recovery time reading

[acetoolguy]

getting my hip replaced tuesday, a year late, and looking to load up my Nook, just finished O'Brians Master and Commander seriers. I like historical fiction, any era.
Any suggestions?

[Sailor Steve]

If you like O'Brian I would recommend his predecessor, C.S. Forester's Hornblower series. Not as exciting as O'Brian, but much more detailed in how things were actually done in that era, and Hornblower's career reads like the real thing.

Have you ever read The Cruel Sea, by Nicholas Monsarrat, or Herman Wouk's The Caine Mutiny? Both were written by men who actually served, respectively, on Royal Navy corvettes and US Navy minesweepers, and both far better than the movies made from them. And the movies were both excellent!

Wouk's The Winds Of War and War and Remembrance are also both good reads.

[PappyCain]

You might enjoy this book: Hood and Bismark (non-fiction):

"On May 24, 1941, HMS Prince of Wales and the battlecruiser HMS Hood, pride of the British navy, intercepted the German battleship Bismarck and her escort in the Denmark Strait near Greenland. In just a few moments, Hood was blown up by shell fire from the Bismarck and the Prince of Wales was heavily damaged. Despite the wrenching loss of its flagship, the Royal Navy maintained its dogged pursuit of the Bismarck, fatally damaging and finally sinking her a few days later.

The chapters in Hood and Bismarck alternate between an historical description of the two ships and their battle and the assembly of a modern expedition to search for both of them. Bismarck had been located by Dr. Robert Ballard's team in 1989, but the location was kept secret; Hood remained lost in the cold waters of the North Atlantic.

The expedition lead by David Mearns successfully relocated the wreck of the Bismarck and then went on to find the shattered remains of the Hood. The description of how the wrecks were found makes very interesting reading, and the evidence gathered by the expedition offers some interesting perspectives on some old questions: why did the Hood explode and sink so quickly, and was the Bismarck scuttled by her crew or sunk by her opponents?

The book lacks the remarkable artist's conceptions of the "shipwreck as a whole" that are customary in Dr. Ballard's books (in particular, his "The Discovery of the Bismarck", published in 1990). On the whole, however, Hood and Bismarck is very well-researched and written and the analysis and crisp photographs make up for the missing "big picture" paintings. Moreover, the book successfully captures the very human dimension of the struggle between the Royal Navy and the Kriegsmarine--the very few survivors of the Hood and the Bismarck play a moving role in the search for these sunken ships and in the laying of memorial plaques on their remains. Highly recommended! "

[desirableroasted]

Ditto on The Caine Mutiny! Probably the best Navy fiction to come out of WWII.

And if you end up fascinated with Captain Queeg, try to track down Neil Sheehan's The Arnheiter Affair. Non-fiction, Vietnam era, but Arnheiter is, eerily, Queeg come to life.

Back to historical fiction, but away from the maritime, I like Philip Roth's "Plot Against America," where a Fascist Charles Lindbergh defeats FDR in the 1940 election. Roth actually writes it as an "alternate history autobiography."

I don't think we can post links here, but they are all searchable on Google/Wikipedia.

Good luck with your recovery!

[Fish In The Water]

Originally Posted by acetoolguy

getting my hip replaced tuesday, a year late, and looking to load up my Nook, just finished O'Brians Master and Commander seriers. I like historical fiction, any era.
Any suggestions?

Best wishes for a full (and speedy) recovery...

In the suggestion department, I Claudius by Robert Graves. Written in the style of an autobiography of the Emperor Claudius it provides an insightful glimpse into the personal lives of Rome's first family. If you're into historical literature - it's fascinating stuff.

[Sailor Steve]

An excellent suggestion. I was stuck in the "naval" mode, and not thinking outside that box. And while you're at it don't forget the sequel Claudius The God.

George MacDonald Fraser's Flashman series is excellent, particularly the first three books:

Flashman - The First Afghan War

Flashman at the Charge - The Crimean War and

Flashman and the Great Game - The Indian Mutiny.

Harry Flashman is kind of an Imperial Forrest Gump, finding himself in the middle of the great events of the 19th Century as a British serving officer. The only thing is that he is a coward, liar, lecher and incredibly lucky. Very funny and meticulously accurate.

Get well soon.

[acetoolguy]

Some great ideas in there, thanks guys. I think I've read about 1/2 of what was suggested and enjoyed them, I'll download a few of the others.
Its been a hectic year at work, so the six or weeks down is welcome and the potential to walk pain free for the first time a couple years is something i'm really looking forward to.