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sweetpea

sweetpea

War Hero
WreckerL said:
On a similar note, I have "Gallipoli" by L.A. Carlyon on my bookshelf plus Max Arthurs "Last Post" which is a book of interviews Max did with 21 veterans of WW1 (including Harry Patch, whose biography I also have).
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You have impeccable taste in reading material Wrecker. (BTW, I'm still stalking you).

SP
 
WreckerL

WreckerL

War Hero
Super Moderator
sweetpea said:
You have impeccable taste in reading material Wrecker. (BTW, I'm still stalking you).

SP
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I've got Max Arthur's Lost Voices of the Royal Navy 1914 - 1945 which is a good read as well (and you've just given my fragile male ego a boost ;))
 
SARKING

SARKING

MIA
'Bring back my stringbag'. By John Godley AKA Lord Kilbracken. Swordfish Pilot in WW2. Excellent read if you can get your hands on it.
 
WreckerL

WreckerL

War Hero
Super Moderator
One of the first books I bought for my Kindle was

1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke.

Although it sounds like a mickey taking book, it's actually an historical book laying a lot of myths in French history to rest (with a bit of humour thrown in) such as the guillotine was invented in Yorkshire and the French sentenced Joan of Arc to death for wearing trousers!!
 
Stirlin

Stirlin

War Hero
WreckerL said:
One of the first books I bought for my Kindle was

1000 Years of Annoying the French by Stephen Clarke.

Although it sounds like a mickey taking book, it's actually an historical book laying a lot of myths in French history to rest (with a bit of humour thrown in) such as the guillotine was invented in Yorkshire and the French sentenced Joan of Arc to death for wearing trousers!!
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most things were invented in Yorkshire , we just don't brag about it , ever. :p
 
higthepig

higthepig

GCM
BillyNoMates said:
One of my all time favourites is "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", and I would like to get hold of a copy of it again. I honestly didn't put the book down until I had read it from start to finish in one hit.

p.s. I've got A* levels in English language/literature......God knows how I achieved that.

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1743336-jonathan-livingston-seagull
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Amazon.
Jonathan Livingston Seagull: A story
29 Jan 2015
by Richard Bach and Russell Munson
Paperback
£5.59
Get it by Friday, May 1
More buying choices
£0.01used & new(70 offers)
Kindle Edition
£5.31
Available for download now
 
D

dermol

Midshipman
chieftiff said:
OK, so we've had favourite book genre and a whole host of music and film threads so I thought, as I'm currently looking for a book to read I would put this thread forward.

List the best 5 books you have ever read and importantly the one book which you would recommend to your best friend. It needn't be high brow just the one book which you feel perhaps changed your view of the world or passed some time pleasantly. I suppose I should start!

The best book I ever read was called Eagle in the sky by Wilbur Smith, now I don't really like Wilbur Smith but I have read this book 4 times it is brilliant. The rest of my five are:

Lord of the Rings- Tolkien Because I was 15 and it enthralled me.
The Dragonbone Chair- Tad Williams Because I was 30 and it enthralled me more than above
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee Because it was my english GCE book and I've revisited it twice.
Einsteins Universe- Nigel Calder Because it really did change my life.

These threads seem to be the type people look in on when joining the site or when bored so I will add it to the other sticky's at the top of NBCD.
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D

dermol

Midshipman
chieftiff said:
OK, so we've had favourite book genre and a whole host of music and film threads so I thought, as I'm currently looking for a book to read I would put this thread forward.

List the best 5 books you have ever read and importantly the one book which you would recommend to your best friend. It needn't be high brow just the one book which you feel perhaps changed your view of the world or passed some time pleasantly. I suppose I should start!

The best book I ever read was called Eagle in the sky by Wilbur Smith, now I don't really like Wilbur Smith but I have read this book 4 times it is brilliant. The rest of my five are:

Lord of the Rings- Tolkien Because I was 15 and it enthralled me.
The Dragonbone Chair- Tad Williams Because I was 30 and it enthralled me more than above
To Kill a Mockingbird- Harper Lee Because it was my english GCE book and I've revisited it twice.
Einsteins Universe- Nigel Calder Because it really did change my life.

These threads seem to be the type people look in on when joining the site or when bored so I will add it to the other sticky's at the top of NBCD.
Click to expand...
Just finished re-reading Nicholas Monsarrat's " The Tribe That Lost It's Head"
Not for the faint-hearted or esoteric, however.
Monsarrat served WW11 Wavy-Navy Hard-Lying for most of the war.


