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Post by gregorius on Jun 7, 2021 23:47:33 GMT
I think that "When Christ and His Saints Slept" is my favourite. Love the Anarchy period. Cheers, So I've decided on Penman's The Land Beyond the Sea. It's early days yet, but I'm quite enjoying it. As Amalric has just died in chapter 3 I'm theorising that the bulk of thebook will cover Baldwin IV's reign and perhaps into Guy's and the Battle of Hattin. Cheers, Last night I finished reading The Land Beyond the Sea. The tale is familiar but is retold so well. The major players are well represented and the second tier characters add a lot to the story. One that I can recommend highly. Next up is Harry Sidebottom's latest. Cheers,
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Post by macbeth on Jun 10, 2021 1:51:03 GMT
Last night I finished "The Crime Book" - a light touch reference book, but worth it for allowing me to discover the word "Kabukinomo" - criminal gangs made up of Samurai during the Sengoku period.
I am now reading "White Nile Black Blood: War, Leadership, and Ethnicity from Khartoum to Kampala" - an anthology of essays about history, politics and economics in the South Sudan. So far having read the introduction and two essays so far the treatment of the British Colonial rule is quite gentle for a book published in 2000.
Cheers
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Post by gregorius on Jun 11, 2021 21:27:51 GMT
So I've decided on Penman's The Land Beyond the Sea. It's early days yet, but I'm quite enjoying it. As Amalric has just died in chapter 3 I'm theorising that the bulk of thebook will cover Baldwin IV's reign and perhaps into Guy's and the Battle of Hattin. Cheers, Last night I finished reading The Land Beyond the Sea. The tale is familiar but is retold so well. The major players are well represented and the second tier characters add a lot to the story. One that I can recommend highly. Next up is Harry Sidebottom's latest. Cheers, Yesterday I finished The Return by Harry Sidebottom. This novel, quite different to his earlier ones, was set in the year after the sack of Corinth and is more of an ancient murder mystery thriller. Another one well worth the read. David Lawrence I'm sure that you would enjoy it. Cheers,
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Post by macbeth on Jun 14, 2021 9:08:50 GMT
Last night I finished reading The Land Beyond the Sea. The tale is familiar but is retold so well. The major players are well represented and the second tier characters add a lot to the story. One that I can recommend highly. Next up is Harry Sidebottom's latest. Cheers, Yesterday I finished The Return by Harry Sidebottom. This novel, quite different to his earlier ones, was set in the year after the sack of Corinth and is more of an ancient murder mystery thriller. Another one well worth the read. David Lawrence I'm sure that you would enjoy it. Cheers, Thanks Greg I will put it on my wishlist Cheers
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Post by gregorius on Jun 18, 2021 7:04:32 GMT
After completing the latest Sidebottom opus I moved away from history and historical fiction. I quickly read the first in the Slough House series of contemporary spy novels and am now about halfway through Achtung Schweinehund! This mirrors my early teen years so closely.
Cheers,
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Post by macbeth on Jun 19, 2021 12:15:18 GMT
Last week I finished off 'White Nile, Black Blood' and on Friday morning picked up 'Cult of Glory' by Doug J. Swanson - this was a warts and all history of the Texas Rangers,
Now I have just started 'The Anglo Saxons' by Marc Morris
Cheers
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Post by gregorius on Jun 20, 2021 23:34:42 GMT
After completing the latest Sidebottom opus I moved away from history and historical fiction. I quickly read the first in the Slough House series of contemporary spy novels and am now about halfway through Achtung Schweinehund! This mirrors my early teen years so closely. Cheers, So, after reliving my childhood via Achtung Schweinehund I have turned to historical fiction. This time it's Sharon Penman's When Christ and His Saints Slept. I read this about 20 years ago and felt like a return to familiar territory. Cheers,
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Post by macbeth on Jun 21, 2021 0:07:03 GMT
After completing the latest Sidebottom opus I moved away from history and historical fiction. I quickly read the first in the Slough House series of contemporary spy novels and am now about halfway through Achtung Schweinehund! This mirrors my early teen years so closely. Cheers, You and me both Greg
I am sure that Pearson was looking over my fence, taking notes, tapping my phone and reading my mail back in the day
Cheers
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Post by ammianus on Jun 21, 2021 19:32:21 GMT
Rereading Robert Low's "The Oathsworn" series.
