Current Reading: November 2022

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Current Reading: November 2022

1Bushwhacked
Nov 4, 2022, 6:09 am

I'm taking things a bit easy for the moment and not reading a lot of Military History, though I am reading a good volume of historical fiction with some military themes - John Williams 1972 novel Augustus. Written in epistolary form, I'm very much enjoying it. Currently about halfway through, in amongst the wars of the Second Triumvirate.

2Bushwhacked
Nov 5, 2022, 8:05 am

... but nonetheless couldn't resist and hour or so on a Saturday afternoon fossicking in amongst the stacks at Grant's Bookshop in Sandringham, amongst other things snuffling out Shelby Foote's Stars in Their Courses a stand alone volume taken from his 3 Volume Civil War narrative... and also Well Done Leander a narrative of the cruiser HMNZS Leander's service in the Second World War, written by one of her crew.

3Shrike58
Nov 7, 2022, 7:38 am

Knocked off Sōryū, Hiryū, and Unryū-Class Aircraft Carriers. This is shaping up to be a good series of books (I have the companion volume on the "Kongo" class), but at a certain point one wonders whether the authors are starting to self-cannibalize; the reality is that there is a limited amount to be said about the ships of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and that point has just about been reached.

4jztemple
Nov 14, 2022, 11:32 pm

Completed The Battleship Builders: Constructing and Arming British Capital Ships by Ian Johnston & Ian Buxton. Very detailed look at the building of the British battleships from the pre-Dreadnought classes through HMS Vanguard. The Kindle version is very inexpensive and worth at least looking at a sample if you are interested.

5Shrike58
Nov 15, 2022, 7:38 am

Finished up Rain of Steel yesterday evening, a detailed tactical-operational examination of naval air war in the Okinawa campaign. For the most part I think the author did a very good job of balancing personal accounts with the broader picture, though there should have at least been a nod to the Royal Navy's parallel campaign.

6Shrike58
Nov 23, 2022, 7:17 am

Finished up Life In Jefferson Davis' Navy, which seemed like a perfectly acceptable introduction to the topic.

7Bushwhacked
Nov 23, 2022, 7:50 pm

... or watching as the case may be... after a couple of days sick in bed I needed some cheering up, so why not a classic Dad's Army episode... "The Two and Half Feathers"... enjoy...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnbLuY2hdb8

8John5918
Nov 23, 2022, 10:28 pm

I think Dad's Army is one of the best comedy series ever made!

9Bushwhacked
Nov 23, 2022, 11:46 pm

>8 John5918: ...it used to be on high rotation on television here in Australia in the 70's and 80's.

10Shrike58
Nov 27, 2022, 8:14 am

Finished Samurai to Soldier, an examination of how the Meiji regime weaned itself off depending on the traditional warrior class, with all its factionalism, in creating a conscript army led by professional officers.

11Shrike58
Nov 29, 2022, 7:16 am

Wrapping up the month with Italy in the Era of the Great War, which I have been nibbling at for most of the month. It strikes me as being a good collection of essays, but I'd find it hard to sell as really being essential. Considering the 2018 publication, date this might be the proverbial last tap in regards to the centennial of World War I.