What Are You Reading?

[Zepulon]

Stephenie Meyer's "Breaking Dawn." 250 more pages and I will have officially read the entire Twilight series...yay. lol

[a clockwork tangerine]

I'm almost finished with Fearless Fourteen (Stephanie Plum). It's really funny!

[Mangani]

Just finished "Isandlwana" by Adrian Greaves and now I'm reading "How Can Man Die Better:The Secrets of Isandlwana Revealed" by Colonel Mike Snook.

Isandlwana is one of the most fascinating battles in history. Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 for those who don't know.

[BIGDAN]

Just finished "Isandlwana" by Adrian Greaves and now I'm reading "How Can Man Die Better:The Secrets of Isandlwana Revealed" by Colonel Mike Snook.

Isandlwana is one of the most fascinating battles in history. Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 for those who don't know.

Hi Mangani,

Funny that you mention "Isandlwana", my Great Great Grandfather died in that battle you know?

He wasnt in the Army though, he was out camping in the next field and went over to complain about the noise.

I think i might give "The Lord of the Rings" another flick, for the umteenth time, still a good read dont you think?

Regards, Danny

PS, "one of the most fascinating battles in history" eh? well Grandaddy didnt think so, the Zulu's steamrollered over us, well the Welsh Regiment, 24th Foot that is, first raise as Dering’s Regiment in 1689, the South Wales Borderers. If you ever get the time go to Pluckley Church in Kent you can see the inscription on the wall in there, because thats where the Dering family resided.

Edited November 27, 2009 by BIGDAN

[Mangani]

Hi Mangani,

Funny that you mention "Isandlwana", my Great Great Grandfather died in that battle you know?

He wasnt in the Army though, he was out camping in the next field and went over to complain about the noise.

Howdy Big Dan.

Hehe, very funny.

PS, "one of the most fascinating battles in history" eh? well Grandaddy didnt think so, the Zulu's steamrollered over us, well the Welsh Regiment, 24th Foot that is, first raise as Dering’s Regiment in 1689, the South Wales Borderers. If you ever get the time go to Pluckley Church in Kent you can see the inscription on the wall in there, because thats where the Dering family resided.

My grandfather was in the South Wales Borderers and served with 6th battalion in Burma during WW2, fighting the Japanese. That's how I have my Zulu history.

At the time of the Zulu War it wasn't a Welsh regiment yet and was called the 2nd Warwickshire. There were 2 battalions and only the 2nd battalion were based in Brecon, Wales since the 1870s. Most of the troops were still English though. The 1st battalion were separate from the 2nd battalion and had been abroad for a decade and had been in South Africa for years. The vast majority of 1st battalion were also English. It was the 1st battalion that was wiped out at Isandlwana, with only 1 company of the 2nd battalion. The rest of the 2nd battalion was out with Lord Chelmsford ten miles away looking for the main Zulu impi. There was also one company of 2nd battalion standing guard at Rorke's Drift.

It's a fascinating battle due to the mistakes and wrong doings (in hindsite) that lead to the defeat and at one point the outcome hung in the balance. I completely believe that if the firing line wasn't so far away from the camp and so spread out that the Zulus probably wouldn't have won.

After all closed in proper defences stopped the massed Zulu attacks at Rorke's Drift and Khambula

Edited November 27, 2009 by Mangani

[FilbertFlan29]

Just finished Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. Incredible read... recommend it to everyone. Starting Running Recon by John Plaster.

[sirchris]

[BlackSummerSide]

Right now I'm reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, in Swedish. I first reed it in English because I've never read a Harry Potter book in English before!

[sirchris]

[Spalove]

The Bible

murder, adultery, incest

[alinds]

[sirchris]

[Conneyfogle]

[Deborah J]

Half way through When Giants Walked The Earth

[BIGDAN]

Half way through When Giants Walked The Earth

Hi Debs,

That's a "Tall Order" and must be "Very Heavy Reading"

I'm reading 5 books on Aromatherapy, i need pain relief without strong drugs, and its working.

Regards, Danny

[BIGDAN]

After all closed in proper defences stopped the massed Zulu attacks at Rorke's Drift and Khambula

Hi Mangani,

What about Ulundi, we kicked their arses that day alright.

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

Regards, Danny

[Atlas]

http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html

"Letter from a Birmingham Jail" ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

[MMAharaja]

Coming in at over 600 pages, it's quite a tome. It's pretty good. I think it's slightly overrated though.

Edited September 19, 2010 by MMAharaja

[Conneyfogle]

I'm on this at the mo, sent to me from Canada from an FB friend

[Kayte]

Lionel Lincoln, by James Fenimore Cooper (the guy who wrote Last of the Mohicans)

Google Books is chock-full of all kindsa weird stuff...

I'm also finishing a 2,300-page book called My Secret Life, by Walter:

The sex diary of a Victorian gentleman. Highly recommend it, although he uses the word "c*nt" about 5,300 times. I hate that word!

The whole text is here: http://www.my-secret-life.com/, but I'd recommend looking for it in print, or you'll go blind.

[silvermedalist]

The Sleep Book by Dr Seuss:o

[Electrophile]

1984......for probably the 100th time. I never get sick of that book. Ever. Before that, I just finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Yay for unsanitary Chicago slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants!

(no seriously, that's what the book exposed)

[alinds]

[TypeO]

Been on a Dune kick.

Over the past 5 or 6 weeks, I (in order) re-read Heretics of Dune (5th of original 6 books) and Chapterhouse: Dune (6th of original 6 books).

Went looking for Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune (written by Frank Herbert's son, Brian Herbert, supposedly finishing the story after Frank Herbert's death).

Couldn't find them, so I re-read God-Emperor of Dune (4th of original 6 books) and then Dune Messiah (2nd of original 6 books).

Decided to get Hunters and Sandworms from the library, suffered through them both, and now re-reading Children of Dune (3rd of original 6 books) to "cleanse my palate" after the horrible aftertaste that Brian Herbert left.

For true fans, the crap Brian Herbert has written is shamefully pathetic and unbearably disappointing.

It's depressing to even think about.

And yes, if you followed all that, I have re-read all but the original/first book of the series, Dune itself.

I'm sure I'll reach for it at some point in the next couple days as soon as I finish Children of Dune.

[silvermedalist]

1984......for probably the 100th time. I never get sick of that book. Ever. Before that, I just finished The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. Yay for unsanitary Chicago slaughterhouses and meat-packing plants!

(no seriously, that's what the book exposed)

Who hasn't read 1984. The only thing he had wrong was the year. He was a bit early,