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The Bomber books are brilliant. Heavy as ****, but brilliant.

 

If they're anything like Fighter I'll be happy...been meaning to buy for a while.

 

I might go for Stalingrad...even though I've never liked reading about it.

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If they're anything like Fighter I'll be happy...been meaning to buy for a while.

 

I might go for Stalingrad...even though I've never liked reading about it.

 

Stalingrad and the Berlin one are superb. Heavy heavy stuff going on.

 

I would go for...

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Battle-Atlantic-Andrew-Williams/dp/0563488638/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287859626&sr=1-1

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colditz-Story-Cassell-Military-Paperbacks/dp/0304358126/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1287859647&sr=1-1

 

Going across to Colditz early next year. Cant bloody wait.

 

Yes, I'm a geek.

 

laugh.gif

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I've read the Colditz story that the film was based on...obviously they couldn't give everything away as it might jeopordise future excape attempts.....

 

I'm pretty sure it also included The Dambusters which I never read at the time....I hope my parents have kept it. River Kwai was on there. It was four in one....and I only read Colditz.

 

 

Good stuff GA. :thumbsup:

 

I'm planning to go on a grand WWII tour of my own choosing. As long as it's not underground as I tried that at Vimy Ridge and woke up outside or was it Amiens or Arras that was a School trip yrs ago.

 

One of my mates works at the Museum of Flight. Lucky....

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I've read the Colditz story that the film was based on...obviously they couldn't give everything away as it might jeopordise future excape attempts.....

 

I'm pretty sure it also included The Dambusters which I never read at the time....I hope my parents have kept it. River Kwai was on there. It was four in one....and I only read Colditz.

 

 

Good stuff GA. :thumbsup:

 

I'm planning to go on a grand WWII tour of my own choosing. As long as it's not underground as I tried that at Vimy Ridge and woke up outside or was it Amiens or Arras that was a School trip yrs ago.

 

One of my mates works at the Museum of Flight. Lucky....

 

Go for it man - think they would be amazing.

 

thumbsup.gif

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Go for it man - think they would be amazing.

 

thumbsup.gif

 

Where to start though?

 

Lincolnshire...my parents stay there atm...Bomber country.

 

Head to London and the War Rooms...would they let me smoke a cigar?

 

Uxbridge, Fighter Command HQ.

 

(I've seen coastal defences at Dunbar/Tyninghame whilst growing up...)

 

Now, I'd have to take in Normandy and Dunkirk.....any ferries leave from Portsmouth?

 

Following that it would be on the course of Market Garden and the 'Bridge too Far.'

 

I'd try and visit the Dams. But Colditz is a must for me.

 

 

That's the places I want to visit, my passport needs stamped!

 

:thumbsup:

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Unfortuantely GA, I don't have access to anything like the Military or the History Channel.

 

I did notice that Dunkirk is on War Walks...iplayer which I'll watch. Richard Holmes I think...

 

I spent a year in Lincolnshire and one of the buses went through some wee place Maltby(?) but I knew instantly that the buildings were military.....Straight out the Dambusters...

 

Bomber country....

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:laugh:

 

Shows how much I'm enjoying it, I can't even remember its name! Have you read it, btw?

 

yeah. i read it on a dreadful teenage holiday to faliraki. it was by far the highlight. I wont bother telling you why its a great book - you can make your own mind up on whether you like it or not - but if you want to get a better feel for it and possibly take a bit more away from it look it up on spark notes and look at a few of the themes and the main characters.

 

or just read something else.

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Way-Was-My-Autobiography/dp/0747271089/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1288204940&sr=1-2

 

Was given this as a present, after finishing what I was reading, bashed in to this last night.

 

What an excellent read. Have only really seen small clips of Stanley Matthews, this is such a great way to find out more about a man that is quite rightly so mentioned as a legend. Humble working class background, punishing training schedule (which was done outwith club training), a real desire to be the best he can. Total gentleman as well.

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I've just finished Shoedog by George P Pelecanos.

 

A hardboiled noir style American thriller.

 

Not bad but I've just found out it's been adapted as a film by the director of Henry Portrait Of A Serial Killer. I think it will be an excellent film. Due for release next year.

 

Yellow Dog by Martin Amis is next on the pile.

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Is this any good? I usually find most football books a bit shit but a few people have mentioned this.

It's something every football supporter should read.

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So, enjoyed Mr American and Casino Royale. Both good paced entertaining stuff. Great to see Flashman returning and reliving old glories in Mr American.

