What are we reading?

Gusington · January 07, 2020, 03:46:14 PM

Dammit Carl! Olde.

twitter3 · January 07, 2020, 08:04:19 PM

Quote from: Tripoli on January 07, 2020, 03:33:11 PM
The US Army publishes some good guides and walking tours of various USCW battlefields. Here's the one on New Market:
https://history.army.mil/html/books/070/70-24/cmhPub_70-24.pdf

Thank you! I will be reading this next.

WallysWorld · January 16, 2020, 10:02:29 AM

Reading Stephen G. Fritz's excellent "Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East". Just past after the Soviet counterattack after Operation Typhoon. A worthwhile book to read on the eastern front which focuses on the German decision making process and military issues faced by the Ostheer in the east.

I am looking at getting Robert M Citino's trilogy on the Wehrmacht after I finish reading this book:

Death of the Wehrmacht: The German Campaigns of 1942
Wehrmacht Retreats: Fighting a Lost War, 1943
The Wehrmacht's Last Stand The German Campaigns of 1944 - 1945

Gusington · January 16, 2020, 12:47:15 PM

I read Ostkrieg a few years ago and it was very good.

Gusington · January 22, 2020, 09:05:30 AM

About 100 pages in to Imperial Twilight bu Stephen Platt, about the Opium War.

ArizonaTank · January 27, 2020, 11:19:10 AM

Starting "Cross of Iron" by Willie Heinrich. Still early into it and it has not gripped me yet. It is taking place on the Russian Southern Front in 43 (Kuban)...so it is not a happy setting. It does seem dark and hopeless for the Germans.

One annoying thing is that the book says both the Russians and the Germans are carrying "tommy guns"...it was translated in the 50s, so I am guessing the translator picked this term because of its familiarity.

The version I have is an English first edition hard cover. Wonderful feel and old book smell (1954).

Gusington · February 08, 2020, 01:07:41 PM

Just started Star Wars: Heir to the Empire (20th Anniversary Edition - 2011) by Timothy Zahn.

MetalDog · February 08, 2020, 01:47:36 PM

I've not read it, but, all my Star Wars nerd friends say that is the Gold Standard. And I believe it is considered canon.

Gusington · February 08, 2020, 01:52:21 PM

Believe it or not I have never read any SW books...that's What I wanted to start here. Thrawn may be next.

Martok · February 09, 2020, 03:00:01 AM

Quote from: MetalDog on February 08, 2020, 01:47:36 PM
I've not read it, but, all my Star Wars nerd friends say that is the Gold Standard. And I believe it is considered canon.

I don't know that it's still "canon" according to Disney (not that anyone should give a f*** what they decree), but Zahn's Thrawn trilogy definitely remains the benchmark against which all other Star Wars fiction is compared. Hope you enjoy reading it, Gus!

Gusington · February 09, 2020, 11:57:15 AM

^First book in that trilogy, 'Thrawn' - is next for me 😎

JasonPratt · February 09, 2020, 02:53:04 PM

Quote from: Gusington on February 09, 2020, 11:57:15 AM
^First book in that trilogy, 'Thrawn' - is next for me 😎

You just started the Thrawn trilogy if you started Heir to the Empire. (There are other Thrawn series, too, but this is the trilogy that was originally avowed by Lucas to be the canonical sequel trilogy.)

Gusington · February 11, 2020, 08:46:17 AM

wut

Toonces · February 11, 2020, 07:36:54 PM

I've tried to get into Star Wars a few times but I just can't seem to get on board. Maybe my nerd cred isn't high enough?

Anyway, I've been working through Ian Toll's The Conquering Tide the last few weeks. I'm quite enjoying it; it's the same old story but told a different way.

I started reading my old copy of Costello's Pacific War as well, but I'm finding it somewhat slower going.

Yes, I'm gearing up for a full play of War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition this year. I shall finish one campaign before I die.

Martok · February 12, 2020, 12:03:22 AM

Quote from: Gusington on February 11, 2020, 08:46:17 AM
wut

What is nowadays referred to as the Thrawn trilogy consists of three novels written by Timothy Zahn back in the 90's: Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command. So since you've started Heir to the Empire, the book you want to read after that is Dark Force Rising, and then The Last Command.

Zahn has also penned a more recent series of novels featuring Grand Admiral Thrawn (including one simply titled "Thrawn" in 2017), but they are separate from the original book trilogy he wrote almost 30 years ago.

Quote from: Toonces on February 11, 2020, 07:36:54 PM
I've tried to get into Star Wars a few times but I just can't seem to get on board. Maybe my nerd cred isn't high enough?

Heh. I think you've got enough "cred" if you need it, Commander. :P

I don't know which Star Wars books you've tried getting into, but the writing quality tends to be all over the place -- for every Timothy Zahn and his Thrawn novels, you also have a Kevin J. Anderson and his novels featuring Admiral Daala (especially his anemic Jedi Academy trilogy) -- which obviously doesn't help matters. It could very well be that Star Wars simply isn't for you, but a lot can depend on which books you tried reading.

Quote from: Toonces on February 11, 2020, 07:36:54 PM
Anyway, I've been working through Ian Toll's The Conquering Tide the last few weeks. I'm quite enjoying it; it's the same old story but told a different way.

I started reading my old copy of Costello's Pacific War as well, but I'm finding it somewhat slower going.

Yes, I'm gearing up for a full play of War in the Pacific: Admiral's Edition this year. I shall finish one campaign before I die.

Nice. O0