The What Are You Reading thread (now with a simpler name)

[Guard Dog]

Now reading

 

[Gromnir]

Memoirs of My Services in the World War 1917-1918-- George C. Marshall

marshall usual gets recognition for being the architect o' the marshall plan, which won him the nobel peace prize, but that were a peace time effort and he were secretary o' state at the time. marshal were made made chief of staff o' the US army on the day poland were invaded by germany, and at that time the US had an army on par with bulgaria. marshall admitted that the US were not even a third rate military power at the start o' ww2. as such, marshal were an essential figure in transforming the US army from a 4th rate institution into a dominant military superpower. 

is no memoir o' ww2 from marshall although he were offered more than a million dollars by Time Life for the rights to publish. marshall claimed that if he wrote a memoir o' ww2 it would ruin too many reputations.

in the book marshall shares his views on what is necessary for a good American general, and for that alone the book is worth reading particular as his opinions on command officers were controlling during ww2, and endures to some degree even today, but marshall's belief that ineffectual officers need be weeded out aggressive and immediate were abandoned.

am having a hard cover edition, but am recollecting it is available online for free.

HA! Good Fun!

 

Edited August 28, 2021 by Gromnir

[Achilles]

[Guard Dog]

Started this one this morning.... while drinking coffee!

[Raithe]

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/641040/doctrine_uk_wargaming_handbook.pdf

Idly perusing that one.

It's kind of interesting how much of those related documents are open source and online these days.

[Guard Dog]

Now reading:

&

[Guard Dog]

I just ordered this. Gail said it helped her a lot. That piqued my curiosity. This is the first non-kindle book I've bought in years

[Achilles]

19 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

I just ordered this. Gail said it helped her a lot. That piqued my curiosity. This is the first non-kindle book I've bought in years

You may also enjoy this

[Guard Dog]

38 minutes ago, Achilles said:

You may also enjoy this

I’ll give it a look. I have another recommendation of yours on my Kindle. It’s going to be the next one I read. “A hero of two worlds“.

[RichardRichieRich]

I'm not reading anything at the moment. I was impressed by the Witcher series and am currently writing an article about it for our university newspaper. I know it looks like fun.  But believe me, I've actually touched on different topics to write about. Once it was Mark Twain as well. I love Mark Twain. Now I'm gaining more experience in the design of the newspaper itself, trying to learn graphic editors on my own. But so far I'm not doing a very good job. So at the moment I take the newspaper template from https://thegoodocs.com/freebies/newspaper-templates/ and modify it to suit my needs. Are there any people here who are not much of a writer like me?

Edited November 7, 2021 by RichardRichieRich

[Guard Dog]

Currently reading

 

and 

 

[Malcador]

Halfway done it, it's somewhat interesting, the demise of 38 Studios with Schilling's antics could be a bit more in depth but that was pretty funny.  Schilling was a loon.

[Malcador]

Press Reset was underwhelming, working game development can suck. Wow, great insight, Schreier.  Ah well, should not have expected too much. On to :

 

 

[Achilles]

Recently finished Dune and Dune Messiah

Currently reading:

[Sarex]

32 minutes ago, Achilles said:

Recently finished Dune and Dune Messiah

And what did you think of it?

[Achilles]

20 minutes ago, Sarex said:

And what did you think of it?

First book was pretty good. I don't know that I cared for the second. I only read Messiah because the rumor mill says that's where the movie trilogy will end, but I have a feeling a lot of it will get changed for the adaptation.

[Sarex]

42 minutes ago, Achilles said:

First book was pretty good. I don't know that I cared for the second. I only read Messiah because the rumor mill says that's where the movie trilogy will end, but I have a feeling a lot of it will get changed for the adaptation.

Really? I haven't even heard it was going to be a trilogy. So is the fist movie 1 of 3 or .5 of 3?

[ShadySands]

First I'd heard of a trilogy as well so I did some digging

Quote

While Dune: Part Two is set to complete Villeneuve’s adaptation of the original book, that doesn’t necessarily mean the film franchise will end there, as the director has also taken interest in tackling the sequel novel.

“There is Dune’s second book, The Messiah of Dune [aka Dune: Messiah], which could make an extraordinary film,” he told CBC Radio Canada. “I always saw that there could be a trilogy; after that, we’ll see. It’s years of work; I can’t think of going further than that.”

