338 replies to this topic

[susanhemmings]

Currently reading:
Conscripts....
also keep going back to Forgotten Lunatics  (hard going to say the least and very sad)
Next book - Goodbye to all that.....

[AndyHollinger]

Rites of Spring by Modris Eksteins

[StaffsReg]

' A Lack of Offensive Spirit - The 46th at Gommecourt'
By Bill mac Cormick ( Bmac!)
only read to page 28 so far(got yesterday) but am hooked already1
A 'huge'  book in many ways.

Cheers,
Ivan.

[JRN]

Have just finished "Europe's Last Summer: Why the World Went to War in 1914" by David Fromkin.

I am about a third of the way through "Mud, Blood and Poppycock: Britain and the Great War" by Gordon Corrigan.

[rogerlintott]

So come on guys what are you reading at the moment?

On my bedside table at the moments is Gary Sheffield's excellent Forgotten Victory. Avery good read.

Ross

[rogerlintott]

Reading once again Edmund Blunden's Undertones of War. If you have not, you have missed a great read.

Roger.

[Karl Murphy]

Delving into the single volume Penguin edition of Churchill's The World Crises 1911-1918.

Pretty good read and a lot fairer than I expected.

Of course being one of the participants has its advantages and disadvantages when writing a history but I found his accounts of his own involvement in the War fascinating.

I would love to have the complete set of this work and last year I saw it on sale in Chapters Bookshop in Dublin - the price was €250 !!!

[armourersergeant]

Just starting '39 months with the Tigers 1915-18' by D V Kelly. Thin volume of only a hundred and fifty pages or so but seems to be shaping up well.

regards
Arm

[MartinBennitt]

Delving into the single volume Penguin edition of Churchill's The World Crises 1911-1918.

Pretty good read and a lot fairer than I expected.

Of course being one of the participants has its advantages and disadvantages when writing a history but I found his accounts of his own involvement in the War fascinating.

I would love to have the complete set of this work and last year I saw it on sale in Chapters Bookshop in Dublin - the price was €250 !!!

"Winston has written an enormous book about himself and called it 'The World Crisis'", said Arthur Balfour. One of my favourite quotes.

cheers Martin B

[truthergw]

There is a book about WSC and Lloyd George, you might like. It is on Amazon at the moment. Riddell mentions him a lot in his diaries. He was not one of his admirers. Churchill and Lloyd George were close for many years, from before the war until Ll-G's death. They are usually described as friends but the impression I got when reading about them is that they preferred to know what each other was up to. The old adage springs to mind, " Keep your friends close and your enemies closer".

[Karl Murphy]

"Winston has written an enormous book about himself and called it 'The World Crisis'", said Arthur Balfour. One of my favourite quotes.

cheers Martin B

Nice One!

[jmt]

just starting  scapa and a camera by c w burrows
a2007 reprint of a1931 book
lots of photos of grand fleet   and the scuttled german fleet []

[shaymen]

Just finished Somme Mud
If anyone hasn't got it ...get it now
Marvellous book

[Harry Flashman V.C.]

A Foreign Field by Ben Macintyre

True story about a group of soldiers that were caught behind enemy lines when the Germans invaded France in 1914.  They were taken in by the French at Villeret in Picardy and protected.  A very sad and moving story as one of the women of the village fell in love with one of the soldiers Robery Digby and had a baby girl.

Ben Macintyre who is a Times newspaper correspondent met the old lady (the girl) in about 2001 at a memorial service in the village and researched the story.  I very good read.

Type in the title in amazon for more info

[trenchtrotter]

Just started "A Lack of Offensive Spirit" by our pal Bmac. So far so good. Only a few pages in and never knew the link to Handsworth Bham, an area I am so familiar with.

TT

[AllieT]

I'm reading a fascinating book about the Spanish Flu in New Zealand.  It's called Black November: The 1918 influenza pandemic in New Zealand by Geoffrey W. Rice.

Definitely worth a read if you're interested in the flu epidemic, even if you're not a New Zealander.  I ordered my copy directly from the publisher.

Allie

[billbadge]

In an attempt to advance beyond absolute ignoramus in this vast subject I am raiding the library weekly. Among others this week I have 'The Routledge Atlas of the First World War' and Rotographic's 'British and Irish Campaign Medals'. Both suit me as they have lots of diagrams and pictures and have already cleared up a few mysteries. (They have also posed yet more questions- sigh!)

billbadge

[squirrel]

Just finished "Stand To" by a Captain in the Leinsters - excellent and very well written account of his time with 2nd Battalion.

Currently reading "A Lack of Offensive Spirit" by bmac and it is absorbing, detailed and informative.

At home I have the WFA "Stand To" reprint volume 3 which I am enjoying dipping in to.

And then there is "Le Cateau" in the Battleground Europe series..............

[Bonfire]

I am presently reading a new book by Nathan Greenfield, Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada ©2007  Pretty good so far and I was attracted by the title because although they say Canada came of age on Vimy Ridge, I have long thought that the process was started during 2nd Ypres.
Susan/Bonfire

[ItemCo16527]

Just finished reading Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce by Stanley Weintraub. To say it was incredibly moving would be an understatement.

[armourersergeant]

I am presently reading a new book by Nathan Greenfield, Baptism of Fire: The Second Battle of Ypres and the Forging of Canada

The author is a member of this forum as well. A thread around 2nd ypres and this book was under way last year. A search would bring it up I am sure.

regards
Arm

[dah]

The Old Front Line by John Masefield..

Recently finished.this excellent book.....as a direct consequence of recommendations from this site (probably this very thread). For those who are familiar with the Somme battlefield as it is today, but who are not familiar with this book........I would strongly recommend you to it.

The book was written & first published in 1917. The writer is walking the same ground we walk today, describing what he sees and what he knows has taken place only the previous summer. The battle has recently moved north to the Hindenberg line and the Somme is now a quiet rear area (for the time being). So many of us must have tried to imagine the scene and devastation as we stand in today's sunken lane, Beaumont Hamel, Ancre valley, Mill Road, Schwaben redoubt - Leipzig salient etc etc. This guy is really there - describing the slowly collapsing trenches, the myriad of lone graves, the abandoned equipment etc. .....and, if you know the ground he is talking about, it's like you are there too - looking over his shoulder.

I was captivated.

David

[wullmackie]

Just starting to read

Horseman Pass By .

(The Austrailian Light Horse in World War 1, Gallipoli to Damascus)
by Lindsey Baly

Wull

[roel22]

The Old Front Line by John Masefield.

Completely by chance I noticed the complete text of this book can be read online. Looks like a must have.
David, there are several versions of this book; does your edition have the 1971-photo's as well?

regards

Roel

[Matt Dixon]

I am in the middle of "The Unending Vigil: A history of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission."