Fiction Reading Lists

There are a lot of great professional reading lists located at various points on this site and in fact many of the books I will be taking with me to the desert this year will be off of those lists. I was wondering what people here read when they are not reading about Small Wars. I suspect that there are a few of you who cannot imagine why anyone would read about anything else :D but most avid readers I know like to occasionally break of the non-fiction cycle with a fiction book or two. I personally have developed a taste for Harry Turtledove's alternative fiction novels. I also recently read Gates of Fire and I regret that I did not read it sooner.

SFC W

John Steakley's "Armor" is one of my favorite fictional books.

John Dalmas "The Regiment" series is also a big one for me. Lots of theoretical war stuff in it too.

Not fiction, but "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" is a re-re-re-re-read book for me.

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Originally Posted by Uboat509

I was wondering what people here read when they are not reading about Small Wars.

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Anything by James A. Michener - I particularly liked Tales of the South Pacific, Hawaii, Centennial, Chesapeake, Caribbean, Caravans, Alaska, Texas, and Poland (I believe he wrote over 40 books). It may be fiction but Michener always set his stories against an accurate historical backdrop. If I had to pick one it would be Chesapeake - but then I was born and raised in Baltimore.

I have found the following books, or series of books immensely enjoyable.

C.S. Forester's "Horatio Hornblower" novels. I think these are better than O'Brian's books. Forester can tell a better story in fewer words.

Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" series of detective novels. Spenser was an erudite tough guy.

"Killer Angels" by Shaara.

"Bridges of Toko-Ri" by Michener.

"A Soldier of the Great War" by Helprin.

"The Princess Bride" by William Goldman. Better than the movie.

"To Kill A Mockingbird" by Harper Lee.

"The Life and Times of the Last Kid Picked" by David Benjamin. Not a novel but the story of growing up in WI; as good as the title is clever.

"The Hunters" by James Salter.

"The Cruel Sea" by N. Monsarrat.

"The Caine Mutiny" by Wouk.

David Drake is probably my favorite military sci-fi writer, especially his earlier stuff. Hammer's Slammers stories are a favorite of mine.

My favorite fiction book is probably Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian.

George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire is the most entertaining fantasy I've ever read.

Any of the Warhammer 40,000 books about the Space Marines. These things are not high literature, but they're entetaining. I also loved a book called "Marching Through Georgia" by S.M. Stirling. The Georgia it speaks of is the Russian one. Interesting alternate history, World War 2 timeframe. And finally, slightly off topic, for those who loved "Gates of Fire", go and Google "300". Its an upcoming movie about the Battle of Thermopalye, based on a graphic novel of the same name by Frank Miller of Sin City fame. Watch the trailer. Undoubtably 100% historically accurate. And this movie CLEARLY has the answer to the riddle that is Iraq.

I'd toss in Eric Flint, especially his 1812 series and the 1632 series. Also John Ringo, classic Heinlein, and David Weber (Space opera for the most part, but decent schlock a la E.E. Doc Smith). I have a major weakness for good SF :D .

Marc

In addition to "Gates of Fire," Pressfield's "The Virtues of War" and "The Afghan Campaign" were both enjoyable and I have got "Tides of War" in my tough box for my upcoming trip.

I have read about a 1/3 of the WEB Griffin's "Brotherhood of War" series that are titled "The Lieutenants," "The Captains," and so on. They are entertaining.

I second the judgement in favor of the Hornblower series over O'Brian's series. That being said, I plan to read both series eventually.

If you like SciFi make sure you check out Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash" and "Cryptonomicon." I also enjoyed his "The Diamond Age" but not as much as the first two. I have not had a chance to sit down and read his "Baroque Cycle" triology yet.

Closer to realm of "literature," I have enjoyed Orwell and Steinbeck since I was first exposed to them in middle school. Also, I have got the complete Chronicles of Naria by Lewis and the Lord of the Rings triology in my tough box. I also second the recommendation of "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."

Tom may scream about this...;)

I'm actually rather fond of Ralph Peters' fiction (both under his own name and Owen Parry).

Fred Chaiventone is also good. He's done two historicals (one about the Little Bighorn and the other about the Fetterman fight).

John DelViccho has only written three books (sort of a Vietnam meta-trilogy), but they are well worth the read.

Some of Terry Johnston's "Plainsman" books are good, others are not. I've found him rather hit and miss, but he's one of the few authors who deals with Frontier Army themes.

Rereading "War and Peace" as well...very good read if you can keep track of everyone.

I actually read sparingly in fiction. Non-fiction is much more my "thing."

Hmmmm

Just finished reading Wilbur Smith's latest novel on the Courtney's in southern Africa--this one circa 1711. Smith's books on Africa are great reads; not always accurate in details but rich in a sense of time and setting..

Started W.E.B. Griffith's Hostage, his new series on DHS. On WEB, his best stuff was the Army and the Marine series with the Philly cops as a third. His new stuff is too openly political and he largely gets things wrong when it comes to many of the arenas he is discussing. Still I read them for what they are: entertainment.

Rudyard Kipling

The Cruel Sea is a classic I have read many times; the classic movie is also quite good

Starship Troopers the book

And the Lord of the Rings (with the Hobbit) has been on my bookshelf since the 5th grade

Alistair McClean's HMS Ulyssess

The Hornblower series

The Sharpe's Rifles series (and the mini-series with Sean Bean)

Michener until--like a later Tom Clancy--his writings became a committee effort as in his novel on Texas

Early Tom Clancy when he did his own research and writing


Some of Ralph Peter's fiction; it's better than his "non-fiction"; the novel set in Central America involving a Defense Attache was quite good

And others of course

best

Tom

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Originally Posted by Tom Odom

Just finished reading Wilbur Smith's latest novel on the Courtney's in southern Africa--this one circa 1711. Smith's books on Africa are great reads; not always accurate in details but rich in a sense of time and setting..

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Tom, I'm glad someone else came up on the net with Wilbur Smith. I love those books. Truly ridiculous at times, like Barbara Cartwright with testosterone and a big package, but at other times Michener-like. My wife still busts my gonads about Wilbur because the first page of the first one she saw referred to the "impossibly pointed breasts" of Sean Courteney's soon-to-be conquest. But she reads Umberto Eco for fun.

I picked up A Time to Die (later on in the Courteney series) from a stack of trashed paperbacks in the Marine house in Nairobi, and got hooked. Definitely more action and drama in his later style than some of his earlier writing, e.g. at the beginning of the Courteney series.

BREAK

Ship of Gold in the The Deep Blue Sea
(oh wait, you said fiction, but that is a great entertaining read even if it is true)

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Tom, I'm glad someone else came up on the net with Wilbur Smith. I love those books. Truly ridiculous at times, like Barbara Cartwright with testosterone and a big package, but at other times Michener-like. My wife still busts my gonads about Wilbur because the first page of the first one she saw referred to the "impossibly pointed breasts" of Sean Courteney's soon-to-be conquest. But she reads Umberto Eco for fun.

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Yep Wilbur does get into the sex :D My mother picked up one of my Wilbur Smith books and could not put it down. She admitted she liked "the racy parts." :eek: I did not ask for details....

Smiths books have spawned a number of movies: "Dark of the Sun" on the 1960s Congo; "Shout at the Devil" in WWI German East Africa; and at least partially inspired "The Wild Geese."

Best

Tom

What does it say about us that even when we are reading fiction we still read mostly about war :) ?

I had forgotton about John Ringo. I also like the Team Yankee books even though I am a lifelong lightfighter. Terry Pratchett is another favorite. He has the very English skill of taking the absurd and making it very funny.

SFC W

If you can find one (ask Tom) the Pet Rock Manual is hilarious.

