What's Currently on Your Reading List?

[rangerbluedog]

Just finished Glenn Beck's fictional novel AGENDA 21.
It's a good read if you liked George Orwell's, 1984, or A BRAVE NEW WORLD by Huxley.

http://www.amazon.com/Agenda-21-Glenn-B ... =agenda+21

[Quick Steel]

Just finished Stephen Searles Gettysburg for the third time. Beginning to feel I have a fair grasp of that 3 day battle. I do think Gen. Meade is too often overlooked; given too little credit. He made a series of excellent decisions and out generaled Lee for three days.

Mr. Lincoln and others were terribly disappointed that Meade did not knock off the retreating rebels. But Meade was correct. The Confederates had quickly built formidable defensive works along the Potomac river while waiting for the water to go down. Meade knew that whatever Lee's failings on the offensive, Lee and his army were not to be trifled with in a defensive position; certainly not with a tired Union army.

[vikingdog]

My wife got me "A Higher Call" for Christmas:

A Higher Call: An Incredible True Story of Combat and Chivalry in the War-Torn Skies of World War II
By Adam Makos with Larry Alexander Publisher: Berkley Caliber


USA TODAY Review
'A Higher Call': A wartime Christmas story worth retelling
By Bob Minzesheimer, USA TODAY
December 21, 2012

Five days before Christmas in 1943, over the skies of Germany, Charlie Brown, a 20-year-old farm boy from West Virginia, encountered Franz Stigler, a 29-year-old German flying ace.

Brown, the pilot of a B-17 bomber with a crew of nine, was on his first mission over Germany. Stigler, in his Bf-109 fighter, already had scored 22 "victories," or kills of enemy planes.

Brown's plane, nicknamed "Ye Olde Pub," could easily have been number 23. It had been damaged so badly its guns no longer worked. The four-motor plane was limping along on only an engine and a half.

The remarkable story of how and why Stigler decided to spare Brown's plane is reconstructed in A Higher Call by Adam Makos with Larry Alexander.

It's a story that's been told before, but never in so much detail.

Casual readers may grow impatient with all the personal and military background about Stigler, a former commercial airline pilot turned reluctant warrior. It takes 155 pages to get to the minute-by-minute reconstruction of what occurred on Dec. 20, 1943, when Stigler chose not to down Brown's plane, but to simply salute his enemy.

But the buildup is worth it to appreciate the life-or-death drama that's based on interviews with both Brown and Stigler, as well as military records.

Stigler was one kill away from being awarded the Knight's Cross, one of the German Air Force's highest honors. But all the horrors he had seen earlier in the war led to a personal epiphany that had been building.

When Stigler flew close to Brown's plane, he saw "the eyes of the wounded bomber crew, young men no different than the ones he had been killing for two years," Makos writes. "He knew the Cross stood for bravery. But Franz realized it also represented a man's success at his most corrupted service to the world -- his prowess at killing other men. Franz knew he could not stop fighting. The war would not let him. But never again would he celebrate his job as a fighter pilot." He decided he couldn't shoot down a defenseless plane.

Before telling the story of Brown and Stigler, Makos, editor of the military magazine Valor, tells his own story, including how in 1996, as a high school student in Montoursville, Pa., he narrowly escaped being aboard a TWA flight that crashed, killing 16 of his classmates and his favorite teacher on their way to France.

Later, he followed three rules in editing his military magazine: "Get the facts right, tell stories that show our military in a good light, and ignore the enemy -- we do not honor them."

That third rule changed after Makos met Brown and Stigler. Brown had tracked down Stigler, who moved to Vancouver, Canada, after the war. They met in a 1990 reunion that led to articles and TV stories about the German fighter pilot who spared the American bomber.

When Brown was asked why Stigler had shown such mercy, he said, "I was too stupid to surrender. And Franz Stigler was too much of a gentleman to destroy us."

Of course, wartime chivalry goes only so far. A footnote near the end of the book points out that as the war wound down, "American fighter pilots knew that any German pilot still flying had to be an expert. This awareness led some American pilots (a small, unknown percentage) to shoot German pilots in their parachutes or after landing."

It concludes that "their logic was pragmatic. They did not want a German expert returning to the skies to kill a ten-man bomber crew, a buddy, or them."

Brown and Stigler, former enemies who became friends, died within months of each other in 2008. Their story is worth retelling and celebrating.

[orvet]

That is a great story Mike!
I have heard it before, but now I think I will have to get the book.

[royal0014]

That sounds like a very inspiring story VG, something we need more of these days.

I received for Christmas a copy of "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson, M.D. quote 'An a-mazing way to deal with change in your work and your life'.

Less than 100 pages, so I might actually find time to read it

[vikingdog]

That is a great story Mike!
I have heard it before, but now I think I will have to get the book.

I'm just getting started on it Dale but it's very well written and full of historical detail. I collect WWII aviation memorabilia and I wrote to Franz Zigler years ago for a signed photo. He not only sent me a signed photo but some signed limited edition prints, one of which was of the meeting with the B-17. He said "if you like them send me $50, if not just return them". They were worth a couple hundred dollars back then. He sent them on trust and I'm glad to have them now.

