Grand unified books thread

[Berkut]

Has anyone read Peter Hamilton's The Nights Dawn trilogy?

[Darth Wagtaros]

Has anyone read Peter Hamilton's The Nights Dawn trilogy?

It is very entertaining. 

[Malthus]

Has anyone read Peter Hamilton's The Nights Dawn trilogy?

Yup. I thought it was enjoyable, but very silly, space opera.

It's a fun read, just park your brain at the door a bit. Also, I thought the ending was weak.

Dunno if you want any spoilers, so I'll not say more.

[The Brain]

Has anyone read Peter Hamilton's The Nights Dawn trilogy?

I was entertained.

[Agelastus]

Has anyone read Peter Hamilton's The Nights Dawn trilogy?

Yes, although the giant deus-ex-machina ending is both satisfying and unsatisfying at the same time. I read them when they were first published here in the UK, even buying the last volume in hardcover. I REALLY want the extras Joshua Calvert was loaded with...

Have you read his earlier Greg Mandel books? They are also very good, whereas his more recent books seem to be "going off the boil" in my opinion.

[ulmont]

Has anyone read Peter Hamilton's The Nights Dawn trilogy?

Yup. I thought it was enjoyable, but very silly, space opera.

It's a fun read, just park your brain at the door a bit. Also, I thought the ending was weak.

Dunno if you want any spoilers, so I'll not say more.

This.

[Sheilbh]

The wonderful 'Woman in White'  I can't recommend it enough to anyone who, even slightly, likes a Victorian novel.

[Scipio]

Final Crisis.

What a pile of dog shit.

[Admiral Yi]

I've read enough Howard Zinn now to figure out that he was an idiot.

[Kleves]

I'm looking for recommendations about:

-North Africa in World War II. Ideally, something that covers everything from the Italians getting their asses kicked in 1940, to the Italians getting their asses kicked in 1943.

-The Middle East/North Africa in World War I. Similarly, an overview would be ideal.

[Habbaku]

-The Middle East/North Africa in World War I. Similarly, an overview would be ideal.

"North Africa" in World War I didn't see much of note.  There was, mainly, the Senussi uprisings and some minor Egyptian revolts along with the two attempts by the Turks to force the Suez Canal (one achieving very limited success, the other turning out to be a giant waste of time).

For the Middle East side of things, however, I can recommend Ordered to Die by Edward J. Erickson.  It's written from the Turkish point of view and most of the sources are Turkish archives that the author was allowed access to.  The writing is not exactly stellar, but it's one of the few English works on pretty much everything concerning the Turkish armies of the period and even contains a bit of enlightening (and disheartening) information about their involvement in the Balkan Wars.  It is, however, rather expensive to purchase, but a good university library should have a copy.

A more accessible, popular and affordable work with not quite as much of the nitty-gritty would be A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin.  It is not only about the war, but also its aftereffects in the region and the effects on today.

[Sheilbh]

Kazantzakis's 'Freedom and Death'.  An incredible book that is joyous and life-affirming and makes me wish I were Cretan and hope that somehow I sire a wife so that one day I can look out around my table and say 'greetings children and grand-children'.  This is really very, very good.

Currently reading the next Palliser novel, 'Phineas Finn'. 

[Pat]

Was prompted to read some Hobsbawm, as he was called a genuis by Sheilbh. I'm reading his book on nationalism parallell with Otto Bauer's "The Question of Nationalities and Social Democracy" (which I am forced to read in english as my german isn't good enough and there is no swedish translation).

[Capetan Mihali]

Kazantzakis's 'Freedom and Death'.  An incredible book that is joyous and life-affirming and makes me wish I were Cretan and hope that somehow I sire a wife so that one day I can look out around my table and say 'greetings children and grand-children'.  This is really very, very good.

  The derivation of my Languish moniker, published in Greek as Καπετάν Μιχάλης, more or less Capetan Mihali.  Kazantzakis was a true philosopher and a fantastic writer, everything from Zorba to his brutal narratives of the Greek civil war.

[jimmy olsen]

makes me wish I were Cretan and hope that somehow I sire a wife

I thought you were from England, not Alabama?