I need some book recommendations

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

"And No Birds Sang," Farley Mowat's recollections of his World War II experiences in the Canadian Army, is a veritable classic, hilarious and tragic . . . . . and probably one of the great anti-war books you might read.

If your going to read this book, you also really have to pick up the companion piece, my fathers son. This book contains all the letters between Mowat and his parents.

He's a pretty funny guy, and it gets interesting when he talks about Mowat's army, which describes his post war experience collecting German Military hardware.

[GreenTeaFrapp]

[firebug]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

I went ahead and purchased Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege by Anthony Beevor

https://www.amazon.com/gp/ays?ie=UTF8&asin=B002UZDTG0

Read this one and his followup book this summer.

Truly one of the most awful things that you will ever read. I highly recommend them both.

[troutman]

I used to enjoy the G.I. Combat (Haunted Tank) comic books. I wonder if they have been compiled in TPB editions?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G.I._Combat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunted_Tank

The Haunted Tank is a comic book feature that appeared in the DC Comicsanthology war title G.I. Combat from 1961 through 1987. It was created by writer and editor Robert Kanigher and artist Russ Heath in G.I. Combat #87 (May 1961).

The feature centers on the ghost of 19th-century ConfederategeneralJ.E.B. Stuart, who is sent by the spirit of Alexander the Great to act as a guardian over his two namesakes, Lieutenant Jeb Stuart (named in the early stories as Jeb Stuart Smith, but eventually just shortened to Jeb Stuart) and the Light Tank M3 Stuart that Jeb commands.

"The Haunted Tank" was often the cover feature of G.I. Combat and was second only to Sgt. Rock as DC Comics' longest-running war series.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sgt._Rock

Sgt. Frank Rock is a fictionalinfantrynon-commissioned officer during World War II in the DC ComicsUniverse. He first appeared in Our Army at War #83 (June 1959), and was created by Robert Kanigher and Joe Kubert.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by firebug

Read this one and his followup book this summer.

Truly one of the most awful things that you will ever read. I highly recommend them both.

If you read that, then you have to read read Stalin the court of the red tsar, the chapters on WWII and how Stalin decided to fight that war are amazing to read.

[Jordan!]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

I knew it was coming! hahaha

[Jordan!]

Originally Posted by firebug

Read this one and his followup book this summer.

Truly one of the most awful things that you will ever read. I highly recommend them both.

Awful in terms of the subject matter?

[dissentowner]

If you are looking for an interesting read that crosses fantasy with soldiers and war I recommend Robin Hobb's Soldier Son Trilogy.

[Coys1882]

I really enjoyed Citizen Soldiers by Stephen Ambrose who also wrote Band of Brothers.

Some really good stories about how everyday people went to war and some of then just turned out to be bad ass killing machines.

[Jordan!]

Who remembers that book about a kid who collects stamps and he had one stamp with a famous canadian ship on it and he would be teleported to the ship via the Stamp? I think I read that in about the 7th grade?

[firebug]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

Awful in terms of the subject matter?

Yes.

You cannot believe that the the horrific things described actually occurred.

Plus, you are in a position where you actually want both sides to lose.

Your sympathy certainly goes out to the grunts on both sides who had to suffer through all of this.

[CaptainCrunch]

Red Badge of Courage should be required reading.

[North East Goon]

Beyond the Medal...by Peter Lemon. This is a great read about many of the Congressional Medal of Honour winners in the United states. Peter Lemon is the last Canadian to win the Medal of honour for his courage in the Vietnam War.

[Coys1882]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

More on war of the rats

the movie enemy at the gates was based on it, and the book is very historically accurate

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Rats

David Robbins also wrote some other WWII books that are highly regarded.

Thanks for this post - I grabbed the sample on my kindle last night - read it and then purchased the book. It's really caught my attention!

[Kybosh]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

Who remembers that book about a kid who collects stamps and he had one stamp with a famous canadian ship on it and he would be teleported to the ship via the Stamp? I think I read that in about the 7th grade?

Sounds like Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller. I thought it was a movie though.

[Stumptown]

Originally Posted by Bouw N Arrow

Awful in terms of the subject matter?

One of the most beautiful and depressing live productions of anything that I've ever seen was the Marionette Theater of Tblisi's "Battle of Stalingrad" told from the animals' perspective. Not a dry eye in the house. Hundreds of thousands of horses died in that battle. I'm getting weepy just thinking about it. Truly horrible event.

Probably my favorite book about WWII is Gravity's Rainbow. I know it's famous for being that book that everyone starts but no one finishes, but once you get into it it's very entertaining.

[mr.jim.lahey]

[Torture]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Song_of_Ice_and_Fire

One of the best fantasy books ever written...rivals Lord of the Rings.
...And HBO is doing a TV series on it too!

[Flames Draft Watcher]

For Sci-Fi I'd highly recommend that Dune series. Read the Frank Herbert ones, not his son's.

For Fantasy I'd highly recommend the "A Song of Fire and Ice" series by George R. R. Martin.

[VladtheImpaler]

Sorry to inject snobbery into this , but I found the Beevoir books fairly crappy. If you are interested in a good historian writing about the Eastern Front, pick up David Glantz - he has written numerous books on the subject.
As the Captain said, the Court of the Red Tsar is excellent - I would also recommend the prequel Young Stalin. The two volumes combined are IMO the best biography of Stalin.
If you are interested in war history, Hell in a Very Small Place is often mentioned as the best war history book out there (detailed story of France's last stand in Vietnam at Diem Bien Phu).