Forgotten Hope Public Forum
Off-Topic => Off-Topic => Topic started by: Captain Pyjama Shark on 21-01-2017, 21:01:58
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What is everyone reading in the new year? Have you made it your resolution to read more? Looking for suggestions or to review something you've read recently? Let's have a thread where we can chat about it.
As for myself, I need to read more for pleasure this year rather than simply marinating in the internet. I've begun graduate school, so I'm backing off from history reading in my spare time and trying to read more fiction and non-fiction about other subject.
I'm beginning a 1903 novel now, The Riddle of the Sands. It's a campy "invasion novel" about a secret German plot to invade Scotland (which I believe was used as the plot for a mission in TimeSplitters). Loads of fun.
And even though I said I'm trying to lay off historical reading, I picked up a book at Christmas called Barbarians and Brothers: Anglo-American Warfare 1500-1856, by Wayne Lee. Lee argues that England developed a genocidal style of warfare in Ireland during the 15 & 1600s that was then applied to Indians in North America, and then to the rebels in the American Civil War.
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Reading The Unknown soldier (Tuntematon Sotilas) again, By far my favorite book. Still got Band of brothers lying around somewhere, which i should probably read. I'm thinking of getting a newly released re-print of newspapers from the war. The first edition is about the german invasion, should be pretty interesting.
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I'm thinking about getting some material from Walter Spielberger, but I doubt it'll be available in Argentina that easily.
But still, I'm reading Beevor's Battle of the Bulge. A slow read though, barely dedicate it an hour a day during lunch time in my job.
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Currently reading:
Asimov's Mysteries, by Isaac Asimov. I have loved Asmiov's books ever since I binge read the Foundation trilogy 8 years ago. I have read a few more books from him, namely The Martian Way, I, Robot and The Stars, Like Dust, all of which I liked a lot except for the latter, which was a massive disappointment. Asimov's Mysteries is a collection of short stories blending science fiction with murder mystery. So far so good, but I've only read the first short story so I can't really make any judgement.
Decision in the Ukraine, by George M. Nipe. I got this book because I realised that I knew next to nothing on what happened in the southern flank of the Eastern Front in the aftermath of the destruction of Paulus' 6th Army. The author aims for an academic style of writing and for the most part it works, even if sometimes it is drier than my lab reports. It makes a nice contrast with The Great Game, which is much lighter on sources, although I feel that it delves far too much into what if situations. For all it's worth it's a serious and comprehensive account of the German operations in the south from Kursk to Belogrod.
The Great Game, by Peter Hopkirk. I picked up this book after playing too much Victoria II made me hungry for some 19th century history, of which I had previously only read Tuchman's The Proud Tower, a year and a half ago. The book reads like a novel despite being non-fiction. It's a fascinating account of the Anglo-Russian rivalry in Central Asia, centering around the brave British and Russian officers who risked their lives trying to spread their respective's empires influence into the often brutal Khanates and Emirates that lay between Orenburg and the Indus.
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What is everyone reading in the new year? Have you made it your resolution to read more? Looking for suggestions or to review something you've read recently? Let's have a thread where we can chat about it.
I´m a huge fantasy fan. So I borrowed all four Eragon books from my sister. I don´t understand the hype about it. It sure is gorgeous for a 16 year old. Yet I feel like it´s just somehting hugely influenced by World of Warcraft or movies. Worse, the author tries to include some intrigues and political plot in his universe. Yet it seems clumsy to me.
I´m in book two now and I don´t really enjoy it. Anybody else who read it? Does it get worse or better as the author grows up?
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What is everyone reading in the new year? Have you made it your resolution to read more? Looking for suggestions or to review something you've read recently? Let's have a thread where we can chat about it.
I´m a huge fantasy fan. So I borrowed all four Eragon books from my sister. I don´t understand the hype about it. It sure is gorgeous for a 16 year old. Yet I feel like it´s just somehting hugely influenced by World of Warcraft or movies. Worse, the author tries to include some intrigues and political plot in his universe. Yet it seems clumsy to me.
I´m in book two now and I don´t really enjoy it. Anybody else who read it? Does it get worse or better as the author grows up?
I read the first one a long time ago, and I remember seeing the movie. From what I recall, it was a rather generic fantasy - evil, authoritarian empire, young boy hero begins a quest and topples it, dragons. But I can't say otherwise because I only read the one.
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What is everyone reading in the new year? Have you made it your resolution to read more? Looking for suggestions or to review something you've read recently? Let's have a thread where we can chat about it.
