What Are You Currently Reading? 2011

[tequila]

Just finished reading The Last Valley--Dien Bien Phu and the French Defeat in Indochina by Martin Windrow, and I am impressed. Perhaps the definitive work on the subject. (I confess I haven't read Fall's.) Chronicles in great detail the uncommon leadership and humbling heroism of so many who sacrificed so dearly for a France which, in most cases, could not presume to make any claims on their loyalty--the Foreign Legionaires, the North and West Africans, and the Vietnamese. On the French side, more Vietnamese than Frenchmen died at Dien Bien Phu. A young Lietenant who fought valiantly, Pham van Phu, 5 BPVN (5th Vietnamese Paratroop Batallion), was to survive cruel and debilitating captivity to become, eventually, an ARVN general, comitting suicide on 30 April 1975 rather than face a repeat of the reeducation ordeal.

Cheers,
Mike.

Just wanted to second this recommendation. One of the best-written and most captivating works on DBP, but really works as a mini-history of the whole French Indochinese war. Covers the the French Expeditionary forces in depth, but also does a good job covering the Viet Minh force structure as well.

[Granite_State]

The Junior Officer's Reading Club: Easily the best Iraq or Afghanistan memoir I've read (though I still have Kaboom to get to). The author, a Grenadier Guards lieutenant, had a desultory Iraq tour but then was in the thick of it on an OMLT in Afghanistan. He includes a long look at Sandhurst, and finishes with a final little tour to the Falklands. Visceral writing, but the author also has a great sense of humor. Highly recommended, particularly if you've spent much time with Brits.

Patriot Pirates: Picked this up after it was recommended by Van on this thread. The author claims Revolutionary War privateers were a "seaborne insurgency", and he's pretty persuasive. The book spends far more time on the logistics and financing of privateering than it does on sea battles, but it's still very readable.

The Big Short: A good introduction to the financial crisis and the subprime mortgage disaster. I tore through it in a weekend, fast for me. Michael Lewis is a great writer who makes finance accessible to folks like me with no background in the subject.

Flashman in the Great Game: Not quite as good as the previous one (Flashman at the Charge), but still a ton of fun.