 

Books on the go now are Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

 

and

 

Empires and Barbarians: Migration, Development and the Birth of Europe.

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Re-reading "Boiling a Frog" by Christopher Brookmyre for about the 5th time, while also working my way through the Sherlock Holmes collections on my iPad (the Aussie iBook store hasn't licensed any modern books yet, so I'm trying out all the free public domain stuff instead. If anyone else is doing the same, I recommend Flatland).

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The book thief by Marks Zusak has been at the bottom of the pile of books for months its a bit strange.

Really enjoyed the millennium trilogy, just got into nelson de mile loving his stuff

 

 

After two years and three attempts , I've finally finished it. Quite enjoyed it once I got into the narrative by the grim reaper.

 

Currently reading The Left Hand of God. Wouldn't recommend it though.

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CavySlaveJambo

I've just finished reading the generic Deadliest Catch Book.

 

I am now reading the Time Bandit Book, and North by Northwestern, both related to Deadliest Catch.

 

Next will be Mortal Remains by Kathy Reichs.

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Currently reading Cornwell's new one, the Fort, too early to tell if it's any good yet.

 

Just finished I, sniper by Stephen Hunter (i'm a bit of a fanboy of Mr Hunter).

 

Recently finished the Snowman, very disappointed.

 

the millenium trilogy - seriously good read.

 

Pirate Latitudes - also a seriously good read, enjoy dex, alas no more Mr Chrichton books :(

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Just finished the second book of the The Millenium Trilogy and started on the new Keith Richards book.After a slow start i'm begining to enjoy it.

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started on the new Keith Richards book.After a slow start i'm begining to enjoy it.

 

Just started it today as I had a longish train journey. Very easy to read so far, I think he is guilty of romanticising things a bit much and embellishing details but that's all part of his character.

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Just started it today as I had a longish train journey. Very easy to read so far, I think he is guilty of romanticising things a bit much and embellishing details but that's all part of his character.

 

Amazing that he remembers everything.The recording and touring schedule was horrendous.Interesting that he thinks the Beatles and Stones was the start of the lp taking over from the single.

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  • 3 weeks later...

So, enjoyed Mr American and Casino Royale. Both good paced entertaining stuff. Great to see Flashman returning and reliving old glories in Mr American.

 

Books on the go now are Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy

 

and

 

Empires and Barbarians: Migration, Development and the Birth of Europe.

 

Struggling to get going on Empires and Barbarians so in between have read:

 

- Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. Possibly the most brutal book I have ever read. A supposed odyssey but to me an empty list of brutal adventures.

- Crossing the Boundary by "Kevin Pieterson" - cheap rushed job after the 05 Ashes. Not very good.

- Perspective and other Optical Illusions by Phoebe McNaughton. Nice little book with some classic illusions. Not much explanatory stuff but nice enough anyway.

- The Bedroom Secrets of the Master Chefs by Irvine Welsh - Not very good, repetitive samey stuff.

- My Love Affair With Borthwick Castle by Helen Bailey - know some of the people involved so a nice book.

 

Next up is The Generation Game by David McWilliams. Pretty topical given current Irish economic woes.

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Miles - The Autobiography.

 

 

Miles Davis' life story, brutally frank and fascinating story of the mans life. He pulls no punches and tells it like it is, and doesn't really come across as a nice person. NBut being Miles he doesn't give a damn what you think of him.

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The second in a series of four planned books by Steve Hull, referencing iconic British pen manufacturers, the Onoto book is planned for next year, with the Swan book to follow in 2014.

DSCF4147.jpg

Thought you'd be interested :ninja:

jt

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Snake Plissken

Presently getting through a biography of Caesar by Adrian Goldsworthy.

 

Prior to that I'd just finished a books about Attila, Cicero and Spartacus so I'm going through a real ancient history phase with my reading.

Edited by Teenwolf
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About to start this...

 

3776.jpg

 

I quite like Mr Wheen, having read his biography of Karl Marx and How Mumbo Jumbo Conquered the World.

