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What are you reading - Part II


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On 8/29/2021 at 9:10 AM, Vince1159 said:

Finally managed to start it...

 

The Last Fighting Tommy - Harry Patch with Richard Van Emden....

 

Some useless trivia. I played Harry Patch in a BBC program on the last of the Tommies. In a trench scene where Patch shoots an advancing German in the knee with his pistol, I shouted 'bang' loudly for all the rehersals. Guess what this tool did when we came to do the actual take ... 🙄   
I was lucky to meet a few Great War vets, but not Harry Patch.

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I hope I don't lower the tone here, but I picked up these a few weeks ago. A guy had a suitcase full, and I just picked out all the ones by my favourite DC Thomson artists. Mainly the mighty Jose Maria Jorge and John Ridgway, but a couple by stalwarts Denis McLoughlin and Gordon Livingstone too. Some of the plots are hit and miss, for every gem there is also a howler, but the skill of these artists is always joy to flick through. I thoroughly enjoyed them. A bit of much needed light releif.

 

51530647066_c15b39e3a8_b.jpg

Commando Comics by Mike, on Flickr

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What a great story,have you played many other parts on tv...I've got two large boxes of those,remember going to the newsagents every week after school that's part of my childhood right there...

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56 minutes ago, Vince1159 said:

What a great story,have you played many other parts on tv...I've got two large boxes of those,remember going to the newsagents every week after school that's part of my childhood right there...

 

I'm an untalented extra, and mainy found on the cutting room floor 😆

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57 minutes ago, Quiet Mike said:

I hope I don't lower the tone here, but I picked up these a few weeks ago. A guy had a suitcase full, and I just picked out all the ones by my favourite DC Thomson artists. Mainly the mighty Jose Maria Jorge and John Ridgway, but a couple by stalwarts Denis McLoughlin and Gordon Livingstone too. Some of the plots are hit and miss, for every gem there is also a howler, but the skill of these artists is always joy to flick through. I thoroughly enjoyed them. A bit of much needed light releif.

 

51530647066_c15b39e3a8_b.jpg

Commando Comics by Mike, on Flickr

 

I bought hundreds of electronic versions those and Air Ace  comics from ebay. They're a trip down memory lane for sure, surprising how many I recognise when I'm reading them.

 

The navy ones were always my favourites but they're surprisingly difficult to single out in batch listings.

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I have just started reading "Hunt the Altmark" by Richard Wiggan. It tells the story of her career from the time she left Kiel, Germany in August 1939 acting as supply ship for the "pocket battleship" Graf Spee, while taking onboard survivors from ships sunk by Graf Spee. When Graf Spee herself was sunk, Altmark headed for home but in Jossingfjord, Norway in February 1940 she was captured by a boarding party from HMS Cossack commanded by Captain Philip Vian, RN.

 

Just the book to get me motivated enough to scratchbuild her - one day!


Dave

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On 01/10/2021 at 07:38, Nigel Bunker said:

I've just read the latest by Bernard Cornwell, Sharpe's Assassin. My favourite Napoleonic Wars soldier, Richard Sharpe is back after a break of 14 years. A cracking book, mine arrived yesterday at1pm and I was finished reading it by 7pm. Roll on the next one.

I remember doing that with Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth; back in the seventies I belonged to a book club, postman brought the book about 11am, finished it by teatime. 

 

happy days!

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9 hours ago, Whofan said:

I remember doing that with Dogs of War by Frederick Forsyth; back in the seventies I belonged to a book club, postman brought the book about 11am, finished it by teatime. 

 

happy days!

 If you're a Forsyth fan (and if you haven't already read it), try 'The Outsider'. It's a potted memoir of his professional life from a short service commission in the RAF (Vampire pilot) through his journalism career, his writing career and his occasional interactions with  the intelligence world - it provides a really good insight into where so much of his knowledge came from.

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On 02/10/2021 at 21:53, John Tapsell said:

 If you're a Forsyth fan (and if you haven't already read it), try 'The Outsider'. It's a potted memoir of his professional life from a short service commission in the RAF (Vampire pilot) through his journalism career, his writing career and his occasional interactions with  the intelligence world - it provides a really good insight into where so much of his knowledge came from.

John,

 

thanks for the heads up, but as you hedged your bets, I have indeed read the book.

 

I think Forsyth has had an incredibly fascinating life, and while some of his writing can be stilted, without him we would - almost probably IMO (see, I can hedge bets too !) had a different genre of action/spy thrillers.

 

Of course, Ian Fleming probably provided the first in that genre, but I'm thinking more of the Tom Clancy style of books, which to me seem to draw on Forsyth's style. 

