What Are You Reading?

Good show, glad you like it.

I put my book I said I was reading above aside for Christmas, lack of time. Picked up a non-WWII and am reading it now. Will finish the Channel Island books in a few.

 

I'm reading this now. I'm about halfway through and I agree. It's OK, but it doesn't really grab me. I usually like reading first hand accounts but the author introduces so many it's hard to keep track. I'll keep it, but it won't occupy a significant place in my library.

 

Last night I finished


Outpost of Occupation, How the Channel Islands Survived Nazi Rule 1940-1945, Barry Turner, 2010, Aurum Press Ltd, 312pp, photos, endnotes, index

I finished this last night, after starting it before Christmas. I had put the book down because of a lack of time during the holiday season and picked it back up this weekend past.

Overall, I learned a great deal about the islands, specifically how they are governed and the association then and now with the United Kingdom. As a US citizen, I did not realize that the islands are a Crown possession and not necessarily subject to the same laws and other governances as British subjects in Old Blighty.

The manuscript seems to have been well sourced utilizing a broad list of records and the author used direct quotes as often as he could. The writing style was engaging and held my interest well, in spite of me having to put it down for a few weeks because of time constraints.

I did feel at times, though, the author went a bit beyond necessity as an apologist where collaboration was concerned, but this was not a constant, over-riding theme.

The author noted the lack of significant resistance to the German occupation and I felt his reasoning held merit, which was the small size of the island and 3:1 to 1:1 ratio of occupiers to residents. The inhabitants had nowhere really to hide.

This was a good read and I recommend it.

9/10

 

Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian.

 

What unit and theater?

 

A really good read. I enjoyedcit and was actually sorry wghen I finished it.

 

First re-read here. Have you read Artemis?

 

Looks interesting, Kai

 

No, I have not. Is it any good? Who is the author?

 

It's Andy Weir's second book. Takes place on the Moon.

 

Last night I finished


Agent For The Resistance, Herman Bodson, 1994, Texas A&M University Press, 243 pages, photos and maps. ISBN 0-89096-607-9

This is an autobiographical work of a member of the Belgian underground, active around Brussels and the Ardennes. The story starts in the early 1930s as the author introduces friends who will figure later in the story and he outlines doctorial work in chemistry. During the Belgium build up to war, he was drafted and trained as a medic, where he was when the war started.
His early work in the resistance centered mostly on activities associated with his profession, until he was suspected in an operation and fled to the Ardennes and assumed an new name. In the Ardennes, he led a group that conducted demolition missions and successfully destroyed a bridge under a 600+ man troop train in early June 1944.
After the liberation of eastern Belgium and his group, Service Hotton, was stood down, he went to work for SHAEF, pursuing agents and collaborators who remained in Belgium. He was in Bastogne on Dec 16 and due to the fluid situation at the time, he stayed on during the siege and provided medical assistance to US troops and civilians. He left not long after the siege was lifted.

The book was a bit slow at the start, but secured my interested quickly after that. The manuscript was well written, with good details and liberal use of names of his compatriots. Bodson provides good descriptions of actions and results and while he did occasionally drift into editorializing, it was by no means obtrusive and did not detract over-all from the excellence of the book.

Dr. Bodson eventually moved to and retired in the United States and I suspect the book may not be available in Belgium and is only available in English.

9/10 An engaging story.