Winter Reading List

I am close to wrapping up 'Gods Samurai' (66% read so far at work) which will be the second book from my list of 4. I recently got my work Christmas gift ($$$$$) so have some additional funds for a few more books. These are the additional books I am looking at getting:

'Attack on Pearl Harbor' by Alan Zimm
'A Bridge too Far' by Cornelius Ryan
'With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa' by EB Sledge


Anyone have any opinions on the Time-Life Volume set of books on WW2?

 

Having a bad case of Jutland fixation triggered by the flourish of new books that came with the centennial, I started by picking up the naval staff appreciation and was hooked so I continued with:
- Jutland 1916 the archeology of a naval battlefield (Innes McCartney)
- The Jutland scandal (ADM John Harper and Vice ADM Reginald Bacon) actually two in one volume and neither is the often quoted "Harper's report" despite being from the same author (BTW both pro Jellicoe books)
and in the in pile I have:
- Skagerrak (Gary Staff)
- Jutland the unfinished battle (Nicholas Jellicoe)

also cross checking some facts with some older books I had read a long time ago :

- Jutland (Macintyre)
- Skagerrak a copy of the official German History (in French).
- Marder's volume on Jutland in from Dreadnought to Scapa Flow.

Strangely enough I liked the "appreciation" (Schleihauf annotated version) best so far despite it being outrageously in the anti Jellicoe camp (and I'm definitely not!) the excellent footnotes take the poison out and let you appreciate the great analysis skill of the Dewar brothers, the two admirals look amateurish by comnparison. I have great hopes for Staff, his book on the German battlecruisers was probably the definitive book on those ships.

When it's over I plan to go back to Glantz's Stalingrad trilogy (was finishing volume one when the Jutland bug hit)

 

A little bit O/T but the Innes McCartney book is fascinating and IMPO one of the few Jutland Centenary books which was genuinely something 'new' about Jutland. My highlight book purchase of the year was an original copy of the HMSO Harper Record (finally) published in 1927.Also very good ( but in no way a 'light' read ) is John Brooks' 'The Battle Of Jutland' by Cambridge University Press.

Back to the topic - Musso, despite having read much about Arnhem, I still love 'A Bridge Too Far'. It's a great book to read !

 

I echo that Martin. Some of the first books I read on the War were Ryan's. Can't help but reread.

 

I keep coming across it in searches and I do enjoy the movie so figured I'd give it an actual read, especially after having read 'Crossing the Rhine' recently so it'll be nice to get some deeper reading into it.

Just took a look at the Stalingrad series you mentioned and looks interesting - certainly one of the more pivotal battles in history - so I'll give it a shot too. Which should give me a pretty well rounded reading for the rest of the winter.

 

I just finished 'Gods Samurai'.

I found Fuchida to be an interesting person, but I struggled with the last 1/3 of the book that was devoted to his devotion to God/becoming a Christian. I did like how he was probably a better Christian than those trying to convert him (didn't buy into the big churches etc or affiliated with any one sect) but at the same time he carried on an affair with a woman who was not his wife, whom he had one child with (and a second was aborted due to illness or some such). The first 2/3 of the book was very insightful into the Japanese way of thinking and his involvement in the War.

My 'Attack on Pearl Harbor' book arrived just the other day - good timing! - so today I shall start reading that. It will be an interesting look on Pearl Harbor and while I know the basics, and Fuchidas account of the pre-planning and attack, it should be enlightening.

 

Just happened to be reading through this thread and found myself shaking my head (vertically ) in agreement. There are so many books on our dockets that, me included, we don't give enough time to absorb and evaluate the literature and content. As an educator this is the exact opposite of what I teach my students . It's nice to have a reminder to slow the hell down.

 

I only read them on lunch at work so plenty of time between finishing one book and starting a new one. I am not one to 'sit and reflect' for a week on something I have read.

Starting the Pearl Harbor book after reading 'Gods Samurai' is proving to have been a good idea, as it is still fresh in my memory and I can make some parallels...and remember who is who etc.

 

Yeah, it's nice to read similar themes over a course of a few books. The older I get, the less I remember, lol. I tend to use sticky notes.