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Post by macbeth on Jun 28, 2021 1:49:02 GMT
I polished off the last chapter of Morris' "The Anglo Saxons" over the weekend and then picked up Gordon Doherty's "Thunder at Kadesh" - the third novel in his "Empires of Bronze" series. The story is not the best, but it is set in the era of Egypt, Assyria and Troy - and reads a little like my DBA Campaign from the same era. I picked this one up last year around the time I retired (I bought a LOT of books around that time) but didn't get round to reading it. The fourth novel was released, but only through Amazon and I finally ordered it last month. So I plan to read the two of them end to end. There seems to be the hint of another one coming out, but by I may have lost my desire to read the series by then, and if Amazon is the only route to purchase I may forgo.
Cheers
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Post by macbeth on Jun 29, 2021 0:23:14 GMT
So last night I finished off 'Thunder at Kadesh' and I am ambivalent. Doherty's characters do tend to be a little bit lacking in 3D characterisation - the villains are truly evil, the heroes not so. There were a few shark jumping moments - most specifically with the Hittite Chariots using naptha bombs to disrupt a block of Egyptian spearmen (I mean didn't they know that HCh get a quick kill on 4Bd ). The story itself jumps a number of years from the previous book (more than 10) and the main character is driven by a desire for revenge on the over the top Sherden villain. He commits two questionable acts because of this, but this doesn't tarnish his reputation - except that in both cases there is a relative of someone he killed that then strikes back. That said - when he sets the stage for the Battle of Kadesh it is a good interpretation of the setting. The book has Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Trojans and various other types beloved of us in our army lists. I will push on with the next book, but would not recommend. Cheers
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Post by nangwaya on Jun 29, 2021 7:43:13 GMT
So last night I finished off 'Thunder at Kadesh' and I am ambivalent. Doherty's characters do tend to be a little bit lacking in 3D characterisation - the villains are truly evil, the heroes not so. There were a few shark jumping moments - most specifically with the Hittite Chariots using naptha bombs to disrupt a block of Egyptian spearmen (I mean didn't they know that HCh get a quick kill on 4Bd ). The story itself jumps a number of years from the previous book (more than 10) and the main character is driven by a desire for revenge on the over the top Sherden villain. He commits two questionable acts because of this, but this doesn't tarnish his reputation - except that in both cases there is a relative of someone he killed that then strikes back. That said - when he sets the stage for the Battle of Kadesh it is a good interpretation of the setting. The book has Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Trojans and various other types beloved of us in our army lists. I will push on with the next book, but would not recommend. Cheers I appreciate reading your thoughts on these books macbeth. I recall getting really excited about them, the first time you mentioned the series. Reading some fiction based on that period, was a novel (pardon the pun), and welcome idea to me.
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Post by macbeth on Jul 5, 2021 1:57:18 GMT
Over the weekend I finished 'The Crimson Throne' - book four in Gordon Doherty's "Empires of Bronze" series. As before I am underwhelmed with the writing. The characters lack depth and the bad guys seem to be able to raise troops and go easily where the heroes struggle to go.
The Trojan war begins in the background under very convoluted circumstances - Troy will have to defend itself in the next installment, because the Hittite Civil war hollows out the Hittite army and breaks down the signal tower network.
The personal dramas of the main characters read like one of my teenage year role playing adventures, with barely concealed plot device arriving at the appropriate time to extricate the protagonists.
Still - it is not a hard read, so I sailed through it in 3 days, and as said before - I read for the setting with Hittites, Egyptians, Assyrians, Gasgans and many more.
After that I moved on to Ashley Gardner's 'Leonidas the Gladiator' series, short historical crime fiction. I read book 1 "Blood of a Gladiator" and then book 1.5 (a novella she wrote first, but then penned a full length novel to introduce the characters more fully) "Blood Debts" - good stories.
I am now a few pages in to "A Gladiator's Tale" - the second full length novel.
Cheers
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Post by Haardrada on Jul 5, 2021 13:26:53 GMT
I've finally got my head into The Perilous Frontiers by T.J.Barfield and cross-refering with the Soldiers of the Dragon by C.J.Peers. to check each others interpretation of the original sources.😊
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Post by nangwaya on Jul 7, 2021 15:48:55 GMT
Just received in the post a memory stick containing all the SlingShot issues from 1965 to 2020!
Woof, this is going to be a treasure trove, a mountain of material to go through... yippee!
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