 

To be fair, I have read all published books by Forsyth, including the short stories, and I can quite easily read them again and again. 

Edited by Whofan
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I think I am further behind in my reading than I am with my building.

 

Anyway I started reading (again) "Clandestine" by James Ellroy, his second book. If you are an fan of Ellroy and have read his LA Quartet books and his Second LA Quartet books you will realize that a significant character is introduced and how the storyline of some some his latter work mirrors the events in Clandestine. His later works also reflect a similar theme that is introduced in Clandestine. It is almost as if Ellroy wrote Clandestine as an outline for his future novels. Ellroy claims that he wrote his first few books while working as a golf caddy in the mornings and writing in the afternoon and evenings. 

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Firestorm, by Greg Mullins. Greg is a former Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW (what used to be NSW Fire Brigades), his particular specialty being bush (forest) fires in the urban environment, and he details how climate change is affecting forest fire performance in both Australia and other jurisdictions of which he has experience. His conclusion is that what used to be regarded as extreme is rapidly becoming the norm, and we need to do something about it yesterday. It makes terrifying reading, and is a must-read for all Australians and anyone else with the least interest in where this planet is heading. Sadly, our leaders seem to have transmuted into ostriches ...

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9 hours ago, Admiral Puff said:

Firestorm, by Greg Mullins. Greg is a former Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW (what used to be NSW Fire Brigades), his particular specialty being bush (forest) fires in the urban environment, and he details how climate change is affecting forest fire performance in both Australia and other jurisdictions of which he has experience. His conclusion is that what used to be regarded as extreme is rapidly becoming the norm, and we need to do something about it yesterday. It makes terrifying reading, and is a must-read for all Australians and anyone else with the least interest in where this planet is heading. Sadly, our leaders seem to have transmuted into ostriches ...

 

This is not something new, I’m afraid.

 

I’m just over halfway through the 1st volume of a biography of Margaret Thatcher, and it’s reached the occasion when she won the election in 1979.

 

Describing a meeting with a civil servant briefing her on the environment ,  the author says the civil servant told Thatcher that climate change would be a serious matter.

 

Thatcher then said; Are you telling me my government should worry about the weather?

 

This was 1979. And she was a scientist.

 

 

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On 10/9/2021 at 10:49 PM, Admiral Puff said:

Firestorm, by Greg Mullins. Greg is a former Commissioner of Fire and Rescue NSW (what used to be NSW Fire Brigades), his particular specialty being bush (forest) fires in the urban environment, and he details how climate change is affecting forest fire performance in both Australia and other jurisdictions of which he has experience. His conclusion is that what used to be regarded as extreme is rapidly becoming the norm, and we need to do something about it yesterday. It makes terrifying reading, and is a must-read for all Australians and anyone else with the least interest in where this planet is heading. Sadly, our leaders seem to have transmuted into ostriches ...

 

Polititions like to make all the right noises, but rarely turn pledges into actions.  I worry about the world I've brought two children into, as the climate changes in my own short lifetime have been dramatic.

 

- - -

 

Just finished reading this, Duel under the Stars by Wilhelm Johnen. Interesting to read a Luftwaffe account. Wilhelm was a nightfighter ace flying Bf110s. It's a fairly candid view of the war, and tries to explain why they carried on when so many could see defeat was inevitible. A very brave man. The whole book is of interest, but one exploit that stands out is a force landing in Switzerland while chasing an adversary down. Interred for several weeks the crew are finally exchanged for POWs and return to Germany, but this chapter could make a book all of it's own! Some more detail of this international incident in the link.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CVAVz2cslcz/

 

https://www.pressreader.com/uk/iron-cross/20210630/281569473703297

 

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Just finished "Slough House" by Mick Herron. Having read all of his previous Slough House/Slow Horses books I am starting feel that his portrayal of his major character is becoming a little tiresome as is Herron embedding his politics into his (later) books.

 

In short the premise of a bunch of screw up spies being lead by the likes of an aging, overweight, heavy smoking and hard drinking badly dressed "super spy" with extremely bad manners and always overcoming unbeatable odds is starting to wear thin.

 

His stories/plots are always entertaining and well written and perhaps we will see a shift to new characters in his next book?  

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Scram by Harry Benson.

A reread of this well written book about the Falklands war overall and his part in it flying the Wessex as a newly qualified pilot of the type.

Next year it will be 40 years since the conflict took place! :poppy:

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12 minutes ago, Pete in Lincs said:

Scram by Harry Benson.

A reread of this well written book about the Falklands war overall and his part in it flying the Wessex as a newly qualified pilot of the type.

