What book are you reading atm?? CHAPTER TWO

Tauriel

Heiress, Rebel, Vigilante, Bomber: The Extraordinary Life of Rose Dugdale by Sean O'Driscoll.

Fascinating read but I must admit that I had never heard of her as I would be very interested in the IRA of the War of Independence and the Civil War. It was my first time reading anything about the modern IRA.

Nigel Fairservice

I have started The Butcher Boy by Patrick McCabe. I saw the movie 20 odd years ago and enjoyed it. The book has been on my list for a long time.

growleaves

The Glass Bees by Ernst Junger

Good so far.

Tauriel

The Ballycotton Job by Tom Mahon

This book details the daring and highly successful theft of significant arms and ammunition from the Royal Navy by Sean O'Hegarty and his Cork IRA.

bullpost

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120327306#Comment_120327306

Beware - This one gave me nightmares after reading 😱

griffin100

Finished Layer Cake by JJ Connolly, the one the film is based on. It's superb and far too short. I wanted more at the end.

Just starting Max Hastings new book on the Cuban Missile Crisis and seems really good so far. I've never read anything on this subject. It's amazing that at aged 76-77 he's still knocking out such long and detailed books as this and his brilliant 2018 book on the Vietnam War. I have yet to read anything by him which was not excellent.

EmmetSpiceland

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120335489#Comment_120335489

‘Winterwood’ was the one of his that shook me a bit. Loved ‘Emerald Germs of Ireland’ and ‘The Dead School’.

Ended up getting 2 copies of ‘The Big Yahroo’, the sequel to ‘The Butcher Boy’, at Christmas but haven’t gotten around to reading either of them, yet.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120335629#Comment_120335629

The Vietnam book is great. I really should pick up a few more of his.

griffin100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120338168#Comment_120338168

I’d recommend Nemesis which is about the battle for Japan in WW2. Its excellent and imho one of his best. His book on the Korean War is also a great read.

Tauriel

Ireland's Secret War: Dan Bryan, G2 and the Lost Tapes That Reveal the Hunt for Ireland's Nazi Spies by Marc Mc Menamin.

Excellent book that recounts the tremendous contribution that Colonel Dan Bryan (former Director of Irish Military Intelligence) played in hunting down Nazi spies in Ireland and with also ensuring Ireland maintained her neutrality and sovereignty. This is the follow-up book to Code Breaker which detailed the exploits of Bryan's colleague , Dr. Richard Hayes.

Thargor

Starting the Master and Commander series, apparently theres about 20 books to it but Ill give the first 3 a go and see, must say Im tearing through the first one anyway.

brokenbad

"Tony 10: The astonishing story of the postman who gambled €10,000,000 ... and lost it all"

Fascinating read about the postman who became front-page news in 2011 after he stole €1.75 million from An Post while he was a branch manager in Gorey, Co. Wexford. He used the money to fund a gambling addiction that began with a bet of €1 and eventually rose to €10 million, leading to the loss of his job, his family, his home – and winning him a prison sentence.

Doctors room ghost

I’ve got 2 handy books on the go at the moment. Treasure Island by Robert Louis stevenson and strumpet city by James plunkett. I’m enjoying them both.

Thelonious Monk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354227#Comment_120354227

ha, that's funny, i just got the first master and commander for kindle the other day, will start it later. i love all that british naval seafaring mullarkey.

griffin100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120354227#Comment_120354227

I'd been dying to read these for years and finally bought the first two in the series. The first one was great. The second one was possibly the worst book I've ever read, it was truly awful in parts. It's put me off reading any more even though they are loved by lots of people. Be interested to see what you think of the second one.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120356616#Comment_120356616

Yeah theres nothing better than a bit of Hornblower/Sharpe/Cromwell when you're stuck for something to read.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358321#Comment_120358321

Oh no wish I hadnt read that now but Ill press on with the first 3 and report back.

griffin100

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358388#Comment_120358388

Sorry, hadn't meant to put you off. You may like it, I'd be interested to hear as I'd like to give them another go.

If you like naval history then I can recommend a couple of books -

• Trafalgar - Roy Adkins - all about the famous battle and events surrounding it
• Jack Tar by Roy and Leslie Adkins - fascinating review of what life was like for sailors in Nelson's navy
• Castles Of Steel - Robert K Massie - a naval history of the first world war and one of my favorite all time books. Its about 800 pages and riveting. Holds a special place in my memory as it was what I read when sitting in the labor ward waiting for my wife to hurry up and give birth to our first child 19 years ago 😁

The Bounty Trilogy (Nordhoff and Hall) is also a really good naval read but its not quite fully factual. It is in three parts, the first deals with the Mutiny on the Bounty and the subsequent life of the mutineers on Tahiti and their capture; the second part deals with the 4,000 mile journey Captain Bligh and his men took in a little boat back to safety after they were cast adrift by the mutineers (a journey not many people seem to be aware of); and the final part deals with the life of the last of mutineers and the Tahitians they took to Pitcairn Island with them. The first two books are based on contemporaneous diaries and accounts so are accurate to some degree; the last book is almost completely fiction with known events woven in. It is a great read and again is 600 pages plus long.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358321#Comment_120358321

I was surprised when I read it as its not what I expected but I liked it a lot. Its meant to be a tribute to Jane Austen.

In the third book they are back out to sea again.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358731#Comment_120358731

It takes place on land!? And its a tribute to Jane Austen, hmmm.

Thargor

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358699#Comment_120358699

Great post thanks, Castles of Steel is right up my street.

growleaves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120358940#Comment_120358940

Yep they pretty much dock and attend a number of social engagements in England lol. Which is fine with me because I like social novels but unusual for an action and adventure series.

Jack Aubrey's initials JA were also meant as a coded tribute to Jane Austen (really).

indioblack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120294971#Comment_120294971

Why "infamous"?

Tauriel

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120362410#Comment_120362410

They expected Ireland to share absolutely everything with them and be 100% transparent and didn't return the favour.

indioblack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120362911#Comment_120362911

Thanks. I wonder what the motivation was. Security restraints perhaps.

Sounds like an interesting book.

Tauriel

And Away... by Bob Mortimer

Love him whenever he is on Would I Lie To You? and have heard so many good things about this book, that I decided to give it a go. However, I found it very uninteresting and reinforces my belief that autobiographies are not for me, having previously read Sarah Millican's autobiography.

Dial Hard

Started The Toxic Travel Guide by Frankie McNamara. Will dip in and out of it, it's not the kind of thing I'd read straight through. I need something else to read in tandem. I started Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus the other day but it's not really doing anything for me.

breezy1985

World War Z: Max Brooks.

Really fun so far. Written as a series short of post event interviews with various players in the war. Looks at the good and bad ways people react to pandemics.

Nothing like the shtty movie of the same name.

Dial Hard

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120372376#Comment_120372376

The Zombie Survival Guide is also well worth a read if you haven't already.

I think World War Z is unfairly maligned as a film. Yes, the multiple writers show and it doesn't reach anything like the potential it had, but I still think it's a really solid zombie film. But it bears absolutely no resemblance to the book whatsoever, you're right about that. Not that I think they could really have made much of a film from the oral history perspective.

Icon by Frederick Forsyth. One of my all time favourite books -this is my 4th read of it. It's parallels to Putin and Russia today, despite being written about 25 years ago is astonishing.

bullpost

Dictatorland: The Men Who Stole Africa by Paul Kenyon

Shocking book about the plunder of Africa by the Imperial powers aided by some local despots.