The Book Club

[hOMEr_jAy]

I´ve always been a book worm and like reading, so I thought, why not open a topic where other readers can tell the other forum members about the books they read? Doesn´t matter if you have that book in your closet for years or just bought it, tell us what you read and how you like it!
In the recent days I read "The Zombie Survival Guide", "World War Z" (both by Max Brooks) and "Generation Kill" by Evan Wright.

The Zombie Survival Guide
It´s a book that gives you ideas on how to survive a Zombie apocalypse. Although it is a "comedy boo" you won´t find many jokes. But that´s not because the book isn´t good but because it´s funny in a whole different way. It shows you different techniques and tricks to get yourself not killed, once the dead take over the world. And it does it in a totally serious way. After reading the book you find yourself thinking thing slike "How can I fortify my house" or "Are the reports cover-ups of zombie attacks?". It´s really cool and if you like the genre I suggest that you buy it. It also shows "historical sources" of zombie attacks. If you have a very creative mind you find yourself thinking about how to survive the outbreak. If not, well then it´s not my faul. I´m prepared once the living dead come!

World War Z
It´s by the same author as "TZSG" and is written from the perspective of a journalist who survived the big Zombie War, a global outbreak of the Zombie-virus. He travels around the world and interviews people who survived the war, known as World War Z and writes their stories down. It all starts with the interview of a Chinese doc who witnessed one of the early outbreaks. The more you read, the more you get to know not just about the individuals who made it through the war but also about the global scale of mankinds struggle. The whole book is written in the "War of the worlds"-style. it´s basically a "fantasy-documentation" that really sounds plausible and is sometimes funny and sometimes shocking. Again, if you´re into the Zombie genre, this book may be good for you.

Gernation Kill by Evan Wright
This book was written by the "Rolling Stone"-journalist Evan Wright and describes the advance of the American forces in 2003 during the Invasion of Iraq. He follows a unit of recon marines whose job is to advance infront of the invasion forces and to trigger ambushes and cause chaos behind enemy lines by simply moving through them. The whole book is based on a true story and was published as a TV series. It´s a great book that gives you an insight in the minds of the marines and in the whole organisation of the advance. Sometimes the book is surreal when Wright describes the war and all the chaos and havoc. Especially for civilians it´s very surreal when you read about incidents that the marines don´t really care about but are sholcing for people living in a peaceful environment. I didn´t finish it yet, but so far the book is great. It describes everything uncensored and some things are just disturbing. It´s said this book is one of the best about the War in Iraq and I can just second that.

[Fuchs]

Hah me too is a book fan. The last book I've read is some stupid book about a 13 year old being a schizo which we had to read for English class, utterly boring  . Recently I also re-read Watership Down, it's just a beautiful story. And for history books... prepare for impact!

I recently finished reading a book about Operation Amherst, French SAS paradrop attacks in my province, and that was really interesting. The book itself is called Operation Amherst, French Paratroopers fought in Drenthe, April 1945. Drenthe is a province. The book itself is in Dutch but it was originally in French so maybe something for our French members. The French author: Roger Flamand.

Then at the beginning of this year I got Beyond Band of Brothers, by Dick Winters, from my parents as a gift and I must say, the memoires of Winters are interesting.

For 5 euros I saw this biography about Rommel so I bought it and it's also very interesting. Looking at the writers name it's originally in English so the original title is Rommel and it's whriten by Roger Sibley and Michael Fry.

I also got 2 books from François Bertin. One about Allied vehicles and one about the invasion of Normandy and what equipment was used, the last one is very informative for the current subjects on these forums.

And this friday I ordered an entire series of fictional books about what happened when a US fleet of hypermodern equipment in 2012 ended up right in front of the US fleet in 1941 going for the Pacific. I like the 'what if' stories so for 8 euros a book I ordered all 3.

For future plans I'm looking for a book about bayonets but the one I found at my favourite webshop was out of stock. If anyone got some good suggestions about WW2 books, bring them! Books in English or Dutch, please 

[Moose]

I just read Guadalcanal by Richard B. Frank. It was pretty good, I wasn't a fan of the land battles, maybe it was just because they were sort of haphhazard, I had a hard time following them. But I loved reading about the naval battles and the air battles with the cactus air force.

I just started (last night) The Day of Battle by Rick Atkinson, it is about the invasion of Sicily and Italy, about 700 pages, excited to read it as I have not read much about Italy. I guess he has a book along the same lines about Africa.

