Book thread

[Maclowery]

Wow, you're absolutely right. At least DrunkMac got the other two correct. And made up the word 'sigildry' when I meant 'heraldry'

[JackofDiamonds]

Wow, you're absolutely right. At least DrunkMac got the other two correct. And made up the word 'sigildry' when I meant 'heraldry'

Well, you combined sigil and heraldry, so partial credit.

[Hudler]

Unbroken. Biography of Louis Zamperini - an incredible bad ass. Been a long time since I've ripped through a book this quickly.

Great Book. I can't imagine living through what he did.

Just finished reasding Endgame,1945:The Missing Final Chapter of World War II by David Stafford. Interesting story of the last weeks of the war in Europe and the first few months post-war. Had never heard about the post-war genocide of ethnic Germans in Eastern Europe.

[Freed Roger]

Unbroken. Biography of Louis Zamperini - an incredible bad ass. Been a long time since I've ripped through a book this quickly.

Great Book. I can't imagine living through what he did.

I was only a half way thru the book and what he went thru seemed so outlandish that I felt compelled to google and wikipedia the guy (not that I consider that real research, but...) and spoilered some of the outcome.

Besides his personal experience, what I learned was how harrowing the odds were for all the guys on those planes. The #s and %s were just awful. The planes they were flying were basically experimental aircraft rushed into service.

[longhornbaseball]

Related: One of my favorite little things about Martin's books has been his house-related sigildry (the neat house logos before each chapter) and the family words.

Obviously everyone's favorite is the Starks' "winter is coming", but I love a lot of the others. Faves:

House Greyjoy (ie the longboat raider types you TV-show viewers only know through Theon so far, but they're great) = We Do Not Sow
House Lannister = A Lannister always pays his debts
House Martell = Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. Again, TV people won't know yet, but the Martells of Dorne are some hardheaded, stubborn mother [expletive], and they are great.

Rabble rabble, the actual House Lannister family words are: "Hear me roar!", they just say A Lannister Always Pays His Debts a lot.

JackofDiamonds : Maclowery : : Maester Luwin : Bran

[Hudler]

Unbroken. Biography of Louis Zamperini - an incredible bad ass. Been a long time since I've ripped through a book this quickly.

Great Book. I can't imagine living through what he did.

I was only a half way thru the book and what he went thru seemed so outlandish that I felt compelled to google and wikipedia the guy (not that I consider that real research, but...) and spoilered some of the outcome.

Besides his personal experience, what I learned was how harrowing the odds were for all the guys on those planes. The #s and %s were just awful. The planes they were flying were basically experimental aircraft rushed into service.

The B-24 Liberator had a horrible record for losses when ditched in the ocean. It basically broke in half and sank like a rock. The bomb bay doors also tended to rip loose and flood the fuselage even quicker. The plane in my sig is a later version of the Liberator.

[Tambourine Man]

My grandpa was a side gunner in the B-24 and the other grandpa was a navigator in the B-17.

Edit- Hudler kindly offered to do some research on my grandpas and is already producing results. This is so cool and I've never seen this stuff.

http://www.445bg.org/home_of_the_445th.htm

[Vidor]

Downloaded the audio book. Pretty stoked.

[Vidor]

This is pretty cool. Some guy self-publishes his novel of his dysfunctional relationship with his horrible alcoholic girlfriend--in pitch-perfect "Choose Your Own Adventure" format.

http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/book ... ewed_.html

[Swirls]

The cover art for the final book in the Wheel of Time has been published. I've been reading those books literally for the past 15-20 years, and it's all going to end in about 6 months or so.