Good Books, Good Authors

[2dogs]

On a more serious note, and in no particular order other than close at hand and some of my favorites:

"Of Mice and Men"- John Steinbeck

"Catch 22"- Joseph Heller

"Nineteen Eighty Four"- George Orwell

"To Hell and Back"- Audie Murphy

"The Bravest Battle- The 28 Days of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising"- Dan Kurzman

"The Trial of the Germans"- Eugene Davidson

"Unintended Consequences"- John Ross

"The Stranger"- Albert Camus

 

[STW]

This is a plug for a book source. David Spriggs at
http://www.newbookscheap.com sells books at 40% of list (a $20 book costs $8) plus shipping. I've spent more than I care to think about with him and am very satisfied. He donates his profits to the Military Order of the Purple Heart. He's a nice guy besides.

 

[Jmurman]

Originally posted by 4v50 Gary
Death From Afar, Vol I-V, by Roy & Norm Chandler. USMC sniping
A Mississippi Rebel in the Army of Northern Virginia - Pvt. David Holt (great account by a webfoot)
A Rifleman Went to War by Herbert McBride (classic account of sniping in WW I)
Scoouwa! James Smith tale of captivity and adoption by the Indians. His appendix offers great insight into the Indian mode of warfare. Did they teach us our light infantry tactics?

A Rifleman went to war is a EXCELLENT book. Tough to come by in the earlier editions.

 

[Mark Benningfield]

Reading Material

Hello All.

You've got to read Jeff Snyder's "A Nation of Cowards." Excellent book!! Also good:

Slander, Ann Coulter
Bias, Bernard Goldberg
Ten Things You Can't Say in America, Larry Elders
The New Thought Police, Tammy Bruce

Just a few.

 

[Snowman92D]

"Gates of Fire", but Stephen Pressfield. A superb read on the warrior mentality...maybe I should have said a "must" read.

 

[ezoeni]

Originally posted by 80fl
#1: The Holy Bible
#2: Unintended Consequences

There are more, but I really enjoyed these!

Everyone should read this book

 

[Baba Louie]

ezo...

I met J. Ross at one of the SOF conventions held here in Las Vegas way back when and picked up a copy (my second) of his book as a gift for my Dad. Ross signed it and we spent about ten minutes talking about the years he spent researching it, Missouri (both of our home states) CCW possibilities, etc.

Anyway, his book is the favorite gift for the men in the family. I've given six of them to uncles, brother-in-laws, cousins, etc.

They all like to read L'Amor, Heinlein, Rand, Hunter... the likes of that breed of author.

And they're all gun-toting, shooting Democrats. I don't mean they go out and shoot Democrats, they all just read this individualistic, manly, libertarian bent writing and vote the demo ticket.

But, they do like to read and shoot.

I find it interesting that all of the authors and books listed here and in other threads at GlockTalk and TFL are naturally those I would gravitate towards. It makes going to the bookstore more enjoyable to have a list handy.

Hope to read them all before my eyes and years give out.

Adios

 

[Drizzt]

Time Magazine actually declared this the #1 non-fiction book of the year:

HEART OF A SOLDIER by James Stewart
Most books about the attacks on September 11th felt like they were written in 10 minutes. James Stewart's Heart Of A Soldier reads like the product of 10 years of careful research and meditation. It's a biography of Rick Rescorla, an American soldier of fortune whose life ended at the World Trade Center, and it takes the reader through his harrowing service in Vietnam, an unexpectedly tender romance late in life, and, with searing clarity, his final minutes in Manhattan. War story, love story, history, Heart of a Soldier is everything you want and need it to be: calm, beautifully composed and consoling.

If anyone here is unfamiliar with Rick Rescorla (and there is no excuse for that by now....) do a search on his name on TFL or FreeRepublic. The guy had a fascinating life, and lived it to the fullest.

 

[hipower22]

I didn't notice any books by Harry Turtledove.

He writes 'alternate history'. My favorite is "The Guns of the South" wherein the confederate states win the civil war with the help of some white supremacist South Africans with a time machine and a truckload of AK47's.

 

[MountainPeak]

Originally posted by hipower22
I didn't notice any books by Harry Turtledove.

He writes 'alternate history'. My favorite is "The Guns of the South" wherein the confederate states win the civil war with the help of some white supremacist South Africans with a time machine and a truckload of AK47's.

In the south this book isn't sold in the fiction section. Just kidding guys.

 

[Chuck Dye]

Cache Lake Country by John Rowlands

Nonfiction. Rowlands was a timber cruiser/forest manager before WWII. Cache Lake Country relates a year spent in the woods and many things learned in the process. Both a great read and a limited practical guide, it has been a favorite of the rendezvous crowd who prompted a recent reprint.

For sci-fi (pronounced "skiffy"-literature that sticks to the roof of the mind), the only author whose output I consciously watch for is David Brin, especially his Five Galaxies/Uplift War series.

 

[HABU]

Sled Driver and The Untouchables, both by Brian Shul.