Here is a clip of the two pilots reunion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 8EkmyoG83Q

[Old Hunter]

Been doing some light reading - Christmas time stuff - reading in two collections of short stories, one by Robert Ruark (The Old Man's Boy Grows Older) the other by Archibald Rutledge (Carolina Christmas) - both are full of good, old fashioned hunting stories. OH

[rangerbluedog]

That brings back memories OH. I grew up reading the about old man and the boy in Field & Stream (IIRC).

[jerryd6818]

When I wore a younger man's clothes, Robert Ruark's "The Old Man and The Boy" page in Field & Stream was my favorite. I always enjoyed reading it.

[RobesonsRme.com]

Just finished what I consider to be the best book John Grisham ever wrote.

No lawyers, no trial.

A Painted House.

Charlie Noyes

[Cutty]

Just finished what I consider to be the best book John Grisham ever wrote.

No lawyers, no trial.

A Painted House.

Charlie Noyes

One of my favorites Charlie

[jerryd6818]

I've read almost every one of Grisham's books.

I got Chris Kyle's "American Sniper" for Valentines day. Just finished it yesterday. Kept me interested and for the most part, I enjoyed it.

[Old Hunter]

I've been sticking with the same theme (old time southern outdoors sports writers), currently reading Havilah Babcock's great book My Health is Better in November. OH

[rangerbluedog]

Charlie if you like that one, try BLEACHERS, also by Grisham.

I just finished another Martin Cruz Smith novel, NIGHTWING. It was one of his first - written in 1977 I think.
Now working on TRUE AT FIRST LIGHT, by Ernest Hemingway. It was an unfinished manuscript written about one of his last African safaris. Edited by his son, Patrick.

After that comes a collection of James Joyce short stories. (The Dubliners, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, etc.)

[FRJ]

Here's a couple of books I recently got from Amazon.
These are both very well made books with large enough font so even a half blind geezer like me can read them.
The smaller one is leather bound and has "related documents".
The larger book is really nice and it cost less than $5.
I recommend these books with lots of other choices there.

[carrmillus]

..for all you guys who, like me, can't get enough true ww2 aviation reading, check out "last of the few" by max author-ww2 battle of britain at it's best!!!!........ ...............

[Quick Steel]

Just finished this one last night.

[jmh58]

"The Journals of Lewis and Clark" .. Edited by Bernard De Voto.. Kinda got a thing about the L&C trip as I must have read 10-12 books so far on their trip.. John

[Quick Steel]

"The Journals of Lewis and Clark"

jmh58: The L&C Journals are a favorite of mine. Though not recently, I have read them at least 3 times. What an adventure!

[rangerbluedog]

My latest. More than I even cared to know about quarks, the big bang, and string theory...
New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy
http://www.amazon.com/New-Proofs-Existe ... p_title_0#

[FRJ]

"The Journals of Lewis and Clark"

jmh58: The L&C Journals are a favorite of mine. Though not recently, I have read them at least 3 times. What an adventure!

I wonder how many men could load a "smoke pole" efficiently enough while on the run from a grizzly bear and turn and shoot to wound or kill the beast to make an escape.

[Quick Steel]

One of them had to jump off a cliff into the river to escape a charging bear. One of the more humorous developments is how, when the Corps of Discovery first began to hear of the white (grizzly) bears, they dismissed many of the warnings as exaggerations. They quickly learned otherwise.

Unless my mind is playing tricks, my recollection is that hunters soon realized they needed to travel in small parties. A lone "smoke pole" was unlikely to keep one safe.

[RobesonsRme.com]

I'm currently acquiring and reading a series of books based on "The Flashman Papers" by George MacDonald Fraser.

The principal character is Harry Flashman, a ne'er do well, cowardly scoundrel that enters the British military, runs from all dangerous situations, but by the quirks of fate is thought to be a genuine hero and is subsequently lauded, promoted and then sent into more and more dangerous situations from which he emerges heroic as well.

There are ten or so books. I've read the first two.

The historical accuracy of the situations and real life characters in the books is extremely interesting.

These were recommended to me by some military friends. Apparently, very popular among them.

Charlie Noyes

[jerryd6818]

I just finished "Second Sight" by Charles McCarry. Very good. McCarry is a good writer and keeps your interest even though he jumps around a bit.

Right now I'm into John Sandford's latest, "Silken Prey". The "Prey" books (along with the Virgal Flowers side series) are real page turners for me.



I looked an our library has some of the "Flashman" books. One of those is next.

[orvet]

Last month my wife & I were at an estate sale and she picked up a book she thought I might like, called "Semper Fi" by W.E.B. Griffin.
I read it an a day or so and discovered I liked the way he wrote & that there were 9 more books in the series called "The Corps."

I finally got all the books, as I did not want to read one out of order.
After going to all of the used bookstores in town, I ended up buying 3 or 4 from Amazon.
I am currently on book 4; “Battleground.” I am not sure how historically accurate the writer is, but it is my sense that he goes to great length to put everything into the proper historical context.

It is a fascinating series! I highly recommend it to all Marines, (active or otherwise), or anyone else interested in WW II.


Semper Fi!