Inch'on 1950

By:  Gordon Rottman

Rated 3 Stars

Kindle  

This book is  very dry and it was difficult for me to keep my attention focused on what I was reading.   .  However it did answer one question that I have always wondered about.  How in the heck did my late husband even end up fighting in this war anyway?  He never talked about it much except that he was recalled and not happy about it but that there was nothing he could do about it.  He only served one year that time.  Oh he did say on the night before the landing (he was one of a three man crew on the landing crafts) and been given a form and a pen and told to make their wills.  He said that made them all feel great.  Not!

Anyway this book went into detail about how surprised the US was about the whole Korean thing and that after WW2 was over the Gov't  had dismantled all the services to the point where they were completely unprepared to fight in any type of conflict.  However, when  people were being discharged after WW2 the Gov't had, in a rare case of foresight, required each member of the armed services to sign a paper saying they agreed to being released to the "Inactive Reserves" which could be called up should the country ever need them.  And in this case they immediately started calling up thousands of WW2 veterans, especially those who had previous combat experience so they could pitched straight into combat without training.  And that's the story of how my husband ended up in the Korean War. Now I know.

Book Description

Publication Date: October 23, 2012

Osprey's study of Inch'on, which was probably the most significant campaign in the Korean War (1950-1953), as well as the last major amphibious assault of division-size conducted in the history of warfare. The odds were stacked against the US troops, with virtually no time for training and many of the divisions unprepared for the conflict. The success of the Inch'on campaign is a testament to the sheer initiative of the officers and NCOs conducted it. This book details the strategy and tactics that led to the operation's success, as well as narrating the experience of the battle in fascinating detail.

Just Not Mine

(Escape to New Zealand Book 6)
By:  Rosalind James

Rated 4 1/2 Stars

This is one of my favorite books in the Escape to New Zealand but honestly, all of them are good reads.  But some of these books connect with me more than others and I connected especially well with Hugh and Josie.


Book Description

Publication Date: June 5, 2014

Destiny can sneak up on you. Or it can smack you in the face.

Hugh Latimer’s coping with a few problems just now. A broken hand, missing the European rugby tour . . . and a half-brother and sister who are playing havoc with his love life. Instead of packing down in the scrum, he’s driving the carpool to ballet—or forgetting it’s his turn. When he hears his neighbor wailing out bad pop in the wee hours, it’s the last straw.

Josie Pae Ata is a fortunate woman. A new house, good friends, a gorgeous boyfriend—oh, and stardom, too. Getting involved with her new neighbors would bring risks she doesn’t need. But life has a way of changing the rules. And when you get more than you can handle, sometimes all you can do is hang on for the ride. 

The Mist's of Avalon

By: Marion Zimmer Bradley
Rated: 5+ Stars
Audio Book

I first read this book about 15 years ago but this is the first time I have listened to it.  Listening to an audio book is a completely different thing for me  than actually reading it is so I could say the story new for several reasons.  The first reason is that I am forced to go at the narrator's pace.  If it's a book I really like as in this case I get a lot more detail that my eyes have a tendency to skip over in its hurry to find out what happens next.  The second reason is that during the intervening 15 years I have read a lot of other books and I have forgotten a to of it.  It was time for me to revisit this one.

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2001

In Marion Zimmer Bradley's masterpiece, we see the tumult and adventures of Camelot's court through the eyes of the women who bolstered the king's rise and schemed for his fall. From their childhoods through the ultimate fulfillment of their destinies, we follow these women and the diverse cast of characters that surrounds them as the great Arthurian epic unfolds stunningly before us. As Morgaine and Gwenhwyfar struggle for control over the fate of Arthur's kingdom, as the Knights of the Round Table take on their infamous quest, as Merlin and Viviane wield their magics for the future of Old Britain, the Isle of Avalon slips further into the impenetrable mists of memory, until the fissure between old and new worlds' and old and new religions' claims its most famous victim.

The Twilight Warriors: The Deadliest Naval Battle of World War II and the Men Who Fought It | [Robert Gandt] PLAY AUDIO SAMPLE The Twilight Warriors: The Deadliest Naval Battle of World War II and the Men Who Fought It

By:  Robert Gant
Rated 5 Stars
Kindle

A while back I purchased this book with one of my audible credits. It's about a squadron of airman who were commissioned in the Naval air force right at the end of WWII in the pacific. Why such a pacifist person like me likes war books is a mystery for the ages. But this particular book caught my eye because the blurb said it was about the invasion of Okinawa and was the largest naval battle of WW2. My husband participated in that battle as a very young 17 year old sailor. He joined on this 17th birthday scared to death he was going to miss the war completely. This attached photo of him was taken around that time. I did not have this picture of him but in a serendipitous moment Ree posted it on his tribute to her Dad. It was so perfect for this post
I swiped it from her.

After listening to this book, I am sorry I didn't ask him more about it. I don't remember him saying much other than he said he was one of the picket ships designed to make smoke that obscured the bigger ships from the kamikazes and to provide extra anti aircraft fire, that he heard more fighting than he saw since he was in the engine room when his ship was engaged in fighting. He also said that at the time he was not smart enough to be scared but I think he must have lied about that because in this book the pickett ships suffered way more casualties because they were the first things the suicide pilots saw and he would have to have been really clueless not to be. But at 17? Well he might have been. <shrug>.

