What are you reading?

[budwom]

Reading Tara Westover's Educated, a non-fiction best seller. I really hope she's exaggerating, because this is one messed up family.

it's beyond comprehension what her family consisted of, but evidently it's true.

[devildeac]

I just finished reading "A Game of Birds and Wolves" by Simon Parkin. It deals with an element of the WWII Battle of the Atlantic that I was not previously aware of. It's a fascinating story.

The book documents the work of the female Naval Reserves, the Wrens, of the Royal Navy during the war. Their job was to "play" in the game that was used to teach anti-Uboat tactics to defend the convoys that were sailing back and forth to England. In effect they played a giant game of "Battleship" at the training facility against Royal Navy escort officers and captains of the merchant ships that made up the convoys. Needless to say, the officers and sea captains were not particularly receptive to being told that they needed to play a game against a bunch of women in their early twenties - most of whom had never been to sea at all - in order to learn how to operate their ships in the Atlantic.

But the light came on pretty quickly for these men. What they saw was that if they played the game commanding the surface vessels against the female Uboat commanders, the surface vessels got sunk. Likewise if the men played the game as Uboat commanders against the women commanding the surface ships, then the Uboats got sunk by the women on the surface. Fortunately they quickly acknowledged that the tactics the women used needed to be integrated into their plans.

These women played an important role in the efforts that protected the U.K from going past the tipping point that might have forced them to surrender early in the war. It took the combined effects of code breaking, improved air cover, massive production efforts, and the tactics developed at the anti Uboat school to prevent the submission of the U.K. Without what these women did, it might not have worked out they way it did.

That sounds fascinating. If you liked that, you might like "The Ghost Army of WW2" that I read a couple months ago.

[Ggallagher]

That sounds fascinating. If you liked that, you might like "The Ghost Army of WW2" that I read a couple months ago.

Looks interesting. I'll check it out. Thanks.

[Phredd3]

I just finished reading "A Game of Birds and Wolves" by Simon Parkin. It deals with an element of the WWII Battle of the Atlantic that I was not previously aware of. It's a fascinating story.

Thank you for pointing this out. I added it to my list.

[luburch]

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

[OldPhiKap]

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

I did the audiobook of this and really liked it.

I recently read Peak by Roland Smith which also involves climbing Mt Everest but it's a young adult book. So Into Thin Air sounds like a good follow up.

I've read several books from the young adult section in the last few years mainly because my daughter is reading them for her book club. But I also find them enjoyable because they can be a quick and easy read while usually still entertaining. It also can be a good way for someone that doesn't read a lot to ease onto a new hobby while we're all spending more time at home for a while.

What is great about Into Thin Air is that the author was a writer for Outdoor magazine (IIRC) and he was just going along to write about what it is like to climb Everest. He ended up being an eye-witness to an incredible drama. So it is very well-written; has first-hand descriptions of what the conditions were like; and he explains just enough of the climber’s mentality and mechanics without bogging down in them. Top notch.

[weezie]

That sounds fascinating. If you liked that, you might like "The Ghost Army of WW2" that I read a couple months ago.

dd recommended this to me as a good gift for my son last month. Son of weezie is enjoying it very much!

[devildeac]

dd recommended this to me as a good gift for my son last month. Son of weezie is enjoying it very much!

Excellent!!

[devildeac]

Oliver Twist. Having a Dickens of a time getting through it. But, I have Great Expectations I'll finish later this week and move on to the next book in the four volume compilation we own.

[OldPhiKap]

Oliver Twist. Having a Dickens of a time getting through it. But, I have Great Expectations I'll finish later this week and move on to the next book in the four volume compilation we own.

Had to read Great Expectations in ninth grade, it was a painful experience. Let me know how it reads as a pleasure choice if anyone has done it.

[aimo]

Had to read Great Expectations in ninth grade, it was a painful experience. Let me know how it reads as a pleasure choice if anyone has done it.

Tried this a couple of years ago. Did not succeed.

[rasputin]

The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.

I read that a few years ago. What a spooky book.

Speaking of spooky, I just finished re-reading 1984, which I last read probably in the 1970's. Equally spooky, and with characteristics of our current age.

[MartyClark]

Had to read Great Expectations in ninth grade, it was a painful experience. Let me know how it reads as a pleasure choice if anyone has done it.

I tried it again a year or so ago.I couldn't finish it.

[DUKIECB]

Reading Tara Westover's Educated, a non-fiction best seller. I really hope she's exaggerating, because this is one messed up family.

Read that last year and yeah talk about messed up, yikes. Good read and a great story of perseverance on her part.

[DUKIECB]

Currently reading Born Survivors a true story about three young Jewish ladies who after becoming pregnant survived the Holocaust and Auschwitz death camp. I'm half way through and it is probably the most excruciating version of what transpired in those camps I've ever read. Truly heartbreaking and also enraging. To think humans did that to other humans is almost beyond my ability to imagine. The human will to survive may be the most powerful force in the universe.

[aimo]

Currently reading Born Survivors a true story about three young Jewish ladies who after becoming pregnant survived the Holocaust and Auschwitz death camp. I'm half way through and it is probably the most excruciating version of what transpired in those camps I've ever read. Truly heartbreaking and also enraging. To think humans did that to other humans is almost beyond my ability to imagine. The human will to survive may be the most powerful force in the universe.

Read In Our Hearts, We Were Giants, about the Ovitz dwarfs and Mengele at Auschwitz. You might want to take break from the Holocaust before you read it, though.

[YmoBeThere]

This thread would be better with pictures...

[cspan37421]

What is great about Into Thin Air is that the author was a writer for Outdoor magazine (IIRC) and he was just going along to write about what it is like to climb Everest. He ended up being an eye-witness to an incredible drama. So it is very well-written; has first-hand descriptions of what the conditions were like; and he explains just enough of the climber’s mentality and mechanics without bogging down in them. Top notch.

I'll second that, about Into Thin Air. Excellent read. Cured me of dreaming about doing it someday. Not that I harbored much belief in my ability to do so - I considered my chances about 1% higher than John Blutarsky's GPA. But I dreamed that it would be really cool if I could. Top of the world! After that book, I no longer wanted to; even without the deadly storm, it sounded utterly miserable (though the book was riveting!). That read, in turn, led me to a greater appreciation for less popular, under-rated, and enjoyable adventures and places. Still Type II fun, but bordering on Type I.

But if high altitude climbing is your thing, a great documentary on an arguably tougher climb (though by definition not as high) is Meru. Unlike Everest, NO ONE had successfully climbed it before Conrad, Jimmy, and Renan attempted it.

[devildeac]

Before my laborious undertaking of Oliver Twist, I finished this one:

The General vs The President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War-H.W. Brands

A thorough and well researched/written book on the lead-up to and action during the Korean War.

[arnie]

This thread would be better with pictures...

Nah, then UNCheat fans could comment on the thread.