 

Synopsis from Amazon:

 

Strange Days Indeed, by Francis Wheen. The nostalgic whiff of the seventies evokes memories of loons and disco, Abba and Fawlty Towers. However, beneath the long hair it was really a theme park of mass paranoia. Strange Days Indeed tells the story of the decade that a young Francis Wheen walked into having pronounced he was dropping out to join the alternative society. Instead of the optimistic dreams of the sixties he found a world on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown, huddled over candles waiting for the next terrorist bomb, kidnapping or food shortage warning. Whether it was Nixon's demented behaviour in the White House, Harold Wilson's insistence that 'they' (whoever 'they' were) were out to get him, or the trial of Rupert Bear, it is a story almost too fantastical to be true. With his brilliantly acute sense of the absurd Francis Wheen slices through the pungent melange of mistrust and conspiratorial fever to expose the sickly form of a decade in which nations were brought to a sclerotic halt by power cuts, military coups, economic anarchy and the arrival of Uri Geller. Since the Great Crash of our generation barely a week passes without some allusion to that distant decade. As we are consumed by the heady stench of our own collective meltdown, there is no better guide than Francis Wheen to shine his Swiftian light on the true nature of the era that has returned to haunt us. Amidst the chaos Strange Days Indeed is an hilarious and jaw-droppingly revealing chronicle of the golden age of the paranoid style.
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I'm actually about halfway through a hearts book now...Ten of Hearts the Heart of Midlothian Story 1980-1990 by Ray Hepburn, cracking read and picked up a mint condition first edition in a second hand book store.

 

If anyone knows (or is) Ray, help with getting my copy signed so I can stick it with my signed first edition collection would be greatly appreciated.

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Nelly Terraces

Just finished Donna Tartt's 'The Secret History'. Great read, and very dark, both that and 'The Little Friend' have been superb. Anyone else read any of her stuff?

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Creepy Lurker

Currently, it's a weird mix of J.S. Mill's On Liberty, Cannibale by Didier Daeninckx and about seven different books or articles on liberal opposition within Russia and Poland in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

 

It's, er, interesting but tough going.

 

 

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The People's Chimp

Read these two on holiday:

51ENe6CC-ZL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

 

 

51N6E3AFTKL.jpg

 

 

The first is a wonderfully bitchy account of the lead up to, and through, the britpop years from the deeply arch Luke Haines of the auteurs. The second, dirty havana, is pure filth, coupled with flashing insight and flashes of philosophy which could be lost amongst all the flaming desire, sex and bad smells, but which reveal an existentialism at the core of the novel. It is immensely readable, but certain to cause offence, or even revulsion amongst some. Highly recommended.

 

I've just started this:

contempt+nyrb.jpg

 

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Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks excellent book

Loved that when I read it. Just finished Nick Kent's 70's memoir which was average at best. Don't know what to read next.

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I'm in the process of reading Bomber Boys..Patrick Bishop. :thumbsup:

 

Although, I've read Invasion, 1940, Derek Robinson.....basically saying that it wouldn't happen which I agree with....straight out of a charity shop but a good read nonetheless.

 

Like Mac Elliott, I'd also recommend Birdsong.

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Malinga the Swinga

Agree with earlier poster about John Connolly. Read all of his and waiting for latest to come out on paperback. The millenium triology are very good, and Simon Scarrow who does the Roman books, about 2 guys in the legion are also good. Ceasar books are also excellent. Will edit that writers name in later.

 

Michael Connolly is not too bad, and the Bolitar and Reacher series are good as well, particularly Bolitars sidekick Winn.

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Read these two on holiday:

51ENe6CC-ZL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

 

 

51N6E3AFTKL.jpg

 

 

The first is a wonderfully bitchy account of the lead up to, and through, the britpop years from the deeply arch Luke Haines of the auteurs. The second, dirty havana, is pure filth, coupled with flashing insight and flashes of philosophy which could be lost amongst all the flaming desire, sex and bad smells, but which reveal an existentialism at the core of the novel. It is immensely readable, but certain to cause offence, or even revulsion amongst some. Highly recommended.

 

I've just started this:

contempt+nyrb.jpg

 

 

Contempt is a great novel I've read more than once. Only other novel I've read by Moravia is The Woman of Rome, which was also brilliant.

 

I must explore the Dirty Havana trilogy...

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Mr Brightside

Almost finished crime and punishment, good read but difficult to follow the Russian names, each character seems to have 3 different names.

 

Fancy some dickens next.

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Just finished 'Tyrant' by Christian Cameron. The trilogy, of which Tyrant is the first part, is based upon Greek/Macedon/Persian antics in 300 BC. It's one of those fact/fiction stories that are based on fact but the characters are sort of real . Good read though

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Just finished The Selfish Gene by Dawkins, as I fancied something a bit different. Starting Prestor John by John Buchan on the bus today, as I started reading it a few years ago and, to my shame, never finished it.

 

Think I'll try the Dirty Havana book the_liquidator recommends - sounds right up my street.

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