I´m a huge fantasy fan. So I borrowed all four Eragon books from my sister. I don´t understand the hype about it. It sure is gorgeous for a 16 year old. Yet I feel like it´s just somehting hugely influenced by World of Warcraft or movies. Worse, the author tries to include some intrigues and political plot in his universe. Yet it seems clumsy to me.
I´m in book two now and I don´t really enjoy it. Anybody else who read it? Does it get worse or better as the author grows up?
I read the first two books, and I've never really gotten my hands on the third book, so I can't say it gets better. I'd agree with CPS in the book being just generic fantasy.
I actually started reading more last year, it's a hobby I'd like to start again, as I used to read a lot as a kid. I just don't seem to have a lot of time for it. Managed to finish about a handful of books, but it kind of stopped during Christmas.
Currently working my way through Clausewitz's On War. I also have the Communist Manifesto, Decamerone and The Indisputable Existence of Santa Claus waiting on my bookshelf.
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Currently working my way through Clausewitz's On War.
Tried to read that in my 20s, but it was so boring that I quit after a few chapters.
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I am reading "The Conquest of The Reich", a story of US soldiers fighting in Germany. They also make a reference to the M30 Drilling :P
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Currently working my way through Clausewitz's On War.
Tried to read that in my 20s, but it was so boring that I quit after a few chapters.
The same happened to me 6-7 years ago with On the Origin of the Species. I still have the book but I can't really bring myself to read anything even slightly related to science these days.
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Currently working my way through Clausewitz's On War.
Tried to read that in my 20s, but it was so boring that I quit after a few chapters.
The same happened to me 6-7 years ago with On the Origin of the Species. I still have the book but I can't really bring myself to read anything even slightly related to science these days.
Yeah, Clausewitz wasn't the best of writers. I'm halfway through chapter III at the moment. Had a similar experience with Dante's Divine Comedy, but went fuck it after a fifth of the way.
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I´m currently also struggling with "On War", myself for quite a while now. Which is quite sad because it´s not a bad book, but it´s just tough to read.
This year I actually did something I´ve never done before: I read books about sports. About American Football, to be precise. On my holiday to Canada last year I caught the Football-bug and followed the current NFL season very closely, so in order to get into the intricacies of the game I read "Football for Dummies" by Howie Long, which is a quite good beginners read. Long introduces the game, the rules (and differences between college and professional sports), tactics and strategy basics, some lists of legendary players and other interesting stuff in an easy-to-approach way. The books structure is quite useful in order to re-read different chapters.
Also I´ve read "Take Your Eye Off the Ball 2.0: How to Watch Football by Knowing Where to Look" by Pat Kirwan and others. Except for the clumsy title it´s a good step into the more professional topics since it covers advanced tactics for the different roles etc. Kirwan tries to make the reader aware of all the other stuff that goes on in the pitch after the snap BESIDES the quarterback and he manages to do just that. Good read.
Lastly I´m currently reading "The Art of Smart Football" by Chris B. Brown which focuses on more specific topics, such as certain tactics and strategies different teams field. It´s rather short-ish with not quite 200 pages, but then the Kindle version was quite cheap and it´s a good read because it makes you understand more than "QB throws the ball!".
Go sports! :P
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Currently working my way through Clausewitz's On War.
Tried to read that in my 20s, but it was so boring that I quit after a few chapters.
The same happened to me 6-7 years ago with On the Origin of the Species. I still have the book but I can't really bring myself to read anything even slightly related to science these days.
That's a shame! I have recently begun to return to a childhood fascination for bugs and spiders. I read Dave Goulson's excellent book A Sting in the Tale, a fun memoir/bumblebee science book, and another very good work called The Journey to the Ants. Next up are guides about spiders and trees, I'm hoping to be able to identify local species and plants. When I was a kid I was very good at knowing all the different plants in my area, so I'm hoping to be able to do so again. It's a lot of fun understanding your local environment.
Go sports! :P
Going to watch the Superbowl? Do they even show it in Europe?
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Yep, I´ll watch it. Atleast in Germany, they´re actually going to broadcast it live on TV and for free on the internet. In recent years more people started being interested in the sport and several games are being shown on TV and the web each week during the season. Also the there´s a growing fan base that is being mobilised by social media, which helps spreading the word about the game. Germany actually has several leagues and incidently there´s a club in my town, which means I´ll get to watch some live games in the coming months.