Others:
Anything by John D. MacDonald especially his Travis McGee series. Every book has a color in the title: The Deep Blue Good by, The Quick Red Fox, Bright Orange for the Stroud, A Purple Place for Dying. I started reading these in the Army in the early 70's. They were 75 cents at the main post PX at Bragg, off post 95 cents. Last I checked $6.95 paperback. MaGee is a salvage expert that lives on a houseboat in Fla. called the "Busted Flush." He won it in a poker game. When I say salvage expert I mean if you loose something of value and can not get it back legally, he will recover it for half the value. MacDonald wrote many books the most recent that became a movie is "Cape Fear" with Robert Deinro(cain't spell). Based on true story. As for McGee start with "The Green Ripper" it is about oil,terrorism from a 70's perspective. Before his death he finally admitted he was ex-OSS and then some?

Anything by Joseph Wambaugh if you want to know what it is really like to be a Cop. "the Blue Knight" is about a real beat cop. Some good TTP's in there.


3rd vote for Zen and Motorcycle maintenance, Also Bridges of Toko-Ri. Love this thread, some good stuff here.

If you haven't read the Flashman series by George MacDonald Fraser I highly recommend it. These books detail the unlikely adventures of an English Victorian-era soldier/intelligence officer in every hot-spot of the British Empire from Afghanistan to Abysinia. They are ribald, politically-incorrect, heavily researched and the footnotes contain a wealth of primary sources. They've certainly introduced me to many distant, dusty corners of history and forgotten personages.

The author himself is a WWII infantry veteran of the Burma theater (check out his book "Quartered Safe Out Here") and post-WWII Libya. His collected "McAuslan" short stories are humorous, but are basically roman-a-clef memoirs of small-unit actions in a MOOTW environment. You can get a complete set of those in one volume from Amazon.UK ("The Complete McAuslan").

Fraser is a great writer.

Dave Barry stories are a sure bet for a laugh.

Tom mentioned Kipling, so I suggest two books of poetry:

"Complete Works of Robert Service" by Service

and

"Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barracks Room Ballads" by Kipling.

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Originally Posted by Tom Odom

... Lord of the Rings (with the Hobbit) has been on my bookshelf since the 5th grade...

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Small world Tom - The Hobbit was a 5th grade reading assignment for me. I got hooked and reread the Hobbit, FOTR, TTT and ROTK at least once a year through college. I now own all four on an unabridged audio CD set - quite a lot of CD's:)

I second the Sharpe's series. I like the Sean Bean TV version as well... shame he's taking crap roles in Hollywood these days.

R.A. Salvatore's "Dark Elf Trilogy" & "Icewind Dale Trilogy" make for great reads for fans of swashbuckling action and fantasy. I'm not a big fantasy fan by any means but these books are excellent reads with an incredible lead character.

Anything by H.G. Wells is always good (especially "The War In The Air").

Steven Barnes has written two excellent alternate history books, "Lion's Blood & Zulu Heart".

"Years Of Rice & Salt" is also very good.

John Birmingham's "Weapons Of Choice, Designated Targets & Final Impact" are fantastic reads.

This really got me to thinking...(which is amazing in itself....) I grew up reading everything by J.C. Pollock. I think he was a former MACV/SOG member and the books were very good. When I get home I am going to try and find them. Some of the titles were, "Mission MIA, and Centrifuge." I'm hoping my ex-wife didn't toss them.....as if taking the dog wasn't bad enough!

Frederick Forysth, "The Day of the Jackal" is a classic. Now that I think about it several of his books have been recommended in various Intel courses that I have taken. I'm sure some of his stuff would be dated as would some of the J.C. Pollock themes but they are still great reads.

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Originally Posted by bismark17

This really got me to thinking...(which is amazing in itself....) I grew up reading everything by J.C. Pollock. I think he was a former MACV/SOG member and the books were very good. When I get home I am going to try and find them. Some of the titles were, "Mission MIA, and Centrifuge."...