[Mspfc Doc DuFresne]

And this friday I ordered an entire series of fictional books about what happened when a US fleet of hypermodern equipment in 2012 ended up right in front of the US fleet in 1941 going for the Pacific. I like the 'what if' stories so for 8 euros a book I ordered all 3.

I have that series; its entertaining but the fleet is multinational, not U.S. (curiously, the only nuclear sub is Australian).

Starship Troopers was a very good read, but after I lent it too my history teacher he pointed out that it was a bit fascist, so don't take its message seriously.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, also by Heinlein, was very good, albeit very hard to start. (In the future people don't speak English from Heinlein's time, they speak a mixture of Russian, Chinese, and English with some made up words. Heinlein wrote in it, but it was easy to understand and beleivable once you got through chapter one.)

Quicksilver, The Confusion, The System of The World, and Cryptonomicon, all written by Neal Stevenson.

[Flyboy1942]

Hey I have that alternate history trilogy to! Axis of Time FTW! Birmingham writes such awesome battle scenes!

I actually have a request for you guys. A few times on the forums one or more of you have brought up a book about Berlin thats supposed to be amazing, but I cant remember what the title is. I keep going to look for it when I'm in the bookstore, but cant remember what it was called...

[Fuchs]

Yes, Axis of Time it is! And from what I've read from the description it was about an US fleet but it seems I was wrong. Anyways, good to know it's a good read, it'll be here today or tomorrow. Like 2000 pages in total?

[Jerry_03]

I like reading military history books too, mostly from WW2 era of course.

Citizen Soldiers by Stephen E. Ambrose.
Great read on individual soldiers' accounts of the Western Front from the point of view of the US Army.

Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose.
'Nuff Said.

With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge
Probably the best book I've read on the Pacific War from the point of view of a US Marine.

Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War by William Manchester
Another good Pacific War memoir from the view of a US Army soldier.

Panzer Leader by Heinz Guderian
Very good read on the beginnings of the Panzerwaffe and their use in the early war campaigns in which Guderian personally lead a few Panzer divisions in combat. And later insight into the German High Command.

Patton and Rommel: Men Of War In The Twentieth Century by Dennis Showalter
Haven't really gotten into it but its a good read so far.

I read WWZ as well, i really liked it as a zombie-genre fan. And I was thinking about buying Generation Kill book after seeing the miniseries on HBO.

*edit*

Hmm...Axis of Time sounds interesting, might have to take a look at that one. If your interested in the alternative history genre then i suggest Harry Turtledove's books.

[VonMudra]

I continue my recommendation of Blood Red Snow, by  Gunter K. Koschorrek, as being by far, imo, the best memoir by a german soldier in WW2 yet.  Also, check out Storm of Steel by Ernst Junger, and With the German Guns, by Herbert Sulzbach, for accounts of WW1.

I'll write reviews later, gotta go to dinner

[Fuchs]

Patton and Rommel: Men Of War In The Twentieth Century by Dennis Showalter
Haven't really gotten into it but its a good read so far.

I read WWZ as well, i really liked it as a zombie-genre fan. And I was thinking about buying Generation Kill book after seeing the miniseries on HBO.

*edit*

Hmm...Axis of Time sounds interesting, might have to take a look at that one. If your interested in the alternative history genre then i suggest Harry Turtledove's books.

The book about Rommel and Patton is a good one. I've also got it. Though for the real details of their characters you should buy other biographies.
Turtledove looks interesting, might search that through abit.

Also question to the people here: I've once read something about an alternate history book focussed on WW2 only. Some points that I remember: Patton doesn't slap the soldier but thinks about his own boys during WW1 and sits next to him and starts to talk to him that everything will be alright, makes him an hero and he gets the command over Operation Overlord and Bradley leads the decoy army. The assassination on Hitler is a success and Rommel lives, now Rommel and other generals manage to convince that the Russians are the real threat and Germans together with the invasion force march to the Ostfront to fight there.
Anyone an idea what I'm talking about?

[hOMEr_jAy]

Sorry, I don´t know that book, Fuchs.
But another great book that deals with "alternate history" is "My tank is fight" by Zack Parsons. He tells the reader about "Derranged inventions of WW2". Things like the Maus, the Ratte, that Russian flying tank etc. are covered, examined and shown "in combat". Great book.
I bought "Panzer Aces" by Franz Kurowski some time ago. I don´t know what to think of it. It´s said that he´s still a Nazi sympathizer so I guess you´ve got to be carefull with that book..

