I'm reading
Defeat Into Victory: Battling Japan in Burma and India, 1942-1945.
by Field Marshall Viscount Slim. (He was Governor-General of Australia in the 50s). It's one of the assigned readings for my husband's Masters program, but it's really pretty good! It's not a brave-men-standing-tall sort of war book; it's more about leadership. It's the analysis, written shortly after the fact, by FM Slim of what he did well, what he did poorly, what mistakes he made, and how the British army fared strategically. Very readable.
This amused me: Following a battle, there's about 600 dead Japanese that they have to bury. Ghurkas are assigned to body detail. As one Ghurka is dragging a body, the body moves! The Japanese soldier is still alive. the Ghurka draws his knife, but the British officer on the scene says, "Hey now, Johnny - we can't kill him!"
The Ghurka replies, "But sir - we can't bury him alive."
Field Marshall Viscount Slim
What an awesome name! That dude needs to have a rap album immediately.
That dude needs to have a rap album immediately.
I imagine he's not only dead, post-google: (1891-1970), but rolling over in his grave at the prospect.
When I first saw the book, I kept hearing his name in my head as a series of descriptors: Field Marshall, Viscount, Slim.
After his shellacking in Burma, Churchill commented: "I cannot imagine a man with a name like 'Slim' could ever amount to much."
So, George (Too Many Rs) Martin finishes A Feast for Crows, sort of.
[link]
Huh. It totally figures that it would be 2 books rather than one.
George cracks me up entire, particularly with the invocation of the professor, as Tolkien wrote one book, reluctantly split into three for publication. George was thinking about maybe three, and here he is at seven, at last count.
And people get on Rowling for needing an editor.
On the other hand, I often buy books just for their page count. There's usually not that much price difference, and since I mostly read paperbacks while on the exercise bike, I want something that I'm not going to run out of. I can do a whole Dean R. Koontz book in one session.
(I read fast, it's not that I stay on the bike that long)
(And since if you've read one Koontz, you've read all of them, it's not like it's slow going)
On the other hand, I often buy books just for their page count.
Heh. I've done this, especially in the summer, or if we're going away on vacation. I'm expecting the new Harry Potter to satisfy in this regard, of course.
