What are you currently reading?

[Jaakko Keskinen]

I blush to answer that I have not.  And yes: I ought, really I ought.

Don't feel bad. I haven't even started reading it. 

[Karl Henning]

Don't feel bad. I haven't even started reading it. 

Well, I have multiple motivations.  I just need to interiorize it 

[Ken B]

Well, I have multiple motivations.  I just need to interiorize it 

Now I have visions of you eating it.

[Bogey]

I do enjoy reading about history and Karl's recent posts on WWII with his World At War dvd set reminded me of how little I know about this event.  Sure, I know the basic timeline and such, with a general knowledge of some of the bigger events, but when it comes to knowing details of specific battles, I fall way short.  Instead of working through chronologically, I have decided to read about events during this time period based on what grabs my attention.  I remember having some of these Ballantine books as a kid because I enjoyed the artwork on the covers.  (Still do.)  So, I found one in a used shop the other day and got cracking on it.  So far, a very solid read and easy to follow while netting some stories that only these authors would be privy to. 



This landmark study was first published in English by the Naval Institute in 1955 and was added to the Classics of Naval Literature series in 1992. Widely acknowledged for its valuable Japanese insights into the battle that turned that tide of war in the Pacific, the book has made a great impact on American readers over the years. Two Japanese naval aviators who participated in the operation provide an unsparing analysis of what caused Japan's staggering defeat.
Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the first air strike on Pearl Harbor, commanded the Akagi carrier air group and later made a study of the battle at the Japanese Naval War College. Masatake Okumiya, one of Japan's first dive-bomber pilots, was aboard the light carrier Ryujo and later served as a staff officer in a carrier division. Armed with knowledge of top-secret documents destroyed by the Japanese and access to private papers, they show the operation to be ill-conceived and poorly planned and executed, and fault their flag officers for lacking initiative, leadership, and clear thinking. With an introduction by an author known for his study of the battle from the American perspective, the work continues to make a significant contribution to World War II literature.

[Ken B]

I do enjoy reading about history and Karl's recent posts on WWII with his World At War dvd set reminded me of how little I know about this event.  Sure, I know the basic timeline and such, with a general knowledge of some of the bigger events, but when it comes to knowing details of specific battles, I fall way short.  Instead of working through chronologically, I have decided to read about events during this time period based on what grabs my attention.  I remember having some of these Ballantine books as a kid because I enjoyed the artwork on the covers.  (Still do.)  So, I found one in a used shop the other day and got cracking on it.  So far, a very solid read and easy to follow while netting some stories that only these authors would be privy to. 



This landmark study was first published in English by the Naval Institute in 1955 and was added to the Classics of Naval Literature series in 1992. Widely acknowledged for its valuable Japanese insights into the battle that turned that tide of war in the Pacific, the book has made a great impact on American readers over the years. Two Japanese naval aviators who participated in the operation provide an unsparing analysis of what caused Japan's staggering defeat.
Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the first air strike on Pearl Harbor, commanded the Akagi carrier air group and later made a study of the battle at the Japanese Naval War College. Masatake Okumiya, one of Japan's first dive-bomber pilots, was aboard the light carrier Ryujo and later served as a staff officer in a carrier division. Armed with knowledge of top-secret documents destroyed by the Japanese and access to private papers, they show the operation to be ill-conceived and poorly planned and executed, and fault their flag officers for lacking initiative, leadership, and clear thinking. With an introduction by an author known for his study of the battle from the American perspective, the work continues to make a significant contribution to World War II literature.

A general history of the war in toto is worth reading. Keegan's is not too long.

[AndyD.]

Pretty darn good! The rivalry between Keats and Shelly is always amusing to me, I actually prefer Shelly's works. #ozymandias

Once I finish, I'll probably have to reread the graphic novel, a very great favorite of mine.

[SimonNZ]

[Christo]

During a four weeks stay - again, for the third year in a row - in the Galilee, preparing again for a visit to Jerusalem: these superb memoirs of a youth spent in Jerusalem in the 1940s

[André]

2/3 of the way through. Scary.

[Brian]

"Eichmann in Jerusalem" by Hannah Arendt.

[Ken B]

"Eichmann in Jerusalem" by Hannah Arendt.

Worthwhile follow up
[asin]B0000541UX[/asin]

[Christo]

[Walt Whitman]

sublime

[Bogey]

A great read so far.  If you enjoyed the movie, give it a go.  Staggs can write!

[Drasko]

So far (2/3 in), this is the one I like the most out of 3 or 4 Bond novels I've read.

[kishnevi]

Shmuel [Samuel] ha Nagid was a court official and governor of the Jewish community in Granada c. 1035 CE, and the first major Jewish poet of the medieval era, writing on both religious and secular subjects, merging Arabic technique in poetry with the Hebrew language.

This translation was done in the early 1990s and perhaps makes the piems sound too modern. But overall worthwhile.

[Ken B]

A great read so far.  If you enjoyed the movie, give it a go.  Staggs can write!

His book on All About Eve is beyond dreadful. It's beyond even beyond dreadful. It's Trump and Hillary screwing dreadful.

[Ken B]

So far (2/3 in), this is the one I like the most out of 3 or 4 Bond novels I've read.

I liked From Russia best.

[Florestan]

Shmuel [Samuel] ha Nagid was a court official and governor of the Jewish community in Granada c. 1035 CE, and the first major Jewish poet of the medieval era, writing on both religious and secular subjects, merging Arabic technique in poetry with the Hebrew language.

This translation was done in the early 1990s and perhaps makes the piems sound too modern. But overall worthwhile.

Very, very interesting.

My literary acquaintance with the fascinating interplay between Christian, Jewish and Arabic culture on Spanish soil stems form this book:



Have you read it?

Lion Feuchtwanger is not at all a bad writer, although he is largely forgotten or ignored today. Stefan Zweig is another Jewish writer of the same fate. I was fortunate enough to read some of their books in my youth. I praise both of them highly.

Actually, the latest book I´ve read --- finished it just yesterday --- was Zweig´s The World of Yesterday. Exceptional.

[zamyrabyrd]

"The First Four Years" by Laura Ingalls Wilder
I read and reread everything around here, so was fairly desperate. This book was hiding among some other stuff I found by the way, probably from the kids' school library. Actually, it is quite good and sobering at the same time. As my father used to say "When ships were made of wood, men were from iron. Now ships are made of iron and men are made from wood." Well, not literally of course and don't mean to bash men. Laura herself was an iron lady.
Her husband, Almanzo Wilder, cheerfully tackled the job of plowing 50 acres that failed everytime for 7 years in the Dakotas besides raising stock and caring for orchards that also dried up. Meanwhile, their baby son died, the house burned down, he got diphtheria that left him somewhat paralyzed. She initially lost all the money earned over a year to buy a new house in Missouri but found it after a few days. After that, I didn't feel like my problems were so big.