I realize this is ancient history to people now. Heck it was 69 years ago. But having a personal connection sure made the book more interesting to me and I wish now I had asked him more about what it was like for a cocky 17 year kid who didn't have enough sense to be afraid. The sailor I knew and loved was the man who held responsible positions and swaned off to Viet Nam for 6 months at a time where I never considered him to be in the least bit of danger even though he probably was in some. All navel ships can be dangerous in certain circumstances.
Any way this year on November 11th I am going to remember the young boy who became the man I loved and married. Adding together all his service he was downright awesome

Publisher's Summary:

"April 1945. The end of World War II finally appears to be nearing. The Nazis are collapsing in Europe, and the Americans are vastly overpowering the Japanese in the Pacific. For a group of pilots in their early 20s who were trained during the twilight of the war, the biggest concern is that they'll never actually see real action and will go home without having a chance to face the enemy. They call themselves Tail-End Charlies. They fly at the tail end of formations, stand at the tail end of chow lines, and now they are prepared for battle at the tail end of the war. Little do they know that they will be key players in the most difficult and bloodiest of naval battles---not only of World War II but in all of American history: the campaign to take the Japanese island of Okinawa to serve as a basis for an eventual invasion of Japan. Derived from interviews with and newly discovered memoirs, journals, and correspondence of Okinawa veterans from both the American and Japanese sides, The Twilight Warriors provides a thrilling you-are-there narrative. Like the HBO series The Pacific, this book combines thrilling action with human stories of courage and sacrifice and triumph. It's Band of Brothers at sea and in the sky."

Tarzan of the Apes

by Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Rated 4 1/2 Stars
Format:  Kindle

This book was a free download for Kindle.  I read this when I was about 12 years old and that was a very long time ago.  The writing is dated but not as badly as it could be.  It's also quite funny in places.  Professor Porter, Jane's Father and his Secretary Mr. Samuel T. Philander must have been the characters that Laurel and Hardy were based on.  Jane is a typical ninny because she is a blonde and her character was written by a man in about 1914.  Her Father advises her not to trouble her pretty little head with weighty matters!  Fatal words in todays world.  But I'm enjoying it.  A very nice change of pace.

To Kill a Mockingbird

By Harper Lee
Rated: 5 Stars!!!!!!
Audio book
Narrated by: Sissy Spacek

This book was a re-read for me.  I read it several years ago and like most of the rest of the world I loved it.  I have been checking from to to time to see if audible had added it to their catalog and finally it showed up.

I purchased it the day it became available and immediately listened to it straight through and it was magic.  Sissy Spacek's narration is pure genius.  It transforms what was already one of the best books I had ever read and manages to add even more dimensions to it.  I grew up in small towns in the South and was a little girl very much like Scout.  I was transported straight back into my childhood.  I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

In Falling Snow

By: Mary Rose MacColl

Rated: 5 Stars

Audiobook

This month marks the 100th anniversary of World War One, also known as The Great War. The early 20th century is my favorite period of history and some very notable books have been set in this time period. This book is probably going on my list of best reads in 2014. 

Falling Snow is a beautifully written book that focusses on the lives of some very strong women, both in the past and the present. It's also a very poignant book as there was nothing about that war that wasn't sad. But it is also a very uplifting book about accomplishments, love, secrets, sorrows and survival both in the past and the present.

My only quibble with the book is that it switched back and forth between the past and the future. That's always a problem with me but if the book is good enough I don't groan too loud.

Publisher's Summary

A best-selling Australian writer's American debut and a heart-wrenching novel of World War I.

Iris Crane's tranquil life is shattered when a letter summons memories from her bittersweet past: her first love, her best friend, and the tragedy that changed everything. Iris, a young Australian nurse, travels to France during World War I to bring home her 15-year-old brother, who ran away to enlist. But in Paris she meets the charismatic Dr. Frances Ivens, who convinces Iris to help establish a field hospital in the old abbey at Royaumont, staffed entirely by women - a decision that will change her life.

Seamlessly interwoven is the story of Grace, Iris' granddaughter in 1970s Australia. Together their narratives paint a portrait of the changing role of women in medicine and the powerful legacy of love.

The Care and Management of Lies: A Novel of the Great War

By Jacqueline Winspeare
Rated 3 1/3 Stars
Audiobook

This book didn't work nearly as well for me as Winspeare's Masie Dobbs series does.   It was OK I guess but sadly I found it very predictable. I would not recommend it unless you knew nothing about that era and wanted the history lesson.  As always Winspeare does a great job with the atmosphere of that time but there is really nothing driving this book as far as story. I knew in the first chapter how it was going to end.

What I did enjoy about the book was her portrait of life on a small Kentish farm.  I also enjoyed the way Kezia, the wife who ran the farm and kept the home fires burning while her husband went off to war.  She painted lovely word pictures in her letters to him of imaginary meals that she was cooking for them as if he was there with her.  I thought that was a lovely  way to convey a feeling of comfort and a connection to home.  I thought that was cleverly done by the author although the recipes did wander out into left field from time to time.