In the former he tells what it was like to fly the worlds fastest plane, the SR-71. The Untouchables tells of his three missions in three days flying at faster than mach3 over Lybia after we bombed the hell out of Momar in '86, I think it was.

 

[glockten]

Without Remorse by Tom Clancy.

Principles Of Personal Defense by Jeff Cooper.

The Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell.

The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote; three massive volumes in the original edition, or 14 smaller volumes in the Time-Life edition.

Machine Guns by Ian V. Hogg.

Military Small Arms Of The 20th Century by Ian V. Hogg and John S. Weeks.

Six Armies In Normandy by John Keegan.

American Caesar by William Manchester; a biography of Douglas MacArthur.

The History Of United States Naval Operations In World War II by Samuel Eliot Morison; 14 volumes.

God, Guns, And Rock'n'Roll by Ted Nugent.

Piece Of Cake by Derek Robinson; a novel about an RAF squadron in the Battle of Britain.

With The Old Breed by E.B. Sledge; the memoirs of a Marine who lived through Peleliu and Okinawa.

"Co. Aytch" by Sam Watkins; memoirs of a Confederate soldier who fought in the Army of Tennessee from Shiloh to Nashville.

 

[Dienekes]

Some very good suggestions here. I will second two already mentioned:

The Marauders, by Charleton Ogburn;
Gates of Fire, by Steven Pressfield

For the long haul, History of Civilization, by the Durants;

For very heavy duty, The Great Books series.

The older I get the more I realize how poor an 'education' I got from 'professional educators'. If I had to choose between the average university and a really good used bookstore in a city, I would take the latter instantly.

Oh, and kill the TV. Always a good move.

 

[Glock_17]

Have to pitch in:


The Gap Series, starting with "The Real Story" - Stephen R. Donaldson
The Night's Dawn Trilogy - Peter F. Hamilton
The Mindstar Trilogy (Mindstar Rising, A Quantum Murder, The Nano Flower) - Peter F. Hamilton
Hyperion & The Fall of Hyperion - Dan Simmons
The Heritage Trilogy - Ian Douglas
A Fire Upon The Deep & A Deepness In The Sky - Vernor Vinge

Anything written by Larry Bond
Anything with Jack Ryan from Tom Clancy up to "The Bear and the Dragon", can't stand the later books

Blind Man's Bluff
The Silent War
Big Red


More to come in the next thread!

 

[rick458]

I was half way through Leon Uris's Battle Cry before it dawned on me that the Com platoon he was writing about lived one floor beneath me (com platoon 6th Mar Reg, 2nd Mar Div) I was with regimental TOWs at the time I got W.E.B Griffith Special Ops
I want to finish off the Corps as well

 

[80fl]

originally posted by baba louie

And they're all gun-toting, shooting Democrats. I don't mean they go out and shoot Democrats, they all just read this individualistic, manly, libertarian bent writing and vote the demo ticket.

I was hoping to charter one of those clubs in my neck of the woods. hehehe


Another great book is:

"The death of the west"

by none other that Patrick J. Buchanan

Truly a must read.

 

[VaughnT]

All these authors and no one has mentions Robert Jordan, the only writer to come close to Tolkein?

If you haven't read Jordan's Eye of the World series, you're missing out on something great. It's amazing how he ties so many cultural realities into a mythical story. And it is very deep.

It's easily the best writing since Tolkein, for those fantasy folks. The Eddings did a good job, and it was certainly entertaining, but it just doesn't compare to Jordan.

And anything from Gabe Suarez is a must have. That man is simply amazing, with a gun or pen. I love his style.

 

[Jmurman]

David Hackworths last book. I think its called Steeling our Soldiers. Very good read about Nam.

 

[RKCheung]

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury

1984 - George Orwell

Brave New World - Aldous Huxley

 

[spacemanspiff]

i was just thinking that we needed a good book thread...

i'm reading "blood red snow" right now. its the journal of a german machine gunner on the russian front lines. paints the german soldiers in a rather different light. dont remember the name of the author, but its so far a decent read.

"the sirious mystery" is a good book for those into mythology and the possiblity of alien contact.

"holy blood holy grail" is not too bad, if you're interested in the knights templar.

 

[Viking6]

From Defeat to Victory by Viscount William Slim
An Unofficial History by Viscount William Slim
Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
Any and everything by George McDonald Fraser (especially the Flashman Series)

 

[0007]

books & authors

Only saw one mention of Louis L' Amour. Everything he has written. Then find all the movie adaptations, especially the one done recently with Sam Elliot. John MacDonald. Same as above. For some really hard-hitting fiction-noir try Andrew Vachss - pronounced "Vax". Writes fiction. Most of his stuff relates to child abuse and payback.

 

[hipower22]

Have to agree with you on Louis L'Amour. One of America's great authors. I've read every book of his I have been able to get my hands on. And what about Brules by Harry Combs? Hard to put down once you've started.

 

[tankertom]

John Ringo's series with the Army fighting the Posleen are great.

www.johnringo.com