BTT: Currently reading "A Line in the Sand" by James Barr. The book tells the story of how the Middle East was divided between the French and the British after WW1. Quite intriguing, well written and with lots of informations from diplomatic and political sources. Helps explain the modern history of the Middle East and why certain conflicts never seem to be extinguished.
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Last year I had to go back to school, so I didn't have the to read. So I read something like 13 books.
But I hope that in 2017 I will be able to read at least 20 or 30 book.
So my first book in 2017 was The day the revolution began: https://www.amazon.com/Day-Revolution-Began-Reconsidering-Crucifixion/dp/0062334387/?tag=thegospcoal-20
It's a book of historical theology, what I mean by that is that explain how the first christian saw Jesus and what they belief about revolution.
Now I am re-reading Battlecry of freedom by James McPherson. I had read it, like 6 years ago in french and now I'm reading it in English.
After that I will go with Comment on écrit l'histoire by Paul Veyne. It's a book about historical epistemology. After that I don't really know, maybe the arthurian Legend (the original one) or maybe something else. I will see.
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Last year I had to go back to school, so I didn't have the to read. So I read something like 13 books.
But I hope that in 2017 I will be able to read at least 20 or 30 book.
So my first book in 2017 was The day the revolution began: https://www.amazon.com/Day-Revolution-Began-Reconsidering-Crucifixion/dp/0062334387/?tag=thegospcoal-20
It's a book of historical theology, what I mean by that is that explain how the first christian saw Jesus and what they belief about revolution.
Now I am re-reading Battlecry of freedom by James McPherson. I had read it, like 6 years ago in french and now I'm reading it in English.
After that I will go with Comment on écrit l'histoire by Paul Veyne. It's a book about historical epistemology. After that I don't really know, maybe the arthurian Legend (the original one) or maybe something else. I will see.
Battle Cry of Freedom is something I've always been meaning to read. James McPherson is a great historian.
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Shameless doublepost:
What is everyone reading for February?
I am halfway through Vasily Grossman's novel Life and Fate. Grossman, as you probably know, was a Soviet war correspondent during WW2. He published his memoirs but secretly wrote this novel centered on the Battle of Stalingrad. It has a Tolstoyan scope, with a giant cast of characters from soldiers to housewives to scientists, and is sharply critical of totalitarianism. For obvious reasons it never got published in the USSR, and Grossman actually died thinking his manuscript was destroyed. It's a shame he never got the acclaim he deserved for it. Not finished yet, but I wouldn't hesitate to say it is the greatest fiction book about WW2.
On the side, I'm reading Algernon Blackwood's short horror stories. Very Lovecraftian!
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I started reading a couple of days ago Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges. It's a compilation of short stories written during the early 50's. I had never read any South American literature and I guessed that Borges would be as good of an introduction as it gets.
So far I've only read the three first stories, and I have to admit that I'd never think that reading fictional reviews of fictional books could be so engrossing. The third story (in my edition, it's the one about Don Quijote) was way too dense for a morning read, but otherwise I'm liking it quite a bit.
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I started reading a couple of days ago Ficciones, by Jorge Luis Borges. It's a compilation of short stories written during the early 50's. I had never read any South American literature and I guessed that Borges would be as good of an introduction as it gets.
So far I've only read the three first stories, and I have to admit that I'd never think that reading fictional reviews of fictional books could be so engrossing. The third story (in my edition, it's the one about Don Quijote) was way too dense for a morning read, but otherwise I'm liking it quite a bit.
I need to read Borges. Do you think he's a good place to begin for an introduction into South American magical realism? I used to think that I wouldn't like the genre, but I love the books of Haruki Murakami, which seem to fit the category.
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I'm reading Comment on écrit l'histoire by Paul Veyne. It is about what is history and how historian make it.
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I need to read Borges. Do you think he's a good place to begin for an introduction into South American magical realism? I used to think that I wouldn't like the genre, but I love the books of Haruki Murakami, which seem to fit the category.
To be honest the only kind of literature I'm qualified to comment on on that level is [Peninsular] Spanish and Catalan literature, since those were the ones I studied at high school. Ficciones, which I finished yesterday, was the first South American book I've read since, IIRC, Relato de un naufrago (8 or 9 years ago).
To answer your question, I do think that Ficciones is worth the read, and many of the stories contained in it, although not all of them, seem to fit the magical realism genre. I guess it may be what you seek.
