New! Reading Anything Thread 2.0

[ER]

The graphic novel Bowie: Stardust, Rayguns, and Moonage Daydreams

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowie:_Stardust,_Rayguns,_and_Moonage_Daydreams

[ER]

Having produced three perfect books in a row, Amor Towles is America's greatest novelist so far in this century.

[Rev. Powell]

[ER]

I'm slowly reading a book about Lincoln that I am enjoying chapter by chapter.

[lester1/2jr]

https://www.amazon.com/Resurrecting-Easter-West-Original-Vision/dp/0062434187

unique book specifically about artistic depictions of The Resurrection. The moment Jesus is resurrected is not described in the gospels, yet is often depicted in both western and eastern art. William blake's resurrected hippy looking Jesus came to mind for me, but Eastern traditions show Jesus AND others, often Adam and Eve. It goes to the issue of what the resurrection means. The significance of the event in, say, Jewish Apocalyptic traditions and modern self help sort of theology are described very differently. perhaps at odds in some ways?

book is lavishly illustrated with images from paintings the authors saw mostly in Southern Europe.

[indianasmith]

JESUS AND HISTORY: HOW WE KNOW HIS LIFE AND CLAIMS by Steven Waterhouse

   I have always held that the Biblical Gospels are by far the best and earliest sources available for the life of the historical Jesus, and that they accurately describe his life and works.  But how early and how accurate are they?  Waterhouse lays out a logical, evidence-based case for dating the three Synoptic Gospels much earlier than most modern scholars give them credit for being, arguing that the three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) were completed before 60 AD, and that while John's Gospel in its final form may indeed date to the last decade of the first century, some of the stories in it were likely written down much earlier.  He also talks extensively about non-Biblical historical references to Jesus and archeological discoveries that have confirmed  many details of the Gospel narratives.  All told, this book is a ringing defense against many of the modern criticisms of the Gospels from authors like Bart Ehrman and others.  Written in a simple, easy to follow format but with extensive footnotes and documentation, this is a great read for anyone interested in the origins of Christianity. 

[Alex]

Hitler's Battleships.

The story of the Kriegsmarine's doomed fleet and how even before Hitler's rise to power, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were being ignored. Perhaps overly sympathetic to the German side, it is still an interesting history of the ships and the political manoeuvring around them and the inter-service bickering that led to them never being quite as effective as they might have been.

[Neville]

Got Lorenzo Silva's "El nombre de los nuestros" from the local library. I don't know if Silva has much stuff translated into English, but you should check him up. He's best known for his long running crime series starring investigators Bevilacqua and Chamorro, which have been made into a couple of films.

"El nombre de los nuestros" is a war / history novel about a few soldiers fighting in the Spanish colony of northern Morocco at the beginning of the first century. By then the territory was pretty much what was left of Spain's colonial empire, so politicians kept sending unexperienced, ill-equipped troops to fight the local insurgency, even if Spain's rule of the country was more theorical than practical. The main characters are the soldiers and officers of an unit sent to an isolated position to check the movements of the insurgents.

[Sitting Duck]

A series I heard about for the first time the other day is Dragon Precinct. Some of the descriptions I've seen include Dungeons & Dragnet and Hill Street Blues in Greyhawk. The Kindle are pretty inexpensive. So even if they do turn out to be bad, it won't have hit my wallet too hard.

[Neville]

Hitler's Battleships.

The story of the Kriegsmarine's doomed fleet and how even before Hitler's rise to power, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were being ignored. Perhaps overly sympathetic to the German side, it is still an interesting history of the ships and the political manoeuvring around them and the inter-service bickering that led to them never being quite as effective as they might have been.

From what I've gathered, Hitler and other Nazis were obsessed over battleships and what they could achieve with them. That was likely an outdated philosophy, very WWI-like. Because it was around that time when navies around the world tried to produce the bigger, more armored warships they could afford. By WWII however it was known they were very vulnerable to air strikes. For all the money Germany put in ships like the Bismarck or the Tirpitz, they didn't see much action and IIRC both were sunk by Allied air strikes.

[Alex]

Hitler's Battleships.

