My book-buying "problem"

Discussion in 'Books, Films, TV, Radio' started by Chris C, Jul 6, 2018.

  1. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    Some recent buys:
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  2. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    Oops, done it again but, in my defence, Amazon did recommend it to me so it’s their fault. A classic I have never read.

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  3. idler

    idler GeneralList

    The IRA ones are going to have the problem of expense if they're only doing a year at a time...
     
  4. Dan M

    Dan M Active Member

    Delightfully politically incorrect, for which he received some criticism. He was however, a product of his times.

    Cheers,
    Dan.
     
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  5. Rich Payne

    Rich Payne Rivet Counter Patron 1940 Obsessive

  6. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Rich, you made me wonder if there is a book about the history of the School of Artillery and it turns out there is one, Gunners at Larkhill, published in 1980. That's not old, right?
     
  7. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    Another in the pot just now. I had to have it as I understand from the blurb that Maurice served with the 5th Division, of special interest to me now that I know, courtesy of you fine fellows, Grandad also served in this Division (92nd Field Regiment, RA).

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  8. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Wobbler, I have it and have read and I would say it's pretty good!
     
  9. Wobbler

    Wobbler Well-Known Member

    Cheers Chris - I was going to ask you if you had read it yet as I saw you were going to look for a copy in a post you made in 2018 (Anti-tank memoirs thread)...I just saw you read it in August of that year.

    Martin
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2020
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  10. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    Most recent additions:
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  11. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    Some precovid titles showing up finally.

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  12. Markyboy

    Markyboy Member

    Hi Orwell, can you let me know what the Woody book is like please? Ideally if it’s based on a first hand diary, letters or interviews etc? Sometimes these sorts of biographies are just cut and paste jobs from ORBs. Cheers,
     
  13. Orwell1984

    Orwell1984 Senior Member

    Be glad to. Hugh Halliday wrote another book I read "242 Squadron: The Canadian Years" and was a fairly prolific aviation author in Canada during the 70's and 80's with CANAV books.
    For those who don't know here's a brief outline of the subject of the book:
    Vernon Crompton Woodward - Wikipedia
    Woody Woodward
    In Halliday's introduction he explains the genesis of this book. He was connected via a museum employee with Woodward who was living in BC at the time. He was enlisted to help find someone who could help write Woodward's memoirs. Not finding anyone else willing to take up the mantle, Halliday decided to do it himself. In 1983, he flew out to Victoria, BC and met with Woodward. He writes that after talking with Woodward and looking at his personal papers, he felt that he could not write a definitive biography as some documents were missing (Woodward's RAF logbook from 1938-1941 went missing during the evacuation from Crete) and Woodward was spotty on his recall of some events (Halliday notes Woodward freely admitted his memory was hazy in parts which Halliday says was an advantage because the hardest interview subjects are those that are adamant they remember everything exactly in spite of the passage of years). So using Woodward's memories. documentation, photographs (of which he had a large number) and research in the UK at the PRO, a book was written in 1987.
    A quick glance at the pictures makes it look worthwhile especially for the Crete sections. A major caveat is like many books of the 1980's listing of sources/footnoting is poor to non-existent.
     
  14. Robert-w

    Robert-w Banned

    Refreshing and very true
     
  15. Markyboy

    Markyboy Member

    Superb cheers! I’ll add this to my ever growing amazon want list! Thanks for getting back to me in such detail!
     
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  16. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Be damned ... I Got it ... Go to it ... I bought an ... Airborne Book o_O.

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    Well at least not Arnhem related ..
     
    Last edited: May 18, 2020
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  17. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Covid times were also preceded a little by my getting a new job which I continue to do from home, so I have been allowing myself to buy a few titles:

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    Cinderella Army, Terry Copp - analyzes the operations of the Canadian forces in NWE after Normandy. This one actually has arrived.
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    The Pegasus and Orne Bridges by Neil Barber - after listening to a two-part podcast interview this became a must-read. It was originally scheduled to arrive on the 8th, but everything is slower...
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    Rhineland: the Battle to Win the War by Dennis and Sheila Whitaker - more background reading for my writing about the Archer in WW2
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    The Men Inside the Metal: The British AFV Crewman in WW2: Vol 1 by Dick Taylor - I think this was prompted by watching the Tank Museum video about crew clothing
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    The Centurion Tank by Bill Munro - I've heard that this gets some basic things wrong but also may have more detailed information than anything else on the Centurion so we'll see
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    Little Sense of Urgency by R G Poulussen - this is a self-published day-by-day account of Operation Garden. Looking forward to looking at the advance and problems in great detail

    Finally I had a thought last week about which of these books I was buying because I really really wanted to read them and which were motivated by a more vague sense of interest. I took a look at the books still in my list and decided to order two books regarding North Africa. I really have high hopes for both of these.
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    Last edited: May 18, 2020
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  18. stolpi

    stolpi Well-Known Member

    Oi, may I borrow it, after you have finished it? :D

    ... also wonder what you did pay for the book of Poulussen.
     
  19. idler

    idler GeneralList

    Biggest problem of late has been not buying books: two ABEbooks orders cancelled in a week! Plus one incorrectly-listed Amazon Marketplace item, mitigated by the fact that I didn't have what was sent, it was still cheap for what it was and in good order (Manual of Cookery and Dietary, 1940 that should have been the Indian edition).
     
  20. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Ah well I can't help with the first one!

    His book was 25 GBP including postage.
     

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