1913 10 17
And whereas by Orders in Council bearing date the 2 April, 1909, and 10 August, 1909, sanction was given for the payment of hard-lying money to officers and men serving in Your Majesty's ships, subject to the condition that when the vessel concerned was above the status of torpedo boat destroyer payment was to be restricted to occasions when the vessel was not in commission:

And whereas we have found it necessary to direct that in future ships undergoing trials whose navigating parties are supplied in whole or in part from Your Majesty's Navy are, as a rule, to be temporarily commissioned for the purpose:

And whereas the arduous conditions attendant upon service with a navigating party or in a ship undergoing trials are in no way affected by this decision:

We beg leave humbly to recommend that Your Majesty may be graciously pleased by Your Order in Council to sanction the payment, as from 31st July, 1913, of hard-lying money at the rates and under the conditions set forth in the following Schedule in place of Schedule E of Order in Council of 2nd April, 1909, and Schedule B of Order in Council of 10th August, 1909.

The Lords Commissioners of Your Majesty's Treasury have signified their concurrence in this proposal.
 
A

AliciaMayson1985

Newbie
I have recently finished reading everything Trudi Canavan wrote and I must say her books are one of my favourite ones. Here it comes:

1. The Black Magician Trilogy
2. The Age of the Five Trilogy
3. The Millennium’s Rule Trilogy - so far have read two- the third one to be released.

If you have a taste for some light fantasy books - I would suggest you pick up those.
 
JamieDonut87

JamieDonut87

Lantern Swinger
My favourites include Biggles (everyone loves Biggles right?), Pegasus Bridge by Stephen Ambrose (my grandfather is in it and helped with some historical facts) and Chickenhawk by Robert Mason.
 
B

BaronBoy

Midshipman
Currently reading "The Fighting Captain" about Capt. Frederick John Walker RN, CB, DSO with 3 bars. It was written by Alan Burn who was Walker's gunnery officer in HMS Starling until Walker's death in 1944. The book is written from the recollections of people who knew and served with Walker and it is excellent. It is well annotated which provides expanded information about naval practices and procedures for people who may have no idea of them, there are appendices which expand on the ships and submarines which fought the Battle of the Atlantic.

What is most illuminating is how close the Admiralty came to wasting Walker's talents. The man was absolutely convinced that submarine warfare was going to be the main danger in the future and the Admiralty seemed determined to keep him as far away from any such area for as long as possible. Another interesting side to the man was his determination to the point of fanaticism that his crew was to be trained to the highest level. To this end his ship and crew never went through the working up period at Tobermory prior to deployment but were personally worked up by Walker.

As an aside, if anyone has read the biography of Capt. Eric "Winkle" Brown will realise that he was aboard the carrier HMS Audacity which was sunk while escorting a convoy between Gibraltar and Liverpool. Walker was the commander of the escort group that Audacity was a part. Following its sinking Walker blamed himself for its loss but the Admiralty absolved him as it was their orders to the Audacity's commander that created the doubtful lines of command that led the carriers loss.

Essentially, the carrier was detached from the convoy after nightfall along with an escort destroyer so that the carrier could manoeuvre more freely and at greater speed than the convoy could maintain. However, by the time of her sinking the escort group had lost all 3 destroyers who had sailed from Gibraltar, two had to return while low on fuel and the other was sunk. Accordingly the escort group could only detach a corvette to accompany the carrier and that slowed the carrier. On the night in question the carrier detached to the east while Walker would have had her to the west of the convoy. The attack when it came was from the east as Walker predicted.

Despite the loss of the carrier and a destroyer as well as 2 merchantmen, the convoy was considered a major success. They succeeded in sinking 4 u-boats and shooting down 3 Focke-Wulf Condor aircraft. A fifth u-boat was sunk while transiting to shadow the convoy. Donitz wrote in his memoirs that he was forced to call away his forces because of the skilful handling of the convoy escorts. The tactics Walker used was to be the model for future convoy escort operations that broke the back of the u-boat menace.

The book is an excellent read and I highly recommend it.
 
G

geoff67

Newbie
jurassic park - micheal crichton
lord of the rings - tolkien
to kill a mocking bird - harper lee
of mice and men - john steinbeck
the great gatsby - f scott fitzgerald
 
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