What Are You Reading?

It’s one of those few super thick books, you hate it when you can see there are only 50 pages left…

 

I've seen some cult books that were physically big and very thick. Author was a junior officer in the USN during WW II (hint hint). The secret was the BIG PRINT and mind numbing gibberish. El oh El.

Just read in Red Army Tanks of WW II that the Soviets interpreted the USA stenciled on American lend-lease products as Ubiyat Sukinsyna Adolpho or Kill that Son of a Bitch Adolph. Learn something new (and useless) everyday!

 

Since magic was mentioned, the only book I read about magacians is the one about Jasper Maskylene, The War Magician. A lot of the claims are unsustainable but it would probably make for a good flick. Among the anomalies I couldn't ID the ship in Egypt that he purported disguised to look like a battleship.

 

I just finished reading Bloody Okinawa: The last great battle of World War II, by Joseph Wheelan 432 pages. I like his writing style and in this case gave you the story of the Marines and the Army and the Navy which endured the many Kamikaze attacks on their ships. The title of the book really does it justice according to him because the death toll on both sides including civilians was staggering. My father was there with the Army of Occupation after the war ended but I never could get all the facts straight.
For Christmas, because my son always asks for ideas, and I am basically done with modeling, I asked for three books. Midnight in the Pacific, the battle of Guadalcanal by Joseph Wheelan, 400 pages. A Dawn Like Thunder the story of torpedo squadron eight, by Robert J. Mrazek, 560 pages. And, I Dread the Thought of the Place, the Battle of Antietam, by D. Scott Hartwig. 976 pages. Hartwig, who retired in 2014, served in the National Park Service for 34 years.. He was the head historian at Gettysburg National Battlefield Park for 20 years and has written several other books. I live only 25 miles from Gettysburg and about 45 minutes from Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam National Battlefield Park. These books will probably take me a long time to read because I read rather slowly.

 

1/3 the way through Mark Twain's Roughing It. So far it's about his stagecoach trip and adventures in Nevada. Carson City was so humble when he visited. It's still small compared to Sacramento (CA) and they do have a nice state museum (silverware for the battleship NV is there) and a RR museum.

Half-Track - neat that you're in PA and so close to so many battlefields. I spent 5 days on my first visit to Gettysburg and then another two days on the second. Never reached the site of the cavalry fight. Also been to Monocacy and the Civil War Museum of Medicine in Frederick.

 

I was to Frederick, Maryland a few years ago to walk around and eat and I also went to the Civil War Museum of Medicine. You mentioned a railroad museum. I like anything to do with the old railroads and if you ever get to the Stroudsberg, PA. Railroad in Stroudsberg they have the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum there with the real locomotives and the railroad runs a real steam locomotive through the farm country in Lancaster County. It has three or four old passenger cars which the locomotive pulls. You would have to look it up for the museum and train operating schedule.

 

Wasn't aware of the one in Stroudsberg and I did see the one in Virginia. In Californiastan there are two branches with one in Sacramento and another in Jamestown. The latter has the water tower filmed in the opening scene of Pettycoat Junction. One train is dressed up like the Polar Express. The RR Museum in Fremont has the original Skunk Train (gasoline powered motor car with front half of car with passenger seats and the rear half was luggage).

If you go to Carson City, visit nearby Virginia City. It's not like the flatland set seen in Bonanza. It's built on a hillside and there are a couple of mineshafts you can visit. Virginia City has an old train that will take you for a one mile ride (that's all the track that's left).

The RR Museum one in Ogden, Utah was where they used to rebuild steam engines. It's also has the Browning Firearms Museum and the Browning Car Collection. The RR museum at the same place (one price covers all the museums) has a WW II Ambulance/hospital Car. It's quite an upgrade from the Civil War Med. Museum's Ambuance/hospital Car. The WW II were heated via hot water from the engine (Diesel days). The Virginia War Museum has a 40-8, something our WW I doughboys and WW II soldiers were exposed to. I remember reading about German PoWs being moved to camps in Pullman Cars! Our guys were stuffed in old nasty unheated cars that were sometimes strafed by our fighters. In once incident the GIs were let out and spelled POW with their bodies. When the fighter boys saw that, they dipped their wings and flew off (but we still lost some guys to "friendly fire.").

 

I'll spell gun as gonne and jail as goal. Excuse me, I'm going to the water closet to brush both of my teef (upper and lower so I can bite open a paper cartridge).

Some of my spelling is archaic spelling picked up from older books. I've read things written by British officers who fought in the American Revolution. Sometimes they spelled the same word two different ways in the same paragraph. No body checked their cell phones back then for spelling. Lazy I guess. BTW, "Teef" is not among the words I've read and is phoenetic.

 

Very off topic for this forum. The Life of Samuel H. Walker by Sullivan and Worsham. Probably the first indepth biography of the famous Texas Ranger.

 

Finished reading an advanced copy of David Sullivan and John Worsham's The Life of Samuel H. Walker. Walker was a Texas Ranger who trained under Jack "Coffee" Hays. During the Mexican-American War Walker raised a company of Texas Mounted Rangers for General Taylor. When his enlistment expired, he joined Hay's Ranger Regiment and was elected its Lt. Col. He also accepted a commission in the Regulars (First US Mounted Riffle Regiment) as the capt. of Company C. While on recruiting duty Walker made suggestions to Samuel Colt on improvements on the Paterson revolver. Colt listened and made the famous Walker revolver (which also pulled Colt of out bankruptcy). Walker returned with his company to Mexico where his pistols finally caught up with him. He was very pleased with them but didn't get to carry them for long for he was killed in combat. A short life but a glorious one. Casemate will release it in 2025.