So... what are you reading?

[Dughlas mor]

@Julia Elliot, be sure to include "The Steel Bonnets" by George MacDonald Fraser." Best book I`ve seen on the subject.

[Julia Elliott]

On its way to me in the mail now actually! Happy to hear I picked a good one!

[Dughlas mor]

Fraser was a talented writer and he brings a lot of enthusiasm for the subject, as well as a good bit of humor to this very readable book. Any writer of history who can provide a chuckle or two along the way is definitely worth reading, IMHO.

[Julia Elliott]

Any writer of history who can provide a chuckle or two along the way is definitely worth reading, IMHO.

Agreed I am really looking forward to it now. I am getting a few chuckles out of the aforementioned book I am currently reading as well. Not sure if I am supposed to be amused at the parts that are making me giggle or if its just my warped sense of humour .

[James Hood]

"An Army At Dawn"
Rick Atkinson

Scholarly yet captivating look at the "first" army the USA sent to war in WW II, the Operation Torch landings and subsequent remainder of the North African camapaign, November 1942-mid 43.

Mistakes, tragedies, defeats, draws, victories...ultimate triumph, the amazing story of how a country which just spent a decade in the Great Depression formed, trained and transported an army...in the ten months after Pearl Harbor.

How that raw US Army, combined with the Navy and Army Air Force, helped the British, Free French and Commonwealth forces (who had already been fighting for well over two years) COMPLETELY destroy veteran German and Italian armies in North Africa, in a matter of six months.

[Bruce Scott]

Just finished reading 'Where i Belong' ( Alan Doyle of Canadian band, Great Big Sea) a birthday gift from my sister, great fun.

Just started reading 'The Reivers-The Story of the Border Reivers'-Alistair Moffat~ one of a few books I plan on reading this winter on the topic.

You may also enjoy Will Ogilvie's Border Poems, which is available from Amazon.
Here's a taste:

“THE BLADES OF HARDEN”


Ho! For the blades of Harden!
Ho! For the driven kye!
The broken gate and the lances hate
And the banner red on the sky!
The rough road runs by the Carter;
The white foam creams on the rein;
Ho! For the blades of Harden!
“There will be moonlight again!”

The dark has heard them gather,
The dawn has bowed them by,
To the guard on the roof comes the drum of a hoof
And the drone of a hoof’s reply.
There are more than birds on the hill to-night
And more than winds on the plain!
The threat of the Scotts has filled the moss,
There will be moonlight again!”

Ho! for the blades of Harden!
Ho! For the ring of steel!
The stolen steers of a hundred years
Come home for a Kirkhope meal!
The ride must risk its fortune,
The raid must count its slain,
The March must feed her ravens.
“There will be moonlight again!”

Ho! for the blades of Harden!
Ho! for the pikes that cross!
Ho! for the king of lance and ling
A Scott on the Ettrick moss!
The rough road runs by the Carter,
The white foam creams on the rein;
And aye for the blades of Harden
“There will be moonlight again!”




http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/ogil...enry-will-7890

[ratspike]

I watched The Midnight Meat Train over dinner tonight and was reminded that I haven't read anything from Clive Barker in a long time, so it looks like Books of Blood will be up next.

[GMan]

The Ugly Renaissance by Alexander Lee.

It deals with sex, greed, violence, and depravity in an age of beauty.

[Julia Elliott]

will definitely have to add this one to the list, Bruce Scott! Thanks!

[Grizzled Ian]

Yes, bwat. That sounds like the one. It was a BBC production, narrated by Sir Michael Redgrave.
Cheers, KC

I remember a BBC documentary titled the Great War from the late 1960's, but I thought the narrator was Lawrence Olivier. At times he used a slight rising intonation, I recall, as if hinting at the question, how the heck can civilised man do that to himself, as he related yet another horrific scene from the Western Front.

As for reading, all books are on hold for a couple more weeks as I settle into new accommodation. When I resume, the first reward will be Lee Child's latest Reacher title, Personal. Then pick up the Patrick O'Brian Master and Commander series: I'm about seven titles in. When my good lady visits, we share reading aloud to each other Dial M for Murdoch: News Corporation and the Corruption of Britain, by Tom Watson and Martin Hickman.