Bumper8 Posted January 23, 2019 Share Posted January 23, 2019 "Calculated Risk" Biography of Virgil (Gus) Grissom. The second American in space and would probably have been the first man on the moon if he had lived. Good read- doesn't paint him as a saint and goes some way to redressing the balance after Tom Wolfe decided to portray him as a bungling panic merchant in "The Right Stuff". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SSiebum Posted February 3, 2019 Share Posted February 3, 2019 I am currently reading The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted February 7, 2019 Share Posted February 7, 2019 "Dune" by Frank Herbert Have read this before but it deserves to be revisited. Plans within plans within plans within-my head hurts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted February 26, 2019 Share Posted February 26, 2019 (edited) Just finished "Sniper Ace" autobiography of Bruno Sutkus, a top WW2 German sniper on the Eastern Front. He was caught by the Russians (who didn't know his true identity). He was banished to Siberia and endured decades of hardship before finally getting back to Germany. Would make a good film. Edited February 26, 2019 by Bumper8 Grammar correction Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted March 3, 2019 Share Posted March 3, 2019 "The Making of the Atomic Bomb" Richard Rhodes (25th Anniversary Edition). Tells the story from the beginning of atomic theory and the Physicists who were instrumental in those discoveries, to the practical implementation of their work. An outstanding book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tompain100 Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 Just finished reading 'Great Expectations'.......not as good as I hoped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedammit Posted May 9, 2019 Share Posted May 9, 2019 4 hours ago, tompain100 said: Just finished reading 'Great Expectations'.......not as good as I hoped. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted June 13, 2019 Share Posted June 13, 2019 Just finished "The Double Cross System" by JC Masterman. All about the activities of the XX Committee in WW2 that ran a network of double agents to feed the Germans false information. The Abwehr thought they had a good spy network in the UK; in reality the British controlled everything. The most celebrated agent was "Garbo" who played a big part in the D-Day deception plan (Operation Fortitude). Now reading "Dark Sun" by Richard Rhodes which is about the development of the hydrogen bomb. First part focuses on how the Soviets got their own atomic bomb with a lot of help from their spies at Los Alamos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted July 5, 2019 Share Posted July 5, 2019 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Midnight Posted August 1, 2019 Share Posted August 1, 2019 The October Man by Ben Aaronovich 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 (edited) Good read so far-young Roger was quite the entrepreneur with his tailoring and sandwich ventures! Edited August 5, 2019 by Bumper8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted August 13, 2019 Share Posted August 13, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted August 25, 2019 Share Posted August 25, 2019 "Dead Men" was pretty average, but it rekindled my interest in Scott. This is a much more straightforward biography and is proving to be a great read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted September 19, 2019 Share Posted September 19, 2019 Gripping true-life story of a top KGB officer who spied for the UK. A fascinating insight into post-war spycraft on both sides of the Iron Curtain and how the actions of one person could affect world politics. Superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted October 9, 2019 Share Posted October 9, 2019 Just finished this. A story of two ships really, as the fate of HMS Terror was closely bound to that of her sister ship. I like how the author intersperses the story with a travelogue of his recent visits to some of the places the ships visited on their epic journeys to the farthest known places south and north of the globe. A great tale of discovery, endurance and tragedy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted November 10, 2019 Share Posted November 10, 2019 A British expert sniper travels to war-torn Iraq to fulfil a promise made by his Grandfather. An Iraqi counter-sniper is despatched to engage him. Gripping story-telling from a master of the political thriller genre. If you liked "Enemy at the Gates" film you will enjoy this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted December 19, 2019 Share Posted December 19, 2019 As a massive fan of the film (as no doubt many of you also are) I'm enjoying the extra subtle layers Alan Dean Foster's novelisation weaves into the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natedammit Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 10 hours ago, Bumper8 said: As a massive fan of the film (as no doubt many of you also are) I'm enjoying the extra subtle layers Alan Dean Foster's novelisation weaves into the story. I once wrote my own novelisation of the film, from memory, but it didn't sell so well. 