http://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/4770030428.01._SS500_SCLZZZZZZZ_V42119529_.jpg

 

Yakuza Moon, real story autobiographical of a girl born into the Yakuza.

(I believe that's her in the photo.)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/4770030428

 

 

and http://www.shantaram.com for a rip snorter of an Aussie tale... Shantaram is the name of the book... there is apparently a movie version on its way with Johnny Depp as the main (Aussie) guy...

you will have trouble getting a copy of Shantaram. It is out of print atm.

If you're a strategy minded person, Sun Tzu's 'Art of War' is sex in a book.

 

'Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy' has to be one of the most amusing books I've ever read. It pisses all over the movie.

 

Stephen Donaldson's 'The Gap' series is pretty good along with 'The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever'.

 

Terry Goodkinds 'Sword of Truth' series would have to be my favourite books.

 

I think I'll stop now before I go read something instead of trolling these forums.

For all you tacticians:

 

Sun Tzu's Art of War - if you're 35+, playing an FPS like BF2/PR and haven't read this, SHAME ON YOU.

 

EDIT: I can't believe Lucid already suggested this I'm so unbelievably cut right now! Seriously though, it's a good book.

That's why he's an Admin

+1 to the Gap series by Donaldson

 

Also, if you're into personal accounts of war, then i suggest Robert Mason's "Chickenhawk".......yeah, I'm an un-original bastard and stole my name from it but it is an awesome book and I have read it at least 7 times. Vietnam War for those wondering

I think I read chickenhawk - he's a chopper pilot eh?

 

"nanette" a rare novel about flying p39's in New Guinea in WW2. He gets so scared he craps himself. Also gets erections when he fires his 37mm cannon. Falls in love with his plane because it keeps malfunctioning, forcing him home, and thus keeping him alive a little bit longer.

Matthew Reilly's Ice Station. Joyous and unashamed airport fiction.

+1 for Shantaram. Wow.

 

+10 for "through enemy eyes" by Dave Sabben. Dave was platoon commander of 12 platoon, D company, 6 RAR in 1966.

He was in the middle of the Long Tan battle and wrote the definitive text on Long Tan along with the screenplay for the upcoming Bruce Beresford directed movie about Long Tan (due in 2008).

 

Through enemy eyes is a new novelised version of events told through the 275 NVA regiment commanders eyes and it is simply BRILLIANT. Apart from the history and research that went into it Dave is also an excellent novellist and the story will keep you turning pages even if you already know the outcome.

 

(You DO all know the outcome, right?).

 

Dave is a fascinating guy to talk to and very upfront about events. He said that the morning after the battle he could barely stand as the adrenaline in his system had wrecked his balance. He said that they started to all feel a bit like heroes until their CO ordered them back into the plantation to clean up the mess. He reckons that brought them back to earth in a big hurry.

 

Hard to find the book but most libraries will carry a copy.

 

Oh - and +1 for Terry Pratchett, ook?

 

Bammo

and http://www.shantaram.com for a rip snorter of an Aussie tale... Shantaram is the name of the book... there is apparently a movie version on its way with Johnny Depp as the main (Aussie) guy...

 

I have a copy of Shantaram here that a mate gave me about 9 months ago. Refuses to take it back until i've read it. Only problem is it was the same time I started playing BF2 and well...you know the rest

 

Promise to start this weekend. I miss reading...

If anyone puts down a Dan Brown novel, I'm gonna find where you live and stab out your eyes.

If anyone puts down a Dan Brown novel' date=' I'm gonna find where you live and stab out your eyes.[/quote']

 

Are you saying if we start reading davinci code, and put the book down and stop reading it your gunna stab out our eyes??

 

fair call....

I'd just like to be the party-pooper and Say I have better things to do then sit and read a book.

 

But if you like comedies then get the series from Rob Sitch, Tom Gleisner and Santo Cilauro; Phaic Tan: Sunstroke on a Shoestring, Molvania: A Land Untouched by Modern Dentistry, and San Sombrero: A Land of Carnivals, Cocktails and Coups.

 

They are fake travel guides and are a bit of a giggle to read.

 

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/1844003361.01._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpghttp://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/184400239X.01._AA180_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpghttp://ec2.images-amazon.com/images/P/1843542323.02._AA240_SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Are you saying if we start reading davinci code, and put the book down and stop reading it your gunna stab out our eyes??

 

fair call....

Wise guy, eh?

 

**makes threatening gestures with the flat of one hand and the fist of the other**

 

:wink:

Anything by the Algerian/French writer Albert Camus. May I recommend 'The Outsider' and also 'The Plague'.

 

Also, if you're into economic history, Ferand Braudel has a series of books on civilisation and capitalism in the 15-18th centuries.

 

That being said 'Are you Dave Gorman' is also a cracker of a book.

Anything by the Algerian/French writer Albert Camus. May I recommend 'The Outsider' and also 'The Plague'.

 

Also, if you're into economic history, Ferand Braudel has a series of books on civilisation and capitalism in the 15-18th centuries.

 

That being said 'Are you Dave Gorman' is also a cracker of a book.

 

The Plague is interesting... an outbreak of bubonic plague in an Algerian coastal town. I was told it was meant to be some sort of metaphor for the rise of Nazi Germany in Europe, or something along those lines.