On an unrelated note, since I have to write a report for university about opium alkaloids, I have started to read Julia Lovell's The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams and the Making of Modern China. Hopefully I'll be able to include a paragraph or two in my report about opium in the Qing dinasty, although it's a bit off-topic.
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I'm reading Comment on écrit l'histoire by Paul Veyne. It is about what is history and how historian make it.
I'd be interested in what he has to say. He is very Foucauldian, isn't he?
My reading for this month:
On the fiction front, I have finally completed Mary Renault's Alexander Trilogy, reading Fire from Heaven, the first one, years after I read the other two. I love these books and I think Renault is the best historical fiction writer in the last 50 years, particularly for her ability to avoid any sort of presentism while still portraying such complex, human characters. My one complaint is that she idolizes Alexander a bit much, he is the epitome of a Mary Sue, although that's sort of the point. His romance with Hephaistion is moving, but not as much as the romance in her best ancient book, The Last of the Wine. 4/5 Highly recommended reading Fire from Heaven if you have any interest in ancient history at all.
I also read G.K. Chesterton's epic poem The Ballad of the White Horse, about Alfred the Great's defeat of the Danes. Quick read and a galloping metre, pretty enjoyable poem.
On the non-fiction front, I read Wayne Lee's Barbarians and Brothers: Anglo-American Warfare 1500-1865. Lee explains how armies develop restraints on warfare by analyzing four case studies: the English in Ireland in the late 1500s, the First English Civil War, southeastern Amerindian warfare in the 1700s, and an anti-Indian campaign by the Continental Army during the American Revolution.
Lee shows how armies could have different ways of fighting versus rebellious subjects, "brotherly" enemies, or people they perceived to be barbarians, which modified the cruelty shown. American Continental soldiers, for instance, treated Indians mercilessly, were harsh with Loyalists, and very chivalrous against Redcoats. All these examples weaved into each other, too, for instance experience in Ireland informed how English soldiers treated Native Americans.
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Currently reading Dune for the first time. I started yesterday and it´s quite intriguing, I have to say. Before that I read Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design by Charles Montgomery. The book is about mostly about city planing, but also about how urban design can influence peoples lifes and especially their happiness. It´s a manifesto against urban sprawl, traditional zoning and modern-day (North American) city planing. The book reads really well, offering an interesting mix of anecdotes, psychological statistics and historical information about the developments that lead to sprawling Suburbia.
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I'd be interested in what he has to say. He is very Foucauldian, isn't he?
Yeah and like we say in french Il est lourd (it's boring). I'm happy with having read that book, but is rant against sociology and his understanding of science are not good. But everything else about history is common sens in that discipline so I agreed with him without problem.
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I just finished reading The Things They Carried by winner of Pulitzer Tim O'Brien. The author was fighting in Vietnam War and wrote few books about it. This one seems at some points to be his memoir, but is not. It tells different stories and leads through very poststructuralist narrative of shame and remorse. I can really recommend it.
As for fantasy, finished the last of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children series and was seriously let down. First book was actually quite book, second mediocre, but the third was really a letdown and turned out to be your “standard teenager novel.”
Sci-Fi – I have rediscovered Polish writer, Stanislaw Lem through English translation of his Solaris (don't watch the movies, or at least not the one with Clooney!!). If you have not read it, but like sci-fi do it. If you do not like sci-fi still do it, as the otherworldly setting is just it – setting, the story itself, the dilemma and the philosophy could to a huge extent happen on Earth as well. Really - read it! If you like short stories I can also recommend The Star Diaries, which at points seems at first to be ridiculous, but in fact deals with the problems of death, religion, law, human nature etc. all presented in usually fairly short stories.
Just started Hirohito's War, should finish by the end of this year (over 1000 pages, in fairly small print, good for self defence :P ).
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Finished for the third time one of my favorites of all time; Tigers In The Mud this time around in Finnish because I intend to give this version of the book as a birthday present for my father. Wanted to read it before that and I finished it only few minutes ago. The Finnish translation holds just fine but I didnt learn anything that I wouldnt have already known from the english version that I've read twice before.
Still, a classic that every FH2'er should read at some point. Whenever I read it, I think back to the movie Fury and wish that someone would come out with some big budget Band of Brothers-like series about Otto Carius and his comrades.
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Still, a classic that every FH2'er should read at some point. Whenever I read it, I think back to the movie Fury and wish that someone would come out with some big budget Band of Brothers-like series about Otto Carius and his comrades.