I don't really see them fitting the next book into one movie since they split the first book into two. But what do I know, IIRC the second book is shorter.

Edited November 22, 2021 by ShadySands

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

I think the Dune movies should end with the worm-human hybrid god emperor and no explanation at all.

Anyways I'm going to read Hero of Two Worlds soon.

Edited November 22, 2021 by KP Cross Split Attack

[Achilles]

5 hours ago, ShadySands said:

First I'd heard of a trilogy as well so I did some digging

I don't really see them fitting the next book into one movie since they split the first book into two. But what do I know, IIRC the second book is shorter.

First book was 600+ pages with appendices, etc. Second book had fewer than 250 pages.

First two books tell the story of Paul Atreides, so a trilogy based on the first two books would make a certain amount of sense.

EDIT: Another quote for those who are curious:

Quote

I always envisioned three movies. It's not that I want to do a franchise, but this is Dune, and Dune is a huge story. In order to honor it, I think you would need at least three movies. That would be the dream. To follow Paul Atreides and his full arc would be nice. [Frank] Herbert wrote six books, and the more he was writing, the more it was getting psychedelic, so I don't know how some of them could be adapted. One thing at a time. If I ever have the chance to do Dune: Part Two and Dune Messiah, I'm blessed.

 

Edited November 22, 2021 by Achilles

[Achilles]

[BruceVC]

Im reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, its the sequel to The Shining and follows the life of  Dan Torrence the little boy who was protagonist in The Shining

King is such a talented writer, my favorite horror author. What creativity and brilliance to be able to write like him 

 

Edited December 23, 2021 by BruceVC

[kirottu]

I finished Assassin's Fate by Robin Hobb yesterday.

16 books in the Realm of the Elderlings series, 9 of them with Fitz and the Fool, and now it's over. I've been reading this series since I was teenager. Maybe that's the reason why couldn't really do anything yesterday after finishing it. I tried to play a game, tried to watch a movie, but only thing I could do was to lie in bed and listen to some music.

What a ride it had been.

[xzar_monty]

On 12/23/2021 at 4:54 PM, BruceVC said:

Im reading Doctor Sleep by Stephen King, its the sequel to The Shining and follows the life of  Dan Torrence the little boy who was protagonist in The Shining

King is such a talented writer, my favorite horror author. What creativity and brilliance to be able to write like him

King is very talented and much more than a horror writer, but he's also very uneven. I think his best, by far, in the 2000s is Under the Dome (silly ending but that was only to be expected). Duma Key is also quite all right, and the beginning of The Outsider is superb but the end is rubbish.

Doctor Sleep is not bad at all. Not great King, but not bad at all.

FWIW, I think King's best are 'Salem's Lot and IT. Of the shorter stories, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is probably the finest

[BruceVC]

1 minute ago, xzar_monty said:

King is very talented and much more than a horror writer, but he's also very uneven. I think his best, by far, in the 2000s is Under the Dome (silly ending but that was only to be expected). Duma Key is also quite all right, and the beginning of The Outsider is superb but the end is rubbish.

Doctor Sleep is not bad at all. Not great King, but not bad at all.

FWIW, I think King's best are 'Salem's Lot and IT. Of the shorter stories, Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption is probably the finest

I didnt even know he wrote Under the Dome, I watched the TV series and season 1 was okay. But its testament to his writing  versatility because I imagine most accomplished  writers become skilled in one type of genre and cant just swop to  another one successfully and King has written horror, fantasy and sci-fi which I consider Under the Dome to be

But back to his horror books, I agree that IT was excellent and also Needful things and Rose Red. The latter 2 being some  of my favorite books he wrote. And you cant forget The Stand ...its superlative 

But Salems Lot is my best overall, I am  a serious vampire groupie . If you enjoy Vampire themes have you read They Thirst by Robert McCammon , if not I recommend it  and he writes other great horror stories but hes not as well known as King 

https://www.amazon.com/They-Thirst-Robert-McCammon/dp/0671735632

Im down the coast at the moment for Xmas holiday and I went to the local second hand bookstore but the only horror they had was Dean Koontz so I picked up three books for under 6 pounds when converted...I love second hand bookstores that have inexpensive books like these