| Author | Message | ||
     Mr_grumpy |
As an avid reader the first thing I try to do when I visit someones home for the first time is to check out their books, you can learn so much about them that way. So I reckon we need a book review thread to let others know what we're reading at the moment & if it's good or not, what genre of book, & a brief precis if you want (you can lift it from amazon). I'd like to know also if you'd keep it to read again, or swap it out, & a star rating out of 5. Here's what I've just finished. SNIPER ONE by Sgt Dan Mills. WAR, True story, very good. April 2004: Sgt Dan Mills and his platoon of snipers fly into southern Iraq, part of an infantry battalion sent to win hearts and minds. They were soon fighting for their lives. Back home we were told they were peacekeeping. But there was no peace to keep. Because within days of arriving in theatre, Mills and his men were caught up in the longest, most sustained firefight British troops had faced for over fifty years. This awe-inspiring account tells of total war in throat-burning winds and fifty-degree heat, blasted by mortars and surrounded by heavily armed militias. For six months, they fought alone: isolated, besieged and under constant enemy fire. Their heroic stand created a modern-day Rorke's Drift. Read again 4* | ||
| Mark61 |
Moment of Truth In Iraq Micheal Yon April 2008 Freelance long term embedded reporter/ ex-Specail Forces. Reporting what the troops see, do and say. Not what the media owners want to be said! www.michealyononline.com mark61 | ||
| Tramp |
Walter Mitty lives.... | ||
| Boney95 |
Lone Survivor http://www.amazon.com/Lone-Survivor-Eyewitness-Acc ount-Operation/dp/0316067598/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8& s=books&qid=1212406466&sr=1-2 Even though it's the Navy; very good read. | ||
| Wardan123 |
Thomas Fiedman "The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century" Scott Adams "God's Debris: A Thought Experiment" For what it is worth, in my opinion, the most accurate depiction of a soldier in combat (and the dynamics of combat and Army life) is Stephen Crane's "The Red Badge of Courage". | ||
| Tramp |
For me, it's Remarque's "all Quiet On The Western front", and his ensuing woks such as "A Time to live, A Time to Die" and "The Road Back". All glory-hound easy chair-warrior masturbators should give at least one of those a go. His accounts of the post-WW I Weimar stench is eerily similar to our contemporary situation. For a lighter combat read, nothing compares to the compilations of Bill Mauldin's "Stars & Stripes" cartoons, featuring "Wille & Joe". "Up Front" and "back Home" have outstanding, light-read text to accompany the award-winning cartoons. Better yet- why not expand a few good minds away from the "Sgt. Rock for Adult Children" genre? Try "1491" or "Twilight of the Mammoths".... | ||
| Road_thing |
...pocketa-pocketa-pocketa... | ||
| Tramp |
Pah-tay-tah pah-tay-tah pah-Tay-tah | ||
| Wardan123 |
To hell with the handkerchief... | ||
| Rubberdown |
One of my all-time favorites: "Heart of Darkness". Joseph Conrad. A somewhat short story that speak volumes about human nature. | ||
| Doughnut |
Books I think everyone should read. -Phantom of the Opera -Watership Down -Alice in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass -The Choirboys I am sue there are others, but these are the ones that jumped to mind. | ||
| Swordsman |
Just finished "The Sharing Knife: Passage" by Lois Bujold. Pretty good sequel, but a bit slow. Finished "Iron Angel" just before that, which is the sequel to "Scar Night". Both great books by Alan Campbell. If you start reading them, be sure to read them in this order: Scar Night, Lye Street, Iron Angel. "Lye Street" is a prequel to "Scar Night", but if you skip it, you won't understand half the stuff in "Iron Angel". I LOVE to read. If I get a new novel, I'm not worth killin' for up to 3 days. I ALWAYS finish a novel within 3 days, since I can't put them down. I've been known to blow out a 400 page book in a single day. ~SM | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
This isn't a thread about war books, it's for ANY books!!! It just happens that that was the last book I finished. I've just started the latest Jack Higgins, it's rocking on fairly well so far. I'll review it when it's done. SM, I'm the same, the latest Terry Pratchett comes out in paperback on June 16th, I'm having a job to wait, but it'll get read at one or two sittings the first time then I'll read it again in a month or two's time. | ||
| Doughnut |
Terry Pratchett, I am slowly reading them all right now (Disc World books), reminds me a little of Douglas Adams. | ||
| Thumper74 |
Anything by Chuck Phalaniuk. | ||
| Djkaplan |
I limit myself strictly to non-fiction. I am currently in the middle of the 1999/2000 M2 Cyclone Service Manual. The plot is long and rambling, but overall, I rate it a good read. Lot's of pics, too. I think Erik did the modeling himself in some of them... | ||
| Ferris_von_bueller |
War book: Generation Kill by Evan Wright, which was made into an HBO miniseries debuting in July. | ||
| Hughlysses |
I'm presently reading The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton. Saw the original movie when I was a teen (great!), saw the AE network mini-series last week (not very good), figured I'd read the book (excellent so far). I read this one a few years back,great non-fiction: the Long Walk by Slavomir Rawicz. True story of how several people WALKED out of a Soviet prison in Siberia all the way to India. Pretty freaking amazing. http://www.amazon.com/Long-Walk-True-Story-Freedom /dp/1558216847 | ||
| Azxb9r |
I am currently reading "Ghost Rider" by Neil Peart. Over all it has been good, but I keep finding myself digging out the road atlas to figure out where he is. One of my all time favorites is "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" by Douglas Adams. | ||
| Damnut |