Speaking about it: What happened to the "Masters of the Air" series on which Spielberg and Hanks worked on? Haven't heard about that one in quite a while.
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I read a fantastic book this week that is recommended for any FH fan.
The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II, by Svetlana Alexievich.
(https://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9780399588723)
Despite the title, this is only a history of Soviet women at war. Alexievich spent decades interviewing female veterans of the Great Patriotic War about their experiences. It is an oral history, so each chapter deals with a theme, and then lets the veterans speak for themselves. There is a chapter about joining the army after Operation Barbarossa, a chapter about women who fought on the frontline, a chapter about women who served in logistical units behind the rear, etc.
It is a fantastic book and one I really enjoyed; I breezed through it in a day despite being 320 pages. It was also a very melancholy read - although many of these women spoke about camaraderie at the front, universallye they report being treated poorly after returning from the war. The idea that women didn't "belong in war" meant they were essentially forgotten, viewed as unmarriable, etc. A shocking number live in poverty by themselves because no one wanted to marry a woman who had fought during the war.
This is a great read for anyone interested in WW2 history. If you have read lots of memoirs and veteran accounts, I would encourage you to check out these women's to see a different side of the story. Yet one thing that the book made clear to me was that gendered distinctions about whether women can be soldiers or not are rubbish. Clearly all these women were.
4/5
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So, I have a question.
I'm looking for a synthesis of the pacific/asia front during WW1, so who could help me?
Thank you in advance
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So, I have a question.
I'm looking for a synthesis of the pacific/asia front during WW1, so who could help me?
Thank you in advance
This is a dramatically understudied part of the Great War, I think. There is a book called The Neglected War: the German South Pacific and the Influence of World War I by a German historian named Hermann Joseph Hiery, but it is more interested in the colonial policies of Germany and Australia/New Zealand.
You might have better look looking into a history of the Japanese military during World War One.
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I can recommend "The Siege of Tsingtau: The German-Japanese War 1914" by Charles Stephenson. Despite it's title, it covers the whole 1914 pacific campaign, from the historical background of the various powers involved, to the naval actions, the Australian-Japanese invasions of the german colonies, and of course the capture of Qingdao.
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Thank you both of you
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I have another question for you.
I'm looking, this time, for a synthesis on the eastern front during ww1. But I search for one that talk of the origins of the russian in that war until the the end of the Polish–Soviet War. So I want one that cover the russian revolution and the allied intervention too. It can be a multiple volume book too.
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Since you said that multi-volumes are ok, you might want to look into Prit Buttar's works on the Eastern Front: Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914, Germany Ascendant: The Eastern Front 1915, Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916-17 and The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 1917–21.
Other than that, if you want to read a single book then there's Laura Engelstein's Russia in Flames. It covers pretty much everything you asked for, starting at 1904, but is mostly focused on the Russian Revolution and the Civil War, which it covers in great detail.
If you are interested mostly in the military history of the Great War, go for Buttar's books. If your interest is centered on the Civil War, then go for Engelstein's. Or both, if you have the time/money/willpower.
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Does anyone have some fiction reading recommendations? I've been reading a lot of history lately, and would like to take a break, but I don't know where to start. :P
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Does anyone have some fiction reading recommendations? I've been reading a lot of history lately, and would like to take a break, but I don't know where to start. :P
The Diceman, by George Cockcroft/Luke Rhinehart ;)
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Anyone can recommend me a good read about Sparta in specific or any other great book about the Greeks?
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Since you said that multi-volumes are ok, you might want to look into Prit Buttar's works on the Eastern Front: Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914, Germany Ascendant: The Eastern Front 1915, Russia's Last Gasp: The Eastern Front 1916-17 and The Splintered Empires: The Eastern Front 1917–21.
Other than that, if you want to read a single book then there's Laura Engelstein's Russia in Flames. It covers pretty much everything you asked for, starting at 1904, but is mostly focused on the Russian Revolution and the Civil War, which it covers in great detail.
If you are interested mostly in the military history of the Great War, go for Buttar's books. If your interest is centered on the Civil War, then go for Engelstein's. Or both, if you have the time/money/willpower.
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Does anyone have some fiction reading recommendations? I've been reading a lot of history lately, and would like to take a break, but I don't know where to start. :P
Thank you. They look nice (they are in my wishlist), but if some people have other suggestion it will be nice.
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Anyone can recommend me a good read about Sparta in specific or any other great book about the Greeks?
This one :
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0300160054/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It's a good introduction ;)