I did not care for the ending. It ended too abruptly.  I know that Happy Ever Afters were thin on the ground at the end of WW1 but I'm not a reader who needs stark reality all the time.  A little fantasy can be a good thing sometimes.

Hong Kong

By Jan Morris
Rated: 3 Stars
Audiobook

I am a big fan of travel books and if this were 1995 and if I was planning to travel to Hong Kong I would have found this book invaluable.  It's an interesting and well written snap shot of Hong Kong during the 1980's with a brief mentions here and there of what happened in the past as background information for what is happening at the present.  All from a British POV.  But as reader looking for a comprehensive history of Hong Kong this book falls short.   

What this book does is give to give the reader a sense of what colonial Hong Kong was like for the British which is almost exactly what it was like for the British in India.  They created their own self absorbed little bubble everywhere they went and life outside that bubble only existed as it related to them. Interesting but no surprises for the reader there. 

Where this book falls sadly short is examine the part the Chinese played.  The Chinese made up 96% of the population, but are described repeatedly as a mysterious, superstitious mass.  Energetic and hard working but whose motives and culture were unfathomable to the westerner.

When I finished this book I had more questions than I had when I began and I'm off to find a real history of Hong Kong.  One that includes the years after 1997 to now.  

Escape to New Zealand - Page Two

Just For Now - Book Three

By Rosalind James
Rated 4 Stars
Audio Book

The thing I like about this author is that each of the heroines is so different from one another.  Unlike Hannah who has built a successful business career and Kate the feisty sporty type, Jena is a much softer kind of woman who enjoys homemaking.

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 2014

There’s no place like home ...

For teacher Jenna McKnight, nothing spells “heartbreak” like finding her husband with somebody else--in her bed. It’s clearly time to reinvent herself. A new body, a new city, and a new job later, she’s done just that. The beautiful Auckland villa isn’t really her home, though. Finn Douglas and his kids aren’t really her family, however much she wishes they were. And playing house can be a dangerous game.

Rugby star Finn Douglas is just looking for a temporary nanny and housekeeper. Not a girlfriend, and definitely not a wife. He can’t resist Jenna’s cooking, it’s true. Who knew he’d have so much trouble resisting her? He wants to do what’s right for his kids. But waiting is so hard ... 

Just For Fun - Book Four

Rated 4 1/2 Stars

Audible

I liked Emma and Nic.  The are the kind of people one likes to spend time with.  

Book Description

Publication Date: December 6, 2012

What happens in Fiji stays in Fiji ... except when it doesn't.

Nic Wilkinson is a responsible, organized, disciplined rugby player at the top of his game. Emma Martens is a sometimes-scattered, often-emotional, and always-broke would-be designer with a big chip on her shoulder where Nic’s concerned.

They have no history together, except one perfect week. Nothing in common anymore, except the most important thing of all.

Getting together again would be messy. Complicated. Scary. And, just maybe, worth every risk. 

Escape to New Zealand Series - Page One

Just this once - Book One 

 By:  Rosalind James
Audio Books
Rated 5 Stars

I loved this book.  It has everything I like going for it.  For starters it's set in New Zealand, a location I new little to nothing about.  The main male character is a rugby player and sport I really did know nothing about and it's a well written, interesting story about characters that I liked.  What more can you ask for in a book.

Book Description

Publication Date: August 29, 2012

Everyone needs to be rescued sometimes.

Everyone but Hannah Montgomery, that is. She just needs a vacation. Three weeks in New Zealand to sort out her life, figure out what she wants, seems just right. Oh, and to relax. She should definitely put that on the agenda. She certainly isn't looking for a sexy fling with a professional rugby player, no matter how attractive he is. Hannah doesn't do casual. But maybe just this once ...

As much as he's shared with Hannah, Drew Callahan has kept one very big secret. And learning the truth, now that she's back home again, has made Hannah warier than ever. Drew knows that she's right for him. But how can he convince her to let down her guard enough to explore what they could have together?

Just Good Friends - Book 2

Rated 4 1/2 Stars
Audio Book

This book was a slow starter for me. At first I didn't think I was going to like it as much as I did the other one.  I had a hard time warming up to the characters.   But as the book progressed Koti turned out to have a lot more going for him than I first thought.  He was actually a pretty smart, sweet guy with a witty sense of humor.  It's just that his good looks kept everyone, including this reader from getting that at first.  As for Kate, well once you began to understand out exactly what she had been through it got a lot easier to put up with her snakiness.

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2012

Some bets were made to be lost.

Kate Lamonica isn’t Koti James’s type. Too small. Too dark. And heaps too much work. So it’s an easy bet that he can be her friend for six weeks without making a move on her, no matter what his mates would have said.

Kate can’t believe she’s made the bet at all. New Zealand had seemed like the perfect escape from the stalker who’d threatened first her peace of mind, and then her life. She certainly doesn’t need any more trouble. Why on earth has she agreed to spend time with a Maori rugby player who’s far too handsome and charming for his own good—and knows it?

But there’s more than one game Koti’s good at playing ...