Next year it will be 40 years since the conflict took place! :poppy:

I have never read a book about the Falklands and i think it's about time i did...I've got books from Ceaser to Vietnam,cheers Pete i'll look for a copy...

 

:poppy:

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10 hours ago, Quiet Mike said:

 

Polititions like to make all the right noises, but rarely turn pledges into actions.  I worry about the world I've brought two children into, as the climate changes in my own short lifetime have been dramatic.

 

Fortunately, Greg's not a politician, but rather a retired senior public servant who's writing about a subject with which he is very, very familiar. He was instrumental in forming a large group of similarly qualified individuals who have done a lot to heighten public awareness of the climate change problem, including the public shaming of many of our decision makers who have been dragging their feet. The signs are now becoming more positive that Australia may even take a position which doesn't accord with the dictates of the coal miners ...

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Killing Hope by William Blum documents the activities of the CIA (and the US military and State Department) since WW2. The CIA seems to have morphed from an intelligence agency to an active quasi-military arm of the US Governemt with the remit of unseating foreign governments whch were inimical to US business interests. Generally governments who espoused land reform were equated to Communism and had to be removed by any means. There are about 50 instances where the CIA meddled in national politics from China, Italy, Greece. The Philippines, Albania and Germany in the 1940s and 1950s through dozens of countries in the 1970s and 80s to Afghanistan, El Salvador and Haiti in the 90s. Being handed two colossal military defeats in Vietnam and Afghanistan does not seem to have deterred them much. Blum was often dismissed as a paranoid CIA-hater but to dismiss him you have to not accept the thousands of references he quotes - newspaper articles, letters, statements by government figures etc. One of the most depressing books I have ever read.

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Now finished "A Savage Dreamland, Journeys in Burma" by Davis Eimer, it took longer to read that I'd anticipated, largely due to putting it aside to read a couple of other books along the way. What a totally stuffed up, disfunctional country Myanmar really is, such a tragic shame for it's inhabitants. :(

Started in on the book of The Blue Max, quite a switch in mentality from the usual fare of non fiction.

Steve.

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Just re-read Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by Le Carre again. His most recent introduction really emphasised his progressively increasing (and IMO frankly barmy) level of disillusionment with the whole idea of having spy services at all, which I believe he went into more in his recent posthumously-published novel, which I will never read, for like his diametric opposite, Tom Clancy, his books ceased to be good for me after the end of the Cold War (or sooner, for Clancy). Now that I'm much more conversant with 1970s and '60s British politics (and how's that for useless knowledgebases!) I appreciate how vituperatively political the book was at the time. I hadn't realized, I think, until I read his recent introduction, that Le Carre's mouthpiece character was in fact Bill Haydon, and not Smiley (who as a fat, physically weak, vaguely impotent and bookish type, I instantly felt a strong rapport with). (Probably I'm more like Esterhase, a foreigner desperate to be accepted as  a Briton.) Smiley's conversation with Connie still makes me tear up.

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Having just re-read Mark Curtis':

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it remains astonishing how much of the UK's foreign policy is ommitted or erased from the domestic scene, ironically almost as if it were another world....

 

Ian Newton's:

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by contrast lets your mind soar around the world on words. How could you resist a book that contains:

 

'At high southern latitudes, the Southern Ocean extends continuously around the earth, uninterrupted by continents. This allows some seabird species to circle the earth in their non-breeding periods, assisted by strong eastward-blowing winds.'

 

What things those birds must see, living in the wind.

 

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Just finished "The Year of the Gun" by H B Lyle, the third book in his "Irregular" series which are novels of historical fiction. 

 

The hero of the series is the former "Baker Street Irregular" Higgins, who is mentioned in "A Study in Scarlet" and "The Sign of the Four". Higgins is now a young man working for Vernon Kell, founder and first director of the British Secret Service.

 

Lyle mixes fictional events and characters together with actual characters and events to provide an interesting, pleasant and well researched work of fiction. Sherlock Holmes makes a brief appearance in this book, as he does in the first of the series - "The Irregular". 

 

This installment finds Wiggins being thrown off the Titanic in Ireland and working for a crime lord in Dublin. He eventually finds his way to New York where we uncover the actual reason he left England. The book concludes with gunrunning in the North Sea and English Channel. It is good read as are Lyle's two previous books - "The Irregular" and "The Red Ribbon"

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Currently reading "Flying Freestyle" by Jerry Pook and very much enjoying it because his career spans such a huge spread of aircraft, starting off with Tiger Moths in his first flying experiences and then going through about 3 generations of fast jets in his RAF career. Very diverse, interesting aircraft but he also likes to describe not just his adventures in them but also what they felt like to fly. It's a book I haven't seen come up on this thread yet so thought it was worth mentioning.

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