have to track this down as my Granddad was one of the prisoners! Thanks Pete

You're very welcome. It's a fascinating read. It makes you wonder how so many survived.

It almost certainly wasn't because the British Government were looking out for them.

[fatfingers]

@Pete in Lincs Copy now ordered. Went for paper over Kindle so i can lend it my dad when i've read it. Thanks again.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[Whofan]

Over the last cople of weeks bought at Tesco's 2 for £9 offer the latest Ken Follet, The Evening and the Morning,  and the latest J K Galbraith, Troubled BLood.

 

The wife wants first dibs on those, unfortunately for her she's reading the latest Stephen King short story collection, called If It bleeds.

 

In the Tesco offer I've also recently  picked up two books, one called Utopia Avenue, by David Mitchell (Author of Cloud Atlas) about a rock group in swinging London, and Exit by Belinda Bauer, a kind of a macabre murder mystery comedy.

 

I just finished this one, and while it's true to say in my opinion only it's not as laugh out loud funny as the blurb suggests, but it is a - again my opinion  a decent read.

Edited August 8, 2021 by Whofan

[Bertie McBoatface]

 

Homework for the STGB!

 

And Nicholas Nickleby for this month's fiction choice. Once I learned to slow down and enjoy each chapter without wondering about the glacial (by our standards) plot development, I discovered that Dickens was a very dry humourist. There's a laugh on every page, really.

[Procopius]

I just read Alfred Price's The Last Year of the Luftwaffe, a good read and I do love a happy ending. But I think Price is a bit precious about his interviewees and very reluctant to criticize them explicitly -- it is, for example, clear that Adolf Galland's plan to hold back the Jagdwaffe for some kind of massive blow with largely untrained pilots against the USAAF would have been a Teutonic Turkey Shoot, based on what happened pretty every single other time the Luftwaffe attempted such mass attacks at the end of 1944. 

 

Right now I'm reading The Hive, by Tim Curran, which is a so-so H P Lovecraft pastiche dealing with my absolute favourite Lovecraftian beastie, the fivefold radially symmetrical cucumbers from Hell that are the Elder Things/Old Ones, not to be confused with the Great Old Ones.

[Whofan]

4 hours ago, Procopius said:

Right now I'm reading The Hive, by Tim Curran, which is a so-so H P Lovecraft pastiche dealing with my absolute favourite Lovecraftian beastie, the fivefold radially symmetrical cucumbers from Hell that are the Elder Things/Old Ones, not to be confused with the Great Old Ones.

 

Don't know this author, so looked the author/book up - interesting!