Andersonville is a horrible chapter in our nation’s history.
The Victorian Internet. I forget the author - its about the coming about of the telegraph. Easy read and I find it interesting. Maybe even some parallels about that vs AI coming of age ??
Some of those Union Prison Camps were pretty bad too,Elmira,Camp Douglas,Rock Island and Fort Delaware come to mind.
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Finished last night. Revolutions are a mess
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Now starting:
The Beast That Shouted Love At The Heart Of The World - fiction
Fifteen stories - Harlan Ellison
Just received my copy of the Monforton MkXI/XVI Spitfire book and feel disillusioned already.
A very detailed tome on the subject, based on factory drawings and examination of 5 extant airframes.
What strikes me most is plenty of evidence illustrating the shabby nature of wartime detail construction, especially the fit of airframe skin panels.
The author is quite frank about this; a result of wartime factory dispersal and the use of relatively unskilled labour.
There again, if you want to know which rivet went where (in theory), I doubt you’ll find such details elsewhere unless you have permission to crawl all over the nearest Spitfire to you.
If you’ve never had the opportunity to examine this book I wouldn’t fret unduly, for the average modeller this book is information overkill.
Daytime hard cover -“The Gales of November” and nighttime Kindle - “Torpedoes Away”
Should be good, @SprueOne - I can’t say I’ve read that particular book, but I’ve read a lot of Ellison’s work and (almost) always enjoyed it!
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Ok good to know. For years I’ve heard recommendations to read Ellison so this is my first.
Just recently finished Louis L’Amour’s The Sacketts series, really good. Now I’m reading Panzer Ace by Richard Freiherr von Rosen. It’s a WWII memoir by a German tank commander, also a good book.
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When I was younger, I read voraciously; I could read an entire massive novel in a day (as I did with Jurassic Park, and before that one, of the last 3/4 of Stephen King’s IT). Then came career, marriage, kids … reading slowed to a trickle, such that I was lucky if I was able to finish a book during the course of a calendar year. But 6 months ago, something funny happened: I re-discovered my love of reading.
I knocked out Project Hail Mary in about a month. Then, inspired by this December’s Dune Part 3 being an adaptation of Dune Messiah, I went for a re-read of that book. I had read it as a college student, didn’t understand what the author was doing with it, and consequently hated it. At that point I opted not to continue that series. Well, this time I fully understood what Herbert said in Dune Messiah, particularly how masses of people can follow a charismatic leader and how that can lead to really bad things. That resonated with me, especially when I considered the case of Adolf Hitler. It took me more than a month to complete that re-read as it is quite a slow book even though it is far shorter than Dune.
Having enjoyed that one so much more, I decided I would complete Herbert’s series. In January and early February, I polished off Children of Dune and God Emperor of Dune. In the latter half of February, I polished off Heretics of Dune.
Tonight I started the last book, Chapterhouse: Dune. I expect to finish in 2-3 weeks time, although there might be some activities on our calendar that will take away from my reading time.
These books have quickly become my favorite classic sci-fi series.
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I’m rereading the Millennium trilogy (Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc.) by Stieg Larsson. Interesting characters, setting and plots.
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For school this year I read
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Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
10/10, it was beautifully written and tackled difficult and mature themes during the opioid crisis. -
Chesapeake Requiem by Earl Swift
7/10, I like the premise and the history that he goes into, but the writing is pretty repetitive and there are a lot of boring fluff parts that could be cut.
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Demon Copperhead was great! I read it after a reread of David Copperfield which added to its appeal.
I’m working my way through James S A Corey’s Expanse series — a great hard-ish sci fi series. I’ve seen the show, and I can happily say that the books and show seem to compliment each other well.
I’m also stoked to finish, so I can read Nate Van Coops’ fourth Luke Angel novel, Tropic Envy, which just came out — it’s sort of a pulpy mystery series centered around a pilot in the Florida keys. Tons of great aviation fun.
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I’m reading Patton and Rommel by Dennis Showalter; excellent, well written, and interesting.
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I wrote a book, The Defenders of Taffy 3, which is a follow-up to Hornfischer’s Last Stand. Its an easy read. Occaisonally I re-read it. Its reviewed on the internet and copies can be found in libraries.
I also have a copy of Admiral Nimitz’s book, The Great Sea War, which is very good. I was greatly influenced by his book and incorporated some of its features in my book.
I’m reading Symond’s Nimitz at War currently.
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When I’m really deep into a modeling project I like to read books that tie in. I’m picking away at “Hurricane” by Leo McKinstry which is … thorough. Lots of behind the scenes aviation history, and plenty of BoF and BoB anecdotes.
“Piece of Cake” I blazed through – I’ve seen the miniseries several times, and remember it being on PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre when I was a kid. I should have read the book sooner! The miniseries makes so much more sense now, but still only scratches the surface. It really needs a three season Masters of the Air type treatment – Phony War, Battle of France, and Battle of Britain. Packed with hilarious British and RAF banter, the book alternates between black humor and crushing tragedy, as any realistic war story should. I highly recommend it to any student of the Battle of Britain.
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L’Amour wrote a cold war novel, Last of the Breed. Good stuff. L’Amour could really write.
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“F-86 Sabre” by Duncan Curtis
Hikoki Publications /Cerebrus 2025
The book runs 384 8.5"x11" pages, printed on heavy weight glossy paper and is a bit over 1" thick. Most pages have one or more photos printed page width. Few, if any, photos on restored aircraft. Photo reproduction is excellent. No three-views or color profiles which is fine with me. A few original factory drawings accompany the text.
Chapters are organized according to the sub-type.
XP-86
F-86A
P-86B (a projected reconnaissance version)
F-86C/YF93A
F-86D
F-86E
F-86F
F-86H
F-86K
Canadiar Sabre
Commonwealth Sabre
FJ Fury
Overseas F-86 Operators
Appendix: Sabre and Fury Production
I’m part way through the F-86H chapter. If you like the F-86 in all its guises this is the book for you. A real gem.
I believe the author, Duncan Curtis, was Clear Prop’s advisor for the new 1/48 F-86A models.
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