What is everyone reading?

Just finished 'B Company Arrived' straight through.

A great 'read' but then it's just the sort of book I that I find fascinating - to follow the fortunes of one company in one battle in amazing detail via the reports and recollections of the veterans, cross-checked with the most methodical research and newly-discovered illustrations ( most certainly not the 'same old' Arnhem photos trotted out in book after book ).

When I bought it I thought the book may be 'dry' and difficult to follow but no - it's a remarkable addition to any Arnhem/NW Europe bookshelf.

 

Martin,

You're killing me with reviews like that. I ordered my copy through Amazon a couple of weeks ago (They said 4 to 6 weeks delivery.....aaargh!). Sounds like it will be well worth the wait.

You probably know this one, but have you seen this site?

http://www.28chatsworth.fsnet.co.uk/

It's a brilliant day by day account of the 4th Parachute Squadron RE throughout the war.

Just about to start reading "Brotherhood of the Cauldron" about the Irish at Arnhem. Should be interesting.

Peter

 

Bought the book on negotiations by Swedish Folke Bernadotte in the spring 1945 with Himmler, Ribbentrop et al in Finnish. (It was published in the United States under the titleThe Curtain Falls (1945)).

Should be quite interesting.

 

Peter - I hadn't seen the site and thanks for posting it !

Don't worry about waiting for 'B Company' - savour the wait ... 'Unputdownable' is so over-used but it was true of this one and on top of that it's beautifully produced.

 

Finally got "Stalingrad"... That and some 25 other WWII books, including W.S. Churchill "World War II" and William L. Shirer "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich".

I spent $800 in book shops today... And of course, my boyfriend (with the complete support of my mother, sister, brother, etc.) took my credit card away and broke it...

 

$800? Man why don't you go to a library instead?

 

Hey Friedrich, i couldve sent you Rise and Fall of the third Reich for free (in a trade of course)


As for the Library? Yes, try that. Thats where I read Beevor's Stalingrad.

CvM

 

Having just read the story of 'B Company' at the Arnhem Bridge, I've just bought ' The Battered Bastards of Bastogne - A Chronicle of the Defense of Bastogne, December 19 1944 - January 17 1945' by George Koskimaki.

And it's another one you can't put down ! Again, just the sort of thing I enjoy the most - a 'Middlebrook-style' of work culled from the reminiscences of 530 ex-101st Airborne soldiers woven into an absorbing story of the whole of the Battle of Bastogne.

It's a US import ( Casemate Press, 2003 ) and it's available now...

 

Thank you, Martin! Sounds like just my kind of book, too!

I corresponded with mr. Kosimaki about 10 years ago when he first published his Hell's Higway book, about the 101st in Holland.

Does it ever end? I mean the book-thing???

 

Stevin - have you been corresponding with my wife ?? - because those are her exact words !!!

But sadly, of course, the veteran's accounts will end ( 60 of the contributors to the 'Bastogne' book died before it was published ).

But that's one of the great things about studying military history - for sure, a lot of disappointing or lazy books are published, but also many very good ones...

 

I just bought new books

WORLD WAR II

*"Years of Sorrow, Years of Shame - The Story of the Japanese Canadians in World War II" by Barry Broadfoot.

*"In All Respects Ready - The Merchand Navy and The Battle of the Atlantic, 1940-1945" by Commander Frederic B. Watt, RCN (R) Retd.

*"MONTY - The Making of a General 1887-1942" by Nigel Hamilton

*"Far Distant Ships - An Official Account of Canadian Naval Operation in World War II" By Joesph Schull

*"Unlucky Lady - The Life & Death of HMCS Athabaskan" by Len Burrow and Emile Beaudoin

*DUNKIRK - The Necessary Mith" by Nicholas Harman

*Six War Years 1939 - 1945 Memories of Canadians at Home and Abroad" by Barry Broadfoot


WORLD WAR I

*"More Than Patriotism - Canada at War 1914-1918" by Kathryn M. Bindon

* "The Veterans' Years - Coming Home From the War" by Barry Broadfoot

And right now I'm just finishing tranlsating Dante's Inferno into English (I have the Italian Copy) for my cousin.

DUCE

 

[ 15. September 2003, 12:37 AM: Message edited by: Crapgame ]

 

I just got "Decision in Normandy" after seeing so many people from here and other places recommend it. I haven't had much free time today so I've only read two chapters. But so far it's great!

 

My nose is tuck in a couple of them right now but off the top it is still Rolf Güth's liitle book on Zerstörer Z-34

~E

 

Right now I'm reading Bob Morgan's book about his 25 missions flying the Memphis Belle.

Greg

 

Carlo D'Este's Normandy book is one of my favourites, DB - I have re-read it twice. Enjoy !

 

Still have to get that one.

I just finished Simon Haines THE HOLLAND PATCH and started in Martin Middlebrook's ARNHEM 1944.

 

Middlebrook is my favourite Arnhem book - it runs out of steam a little toward the end, but it's a great, great read & one that I always take to Arnhem with me.

 

At least for me it doesn't! Let me have my credit card back!!!

Why don't I try a library?! It's idiotic! I must OWN every book I read!

And that exchanging books thing sounds nice...

 

Last Flight of the Luftwaffe:
The Fate of Schulungslehrgang Elbe, 7 April 1945
by Adrian Weir