'So they were eating dinner, the usual space rubbish, and suddenly John Hurt was like "Owie, my tummy hurts", but they ignored him and were joking about stuff, but he was like "seriously guys, I feel like something's gonna burst out of my tummy". Then he started foaming at the mouth and convulsing and the beardy guy said "John Hurt, are you alright?" but John Hurt couldn't answer and that's how they all knew that he wasn't alright because John Hurt would never ignore a direct question from beardy guy. "Aaaargh, ummf, oo-er" said John Hurt. "Hey", "Whaaa?", "Oo-er" said the other people. John Hurt flopped back on the table and they all knew they had to do something, but nobody knew what to do because none of them had done the course on tummy burstage. To be fair, it was a full week course which seemed excessive, but in retrospect made sense. They ripped open John Hurt's shirt and he had this manky vest on underneath which he was clearly embarrassed about. But he got over it as this spam looking thing burst out of his chest, then burst out of his vest. He tried to be pretty chill about it and didn't even swear once, mostly because there were ladies around and he didn't like to use bad language in front of ladies. One of the ladies was all like "Ermigod!" 'cause John Hurt's semi-digested dinner got on her face, but the black guy said "Calm down love, this isn't really about you, John Hurt's just exploded". Although he didn't actually say it, but you could tell he was thinking it because of the look he gave her. So basically it was this little alien thingy that had popped its head out like a slimy whack-a-mole. It was kind of cute but kind of really not cute. It turned and looked at John Hurt as if to say "Thank you for your hospitality" then ran off. So now John Hurt's dead and everyone else just kind of looks at each other all like "well, I didn't see that coming". Also, Sigourney Weaver was there.' 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raylenth Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 3 hours ago, natedammit said: I once wrote my own novelisation of the film, from memory, but it didn't sell so well. 'So they were eating dinner, the usual space rubbish, and suddenly John Hurt was like "Owie, my tummy hurts", but they ignored him and were joking about stuff, but he was like "seriously guys, I feel like something's gonna burst out of my tummy". Then he started foaming at the mouth and convulsing and the beardy guy said "John Hurt, are you alright?" but John Hurt couldn't answer and that's how they all knew that he wasn't alright because John Hurt would never ignore a direct question from beardy guy. "Aaaargh, ummf, oo-er" said John Hurt. "Hey", "Whaaa?", "Oo-er" said the other people. John Hurt flopped back on the table and they all knew they had to do something, but nobody knew what to do because none of them had done the course on tummy burstage. To be fair, it was a full week course which seemed excessive, but in retrospect made sense. They ripped open John Hurt's shirt and he had this manky vest on underneath which he was clearly embarrassed about. But he got over it as this spam looking thing burst out of his chest, then burst out of his vest. He tried to be pretty chill about it and didn't even swear once, mostly because there were ladies around and he didn't like to use bad language in front of ladies. One of the ladies was all like "Ermigod!" 'cause John Hurt's semi-digested dinner got on her face, but the black guy said "Calm down love, this isn't really about you, John Hurt's just exploded". Although he didn't actually say it, but you could tell he was thinking it because of the look he gave her. So basically it was this little alien thingy that had popped its head out like a slimy whack-a-mole. It was kind of cute but kind of really not cute. It turned and looked at John Hurt as if to say "Thank you for your hospitality" then ran off. So now John Hurt's dead and everyone else just kind of looks at each other all like "well, I didn't see that coming". Also, Sigourney Weaver was there.' I've read parts of a few fanfics that are as bad as that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 As a massive fan of the film (as no doubt many of you also are) I'm enjoying the extra subtle layers natedammit's novelisation weaves into the story. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 Terrific tale set amidst the bloody turmoil of the French Revolution that shows the worst and best of humanity. I was much moved at the ending. Sydney Carton, I salute you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted January 12, 2020 Share Posted January 12, 2020 Just finished this. A fantastic yarn-how much does contemporary science fiction owe to this man? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted February 5, 2020 Share Posted February 5, 2020 Engrossing thriller about a plot to assassinate the President of France, General Charles De Gaulle, in 1963. A top detective has been given the unenviable responsibility of catching the assassin but he has little to go on: He is a foreigner. He is a master of his craft. His codename is "Jackal" Highly recommended. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumper8 Posted February 16, 2020 Share Posted February 16, 2020 True story of an SAS mission in Iraq in 1991. A difficult read at times but it brings home the stark reality of war for those on the front line. Fascinating and inspiring. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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