Manchester City Forums

There are at least 12 Gospels still in existance. I was once reading a book called The Jesus Mysteries when there was a knock at the door. I answered the door with the book still in my hand. It was a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses. They offered me a leaflet about Jesus. I declined, held up my book and said another bloke had been here earlier, given me this book and convinced me the bible was a load of bollocks.

I told them to have a nice day and closed the door.

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And put on that wig I bought you. No, no, no, no. The reddish-brown one.

I'm half way through "The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak:

1939 - Nazi Germany - The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall. Some important information - this novel is narrated by death. It's a small story, about: a girl; an accordionist; some fanatical Germans; a Jewish fist fighter; and quite a lot of thievery. Another thing you should know - death will visit the book thief three times.

It's very dark and atmospheric and very hard to put down.

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good book.
im reading world war 2 the handbook

You wanna read my story?

which one...

how i survived the eastern front by cloudy?

world war 2 the handbook? wuzzat?
MWTB, you read either stalingrad or berlin by anthony beevor?

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"It felt like a really pointless version of ketamine: no psychedelic effects, no pleasant slide into rubbery nonsense, just a sudden drop off the cliff of wrongness."
"i'm gonna wreck you so bad we're going to have to change church"

Nope, do you reccomend?

I read lots of fact and text books. Bit obsessed with the world wars

The best war books are

All Quiet on The Western Front
Catch 22
Any Sven Hassell
and for modern and future wars, the works of Dale Brown and Steven Coonts

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The Senior Member

Read that.
Have you read Birdsong?

Heard about it.

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The Senior Member

Read it bert it's fantastic

If you're into recent wars MWTB, you might wanna check out Spanish Civil War. It is also linked to WWII, so would probably be useful to you. I got interested in it a couple of years ago - there's a really good book by the aforementioned Anthony Beevor called 'The Battle For Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939'. Also you might want to read the terrific autobiographical account of the war by George Orwell - 'Homage To Catalonia'.

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The only pureness left is preached by Tintin (apres Tintin in The Congo).

oh yes def recommend. lot of research went into them, mainly eastern front stuff really. stalingrad covers up to the encirclement and capture of 6th army, berlin pretty much covers the final stages. fairly brutal as well, lots of letters or accounts from either prisoners or letters found on the dead.
another one i've read recently (bit of a military history nut as well...) is blood red snow, accounts of a german machine gunner who had the luck to be posted to stalingrad just as it was encircled, but was on the outside of it.
but yeah anything by beevor i would heartily recommend, good style to it, keeps it pretty factual whilst still being readable.
another goodie would be "the most dangerous enemy", stephen bungay, about the battle of britain. again it's a good mix of fact and records with personal accounts.

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"It felt like a really pointless version of ketamine: no psychedelic effects, no pleasant slide into rubbery nonsense, just a sudden drop off the cliff of wrongness."
"i'm gonna wreck you so bad we're going to have to change church"

You should read both of these books, Mrs. W; Beevor knows his stuff. It's just like being there.

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[color="Blue"]In order to get a blimp you have to contact the met office to find out average wind conditions. [/color]

He's right, there's nothing like getting your nose stuck into a Beevor.








(well someone had to didn't they? )

If you want to read about the horrors of war (and who doesn't?), try books written by American soldiers who fought in Vietnam. Most of them are accounts of young lads doing a job they were, basically, forced to do whilst scared to death.
I've just finished one called "Dear Mom", written by a sniper who was there in 1968 and '69.

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[color="Blue"]In order to get a blimp you have to contact the met office to find out average wind conditions. [/color]

And it was always going to be you!

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[color="Blue"]In order to get a blimp you have to contact the met office to find out average wind conditions. [/color]

yup, one of the quotes on the back is bedtime reading for those who don't dream. was right nasty the eastern front. guess somethign similar from our point of view would be something about burma or the chindits, 'another no quarter asked or given' front.



couple from a guy called tom o'brien - "if i die in a combat zone" and "the things they carried" one is meant to be more fictional, but i could never figure which, both very good if a bit short. "chickenhawk" by robert mason and "dispatches" by michael herr are good uns as well, not actually read chicken hawk, but it keeps on getting recommended or mentioned.

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"It felt like a really pointless version of ketamine: no psychedelic effects, no pleasant slide into rubbery nonsense, just a sudden drop off the cliff of wrongness."
"i'm gonna wreck you so bad we're going to have to change church"

I read "Chickenhawk " a while ago; it's really haunting. The author ends up in a real mess through drink, drugs, crime, etc. Definitely not a happy ending!

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[color="Blue"]In order to get a blimp you have to contact the met office to find out average wind conditions. [/color]