The last three books I just read: Never Give Up: My Stroke, My Recovery, and My Return to the NFL is a memoir by Tedy Bruschi. In this book the NFL linebacker Tedy Bruschi’s details his comeback from a stroke and return to the NFL. With a sassy candor, Bruschi recalls the morning of the stroke, his initial plans to retire, his rehabilitation, and his tense moments at home when he tried to convince his wife that he was ready to return to the NFL (earning himself a share of the Comeback Player of the Year Award and full ownership of the prestigious Ed Block Courage Award). Drawing from his detailed journal, Bruschi speaks candidly of meetings with the Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and team owner Robert Kraft. He talks about the encouragement he received from many teammates, such as Tom Brady, and he speaks of a few who wondered if his attempt to come back was merely a ruse to collect a paycheck. He remembers the six-week period when one of his three young sons would say, "Daddy, pick me up?" and he would have to respond, "I can't." And he shares the support and encouragement he’s given to other stroke victims. Tom Brady says of the book, "You might be coming to this book as a fan of Tedy's football skills and, don't get me wrong, gaining the insights of one of the best defenders in Patriots history is worth the price of admission, but that's just part of the story. There are a lot of reasons to look up to him, and I promise you will finish this book with an admiration for him on a much deeper level." The foreword is written by Tom Brady. Two Wheels Through Terror: Diary of a South American Motorcycle Odyssey Author: Glen Heggstad Glen Heggstad, the self-proclaimed "Striking Viking," is an adventure motorcyclist who seeks out and rides the most rugged places on the planet. He has been a Hell's Angel and a martial arts competitor, but no amount of training or experience was able to prepare him for what he became while riding to the southern tip of South America: a prisoner. This book is the shocking travelogue of Heggstad's journey, his capture by Colombia's rebel ELN army, and the eventual realization of a dream. Read about an exciting round-trip to the tip of the world, made all the more amazing by its intermission at the hands of terrorists. Too Late To Say Goodbye by Ann Rule This book is about the bizarre story of Dr. Barton Corbin, a Georgia dentist, and two women in his life--Dolly Hearn, a fellow dental student--and Jennifer Corbin, his wife. This promises to be one of the most remarkable and tangled stories Ann has ever told. I have to say that I enjoy reading anything by Ann Rule. Most of what I read are true life stories/events. I think it makes for better reading when what you are discovering as you read actually happened. | ||
| S1wmike |
Spy catcher Peter Wright. It's a long technical read and written in a British dialect. Very eye opening and well worth the time 5* | ||
| Jettdawg |
+1 Terry Pratchett (DiscWorld series) A friend recommended them to me a while back, and now I'm hooked... on my 5th one now  I really like how his writing is kind of a cross between Douglas Adams and J.R.R. Tolkein | ||
| Doerman |
Travis S Taylor: "Warp Speed" This is SciFi. Dr. Taylor has a PHD in Physics, Huntsville Alabama and he has a knack for putting together a story extrapolated from theoretical physics and making the story line a real exciting read. He has written four books, the latest in the series is "The Tau Ceti Agenda". Each book builds on the other so "Warp Speed" is the place to start (and possibly the best book in the series). | ||
| Road_thing |
Patrick O'Brian. The Aubrey/Maturin series. rt | ||
| Pammy |
I just read(among other things) "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham. It was his first non-fiction. All I can say is WOW! It is scary to know that stuff like this can happen in the United States! So, I just read fluff mainly...it makes me happy. Wes, reads nothing but technical books. He nags at me consistantly about my choices in reading material. Professor Gordan Blair's Design and Simulation of Four Stroke Engines is one that he carries around with him. I can't even look at the cover of it without getting sleepy. Technical books on fluid dynamics and the like are more his taste. | ||
| Mark61 |
Duma Key by Stephen King now I am in a WEB Griffin novel. the dud is prolific and always easy to stay with! mark61 | ||
| Darthane |
...at the moment I'm reading the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher (again - I'm also a big fan of his Dresden Files series). High fantasy, easy to read, fun books. One of my friends just lent me the first Shannarah book by Terry Brooks, so I'm going to start on that once I finish the Codex Alera. The last non-fiction I read was a book called Lockheed Stealth, about the various planes the Skunkworks produced over the years as stealth technology emerged and advanced. Before that was a series I purchased for my father, who's a big WWII buff. It was the War in the Pacific series by a retired Brigadier General Marine whose name escapes me. It's actually a collection of articles he's written over several years for different publications, and one of the most intringueing things I liked about it was that it often presented the other side, rather than always being written from an Allied perspective. Very, very good reading. I'm with you, Swordsman. Every bookshelf I've got is crammed two deep with books, and there are more scattered around in boxes and other random places. I've read every book I own (unless it's brand new) at least twice, since I can't stand to no be reading something and I can't afford to buy new ones constantly. | ||
| Miamiuly |
The Redneck Manifesto- Jim Goads Good read, basically points out how we can't make fun of anyone anymore...except for those slack jaw yokels who choose not to conform and live in a bustling city but out in the sticks. The Simpsons are just one example with Cletus the slack jaw yokel and his huge family and wife Brandine. If they had an ethnic name or looked to be latin or black- they would have hell to pay. But it's just another redneck joke so no problem. (Message edited by miamiuly on June 04, 2008) | ||
| Aptbldr |
"Many of us work in jobs with no discernible products or measurable results. We manage brands and implement initiatives, all the while basing our self-esteem on the opinions of others." "Compare that with the motorcycle mechanic. Instead of the vague threat of a performance review, the mechanic faces the tactile problem of a bike that won't start. He tests various theories and deploys actual tools. The sign of success is a roaring engine." http://www.slate.com/id/2218650/pagenum/all/ Cross-posted from another list. |