I´ve seen only parts of the Generation Kill TV series and had some problems in understanding everything so that´s why I bought the book. The parts I´ve seen and read are similiar so I guess it´s a good idea to buy the book (the authors style is great, btw).

For my final exams in German I had to read "Michael Kohlhaas" by Kleist, "The Robbers (Die Räuber)" by Schiller and "The Trial (Der Proceß)" by Kafka. Kohlhaas was quite good although the style sucked, The Robbers was ok and The Trial was one complicated, pointless and boring pile of you-know-what. ^^

[Jerry_03]

Also question to the people here: I've once read something about an alternate history book focussed on WW2 only. Some points that I remember: Patton doesn't slap the soldier but thinks about his own boys during WW1 and sits next to him and starts to talk to him that everything will be alright, makes him an hero and he gets the command over Operation Overlord and Bradley leads the decoy army. The assassination on Hitler is a success and Rommel lives, now Rommel and other generals manage to convince that the Russians are the real threat and Germans together with the invasion force march to the Ostfront to fight there.
Anyone an idea what I'm talking about?

Don't know what book your talking about either. but if you find out the title, im all ears. sounds very interesting.

[Schneider]

Sorry, I don´t know that book, Fuchs.
For my final exams in German I had to read "Michael Kohlhaas" by Kleist, "The Robbers (Die Räuber)" by Schiller and "The Trial (Der Proceß)" by Kafka. Kohlhaas was quite good although the style sucked, The Robbers was ok and The Trial was one complicated, pointless and boring pile of you-know-what. ^^

My view of things: Kohlhaas is excellent and actually picks up a very very unique historical incident at the transition of the medieval ages to the early modern times, and the plot is designed in an excellent way with slowly, cyclically building up changes of tension and relief; Die Räuber I didn't read for a long time, from what I recall it was very good. I have to admit I never read "Der Prozess" till now, Kafka is not particularly my cup of tea ("Die Verwandlung" had a quite interesting topic which brought out the background message quite good, I couldn't help but stop reading and think for some time how I would feel when I would wake up in my bed being a two meters large cockroach), but well, complicated and abstract stylistics are why you call similar things "kafkaesk", and what he writes is never pointless.
Yet, both Kohlhaas, Schiller and especially Kafka have a style that is not easy to read and understand for pupils. This is what makes them difficult for school mediation.

[hOMEr_jAy]

That´s right, "Kohlhaas" was very interesting and apart from the gypsi woman it was very nice. Only Kleists style to write inch-long sentences with too many points and commata was confusing from time to time.
Kafka is definately "kafkaesk" ^^
My main problem with "The Trial" was that Josef K. got arrested for apparently no reason and in the end killed without getting to know why, what the court was and who was involved. There are simply no clues on what´s really going on...
Another series I like is "Die Elfen (the elves)" by Bernhard Hennen, a fantasy series about elves. It´s set in its own universe and he does a good job in creating a good background. The first book is awesome but the other 2 books can´t reach the high standards of the first but are still a good read. I´m not sure if they were released in another language than German, though...

[Schneider]

My main problem with "The Trial" was that Josef K. got arrested for apparently no reason and in the end killed without getting to know why, what the court was and who was involved. There are simply no clues on what´s really going on...

Yeah well, you're right that's irritating, but that's the point of it, he doesn't know why and apparently hasn't done anything. It's about the problems of the individual in the modern world, the absolute powerlessness of a single man in front of a vast, anonymous machinery of power.

[JayDubs]

Gernation Kill by Evan Wright
This book was written by the "Rolling Stone"-journalist Evan Wright and describes the advance of the American forces in 2003 during the Invasion of Iraq. He follows a unit of recon marines whose job is to advance infront of the invasion forces and to trigger ambushes and cause chaos behind enemy lines by simply moving through them. The whole book is based on a true story and was published as a TV series. It´s a great book that gives you an insight in the minds of the marines and in the whole organisation of the advance. Sometimes the book is surreal when Wright describes the war and all the chaos and havoc. Especially for civilians it´s very surreal when you read about incidents that the marines don´t really care about but are sholcing for people living in a peaceful environment. I didn´t finish it yet, but so far the book is great. It describes everything uncensored and some things are just disturbing. It´s said this book is one of the best about the War in Iraq and I can just second that.

Probably the most realistic look into Marine Corp life around.