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I've read all of Pollock's books at one time or another - yes, he's a former SOG guy, and that comes through in his writing. Along the same lines, The Dying Place, by David Maurer is a good read - a SOG vet writing fiction about SOG.

Feast of Bones, by Dan Bolger is another fiction book that I really enjoyed - told from the perspective of a Soviet paratrooper; mostly set in Afghanistan.

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Originally Posted by Eddie Beaver

I second the Sharpe's series. I like the Sean Bean TV version as well...

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The TV series was great - working at the MCC in Zakho over a decade ago, one of our Brits brought the whole thing on tape. The Kurds loved it, and watched it over and over.

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Originally Posted by carl

"Departmental Ditties and Ballads and Barracks Room Ballads" by Kipling.

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Kipling has long been a favorite of mine. I have a couple of "pocket" versions of poetry collections of his, both published in the 1890's....

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Feast of Bones, by Dan Bolger is another fiction book that I really enjoyed - told from the perspective of a Soviet paratrooper; mostly set in Afghanistan.

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I will pass that on to him. He appreciates such feedback.

Best

tom

Feast of Bones was quite good. The end was a bit shaky, but the rest was very good.

I also liked Gates of Fire and the Sharpe's series. Also check out Bernard Cornwell's books about the Civil War. Being an Englishman he gets some of the southerner's expressions wrong, but still good reads for Sharpe's fans.

The only John Del Vecchio book I've read was The 13th Valley. I'd recommend it to anyone. I'm reading it again now for the first time in about 15 years.

Some of the Stephen Hunter books, The Master Sniper, etc., are fun reads but not realistic or technically accurate.

Of course, for some of us, Lonesome Dove tops everything? :D Hey, it's about small wars, ain't it? ;)

I hate rude behavior in a man. I won't tolerate it! - Ranger Captain Woodrow F. Call

I reread the 13th Valley every year or so. Same goes for "Cross of Iron" and "War in 2020."

Stephen Hunter is a good light read, although his later stuff just leaves me going WTF?:o

Another good one, at least in my mind, is CW2 by Layne Heath. Fascinating look at the life and eventual meltdown of a helicopter pilot in Vietnam circa 1969 through 1970ish or so. He also wrote The Blue Deep about early American advisor effort (with the French, no less...it's around Dien Bien Phu time). As far as I know Heath only wrote two books, but they are downright keepers.

In the SOG stuff, "Break Contact Continue Mission" was good, and there was another one called "Sympathy for the Devil" that was a touch 'out there' but still a good read.

If you liked Team Yankee, you must read The Third World War and its follow up by retired British General Shawn Hackett (who was a brigadier at Arnhem in WWII). It is a better protrayal of what combat in Europe would have looked like had it gone down versus Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising.

Team Yankee was tailored to fit with Hackett's books.

Best

Tom

Sir John Hackett's second book (Third World War, the Untold Story) is more of a narrative version, while the first is a "history."

My copy of 3WW the Untold Story is actually autographed by Sir John. When I was in good ol' DoDSS in the 1980s we got him to come and speak at our high school. I got to do the introduction and briefing about his books. An interesting guy, but a bit intimidating when you're 16.

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1980s we got him to come and speak at our high school. I got to do the introduction and briefing about his books. An interesting guy, but a bit intimidating when you're 16.

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Ok I feel old now....

I guess the thing that really makes Hackett's books really tell the story of the so-called Cold War are the cold chills they produce when you read them and realize just how cataclysmic such a 3rd World War could have been. I can say that they certainly had that effect on us at the time; we read the these in grad school (1980-1981) at the Naval Postgraduate School as part of our National Security Policy course work.

Best

Tom

Anyone read Arturo Pérez-Reverte's Captain Alatriste series? I imagine it as a Spanish verison of the Sharpe series.

I remember reading his Club Dumas and really enjoying his writing.