 

and http://www.shantaram.com for a rip snorter of an Aussie tale... Shantaram is the name of the book... there is apparently a movie version on its way with Johnny Depp as the main (Aussie) guy...

 

I have a copy of Shantaram here that a mate gave me about 9 months ago. Refuses to take it back until i've read it. Only problem is it was the same time I started playing BF2 and well...you know the rest

 

Promise to start this weekend. I miss reading...

 

Man.. I initially wasn't interested in reading that book... but after I did I lent it out heaps... and then one time I lent it out... and it never flew home again.

It is now getting around Victoria somewhere, I think... I like to think I set it free

Kurt Vonugut died today :cry: :cry:

 

Slaughterhouse 5 is an awesome read. I liked the bit when he is forced to clean up after the bombing of Dresden, and watches a fellow prisoner from a maori battalion vomit so much he died....

Battle Order 204

http://www.allenandunwin.com/images/CoverImages/9781741751611.jpg

 

A new book out. I had mentioned it in another thread but not given its title.

http://www.allenandunwin.com/bookseller/product.aspx?isbn=9781741751611

I wonder if that is a Halifax on the cover. Not sure. British, 4 radial engines, twin tail - could still be a lancaster but - a few of them had radials.

 

Am I right Kindros?

My favorite non-fictional book of all time is Trackers its a account of a number of combat dog tracker teams during the Vietnam war. Incredibly well written from the first person view of one of the dog handlers and always touches my heart when ever I read it.

 

Also other non-fiction books of note: #Author - Then Titles

 

#Peter Haran - Trackers, Crossfire, Flashback

#Gary McKay - Jungle Tracks, In Good Company, Sleeping with Your Ears Open, Delta Four

#Stephen E Ambros - Citizen Soldier, Band Of Brothers, D-Day, Pegasus Bridge, The Wild Blue

#Robert O'Connor - Buffalo Soldiers

#Mark Bowden - Black Hawk Down

#Peter Dornan - Nicky Barr

 

Pretty much all of these are about war of one kind or another as for ficition, I'll add some of my favorites another time suffice to say I'm a huge fan of Erik Van Lustbader.

I wonder if that is a Halifax on the cover. Not sure. British, 4 radial engines, twin tail - could still be a lancaster but - a few of them had radials.

 

Am I right Kindros?

 

Its a Lancaster Bomber. D for Dog more then likely. The Pic above the ground photo gives more away.

It's an interesting recount by one of those chaps on the ground wife. It talks of their WWII stories, about how she was a AA gunner on the British coast, and was apart of the ground defence for the B.O.B. How they met when he went to bomber command from Australia.

 

The main part of the book though goes into personal detail from journals he kept about flying in the bomber, how scared he was and the likes. The main interesting part though is about Battle Order 204, and the events which happened on that mission. The Pilot at the of D for Dog was seriously injured with fractured ribs, down one side of his body, which also with some unluck tore away the tissue from the bones. He had a broken jaw, and fractures in his arms. This was from one well placed flak shell exploding near enough the aircraft. The eerie thing is though the pilot still managed to hold himself together and land the Lanny back safe.

just finished "thunder run" by david zucchino--its the story of the amoured strike into bagdhad-a brilliant insight into amoured tactics and urban warfare..-----(1 FOR LUCID)

 

fav book is still hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

 

didn't think too much of the movie but...

another good read is "sniper" i forget who wrote it but the bit where him shoots the vc sniper right thru the scope(which meant that they both were sighted on each other)i'll never forget.

 

last book read was "dirty beasts" by roald dahl--my kids love it....

Aaah - my gaming time lately has been seriously impinged - I have just discovered the "Axis of Time" series by Aussie writer John Birmingham (author of "he died with a felafel in his hand").

 

If anyone has seen the 1980's film "The Philidelphia Experiment" then the plot to this series won't be a complete surprise. I am halfway through the first book "weapons of choice" and am utterly, completely hooked. Hooked in a way I haven't been hooked since I first read Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy way back in 1987.

 

I can thoroughly recommend this series if you like your techno-thrillers to have a sense of humour and a twist.

 

Bammo

Non-Fiction:

(these are all books I own)

 

"The Puppet Masters" - John Hughes-Wilson

(A History of Intelligence in Warfare, highly recommended

for those with a spooky interest.)

 

"Who Dares Wins" - Tony Geraghty

(Another Brit. SAS history - very good)

 

"Phantoms of the Jungle" - David Horner

(Australian SAS Regiment history)

 

"The Giant Book of Battles" - Jon E. Lewis

(Compilation of first hand accounts from various wars

and battlefields. Amazing stories... like the one where

a wall falls on British and allied soldiers from a structure

collapsing under arty fire at Monte Casino. The Allied soldiers rush to dig

their men out, and so do the Germans - they come across the battlefield and help !)

The Greatest Story Ever Sold

 

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/5123Q5G8M0L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA240_SH20_.jpg

 

Just finished reading this, pretty interesting look at the Bush administration and they way they use(d) and abuse(d) the media and marketing to get what they want, with a focus on the war in Iraq.

I finally found my favourite self help book again the other day, ok ok its not a self help book and if you consider it to be theirs something wrong but its a crack books if your after a laugh.

 

The complete assholes guide to handling chicks.

 

Some interesting things some people have to say about this.

http://www.bookslut.com/propaganda/2003_10_000777.php