The story of the Kriegsmarine's doomed fleet and how even before Hitler's rise to power, the terms of the Treaty of Versailles were being ignored. Perhaps overly sympathetic to the German side, it is still an interesting history of the ships and the political manoeuvring around them and the inter-service bickering that led to them never being quite as effective as they might have been.

From what I've gathered, Hitler and other Nazis were obsessed over battleships and what they could achieve with them. That was likely an outdated philosophy, very WWI-like. Because it was around that time when navies around the world tried to produce the bigger, more armored warships they could afford. By WWII however it was known they were very vulnerable to air strikes. For all the money Germany put in ships like the Bismarck or the Tirpitz, they didn't see much action and IIRC both were sunk by Allied air strikes.

If you are familiar with the concept of a 'Fleet in being', they would have still represented a large enough threat that would have caused large amounts of resources to be directed towards them even if they'd just sat in a port. The real danger of them was if they got out to run free in the Atlantic and would have ran rampant against supply ships and troop transports. Had Germany finished its two aircraft carriers, or the Luftwaffe provided support, they would have been much more dangerous, but yes by WW2 the age of the battleship was indeed over and doubtless the fuel and other resources they consumed could have been utilised to greater effect in other theatres. Oceanic warfare isn't really my forte though, maybe Indy could give us his opinion?

[Neville]

Yes, I think I've heard of the "Fleet in being" concept. It does make sense, especially in relatively confined space like the ocean between UK, Germany and Norway. You've made me think of the film "Sink the Bismarck!", that shows that indeed the Bismarck was an impediment to British tactics just by sitting there, and how important was to sink it, apart from the obvious propagandistic value of its destruction.

[ER]

Ironic that Germany's biggest warship was named for Bismarck, who was against the development of a large navy. There's also the fact Wilhelm II spent years developing a world class navy he was so reluctant to use. He didn't want his toys damaged, I guess. The policy of the Royal Navy going into nearly the 20th century was to have twice as many ships as the next two largest navies combined, but in the age of industrialization this ideal became unsustainable as German shipyards were building warships so quickly there were even British planners, possibly in German pay, who showed it would have been cheaper for the British to let their warships be built in Germany. Obviously an unpopular idea but less insane than it sounded, as almost the instant a British ship was finalized on the drawing board, Germans already had every blueprint anyway, espionage being something the Germans have always been good at.

Just some thoughts.

[indianasmith]

Robert K. Massey's CASTLES OF STEEL was a really interesting read about the battleship competition that led to the Great War.

[indianasmith]

THE REGISTRATION by Madison Lawson

This girl was a former student of mine, and what a fine novelist she's become!   She's already got a movie deal for this one, which makes me proud and envious at the same time.  Here's what I wrote on Amazon:

THE REGISTRATION is a fast-paced, twisty, dark tale of America some seventy years after the Second Civil War.  Combining elements of THE PURGE movie series with the bleakness of DIVERGENT and THE HUNGER GAMES in an all-new recipe of dystopian stew, Madison Lawson's debut novel is impossible to put down!
   In the future, every U.S. citizen is granted the one-time right to "Register" someone.  Then the citizen has two weeks to track down and kill that person with no legal repercussions whatsoever - but if the person Registered survives those two weeks, they are home free - unless and until someone else Registers them. In the years since America nearly destroyed itself, the Registration has become the most cherished right of citizenship - and the basis of a new society, where the Oligarchs rule in conjunction with the wealthy Elysian family, who created the Registration.
   Enter Lynelle Mize.  Years after escaping her abusive stepfather Alan, she hears that he is re-marrying to a woman with two young daughters.  Determined to spare them the horrors she endured, she decides to finally use her Registration to kill Alan.  But then, while standing in line, she hears the man in front of her give the name of his own Registered victim - and it is her!  Lynelle escapes unseen, but now she has two weeks to elude the stranger who has used his one-time right to mark her for death.  And as she flees, she discovers he is not the only one who has Registered her!  Who are all these people that want her dead, and how can she escape them?
THE REGISTRATION is part chase story, part revenge tale, and part redemption arc.  Most of all, it's an exciting, pulse-pounding novel that will keep you up late at night as you try to finish it!  Kudos to this brilliant young author on an outstanding debut work of fiction. I can't wait to see what Madison Lawson writes next!