I'm wanting to start reading more books about the Military, (instead of old underground comix and surfing the web late into the nightime...) and what with Christmas comming on, my wife and family have asked if there are any that might interest me. So, the question i'll pose to you fellow members is this...the stranded island thingy....what book, military related mind you, would you choose? I know theres been other threads about "what are you reading now? and the like....but if you could choose one...any era, any wartime, any side's view... (although i would like ww2 related but that dosen't matter) i love the dvd re-relases of the old films...but after reading some threads on this site....i have to start reading more just to stay up with you people...so HELP....gimmie some titles...even if it's only avalible in the library....my card is up to date.

Thanks,
Kevin Glackmeyer (:-)

For WWII I would buy any of the great Stephen Ambrose books, Cornelius Ryan, William Manchester,

If you like adventure/spy/military there is Tom Clancy - although some of his works take a diagram to sort out who's who.

Don't forget the classics - Tolkien's Lord of the Rings - facinating read after seeing the 3 movies on how much MORE could have/should have been included.

Wow, there are so many I could choose from but if I had to pick one I would say " 100 Decisive Battles from ancient times to the present" The world's major battles and how they shaped history by Paul K Davis.

Kevin

A rifleman went to war by HW Mc Bride. The classic account of WW1 sniping and machine guns.

Sniping in France by Hesketh-Pritchard. Another classic about the British sniping in WW1.

The Forgotten Soldier by Guy Sajer. This is the account of a his fighting on the Russian front.

As for reading the Lord of the Rings and deciding they could/should have added more - watch the extended versions. I was given the box set of all three for Christmas. They include quite a lot of important things that were left out of the cinema release. It makes the stories more complete. After all, the Return of the King has almost an extra 50 minutes added, and I'm sure no one would like to sit through a 4 hour plus moviein one sitting.

There was also no way Peter Jackson could put everything from the book into the movies - they would have needed ten movies to fit it all in, and it would have made them pretty unwatchable to all but die hard Tolkien fans.

Thanks for the suggestions guys...I'll check the library first for some titles, then the bookstore for the rest...many thanks again With the recent situation with my employment status, it looks like i'll have some time fro a few good books....

kevin

Oh, dear, not the Furry Freak Brothers?... :-)

I guess i´ll take something about survival and living off nature.... :-)

If thats not allowed, i´ll take Douglas Adams "hitchhikers guide" - a good laugh in desperate situations is much better than reading for the N´th when the d-day was - IMHO

I had forgotten about Sajer's book and agree, it's a fascinating story and a good read.

Funny, first thought I had was Lord of the Rings as well. I totally agree that the extended versions are better, but then I also consider myself one of the diehards. There was very little about Peter Jackson's final "screen-play" (as the total extended versions comprise) that I would find fault with.

The only small gripe I had was the deletion of "The Scouring of the Shire" ending thread. But one of the segments in the appendices of the extended version gives a very good explanation of how the adapted the book into a screen play and explains their reasons for what they did and why.

Since I have read the completed work a dozen times at least, (and I seldom re-read anything), that's the only work that comes close to meeting the requirements for me.

Tom

I have read LOTR about five or six times, and I agree about the scouring of the shire. I enjoyed that part of the book and was disappointed that it was not even in the extended version. However I have been watching the appendices on the extended version, and cant really fault PJs reasoning for not including it in the movie.

Yes, they talked about how the original story wasn't "chronological" in the sense a movie would be, i.e. the movie cuts back and forth showing what the separated groups of the fellowship are doing, while the books follow each group for quite some time and then the next book "doubles back". Much less effective in a movie.

Their reason was that in the grand scheme of things, it wasn't truly critical to the story. I can live with that. But what I loved about it in the book was the way Pippen and Merry "came of age" returning home not as mere boys, but seasoned warriors unafraid to set things right. And it was a nice tie in with Sam's gift from Gladriel, which isn't mentioned at all.

But given how long the written work is, I suppose you have to shorten it to 12 hours. :-)

Now you've got to work on Mr. Jackson (being a Kiwi and all ) to convince him to do a feature film of "The Hobbit".

Tom

Think i would take a handfull of the Sharpe novels, well researched, and some of the best Battle scenes Ive ever read, and you have an hero.if not L.O.T.R.

Hmmm only one book...would have to be raft building 101

Sean