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War, generally speaking is a bad thing, but it does tend to make for an entertaining read. I’ll be on hols in a month or so and want a really good book of this genre to while away the time. Any recommendations? (Fiction, Non-fiction, History, Fantasy, Sci-Fi all good).

Mine would be…

Flashman and the Great Game

One of my favourite Flashman novels, taking place during an absorbing, but very rarely discussed period in British Colonial History; The Indian Mutiny.

Once again, Flashman finds himself in the wrong place at the worst possible time. Sent to negotiate with the beautiful Rani of Jhansi (actual historical figure and best female character after Elspeth) over her recently annexed kingdom, Flashman bears witness to the very violent uprising of the Sepoys (Indian Soldiers in the British Army) against the British officers and their families at Meerut.

As the mutiny spreads like wildfire throughout India, Flashman flees from one massacre to the next (his experiences as always, are based upon actual historical events) and is reluctantly drawn into aiding the efforts to suppress the bloody rebellion.

a historical book ive read which is pretty good is "Panzer Commander" It's the memoirs of a German officer called Hans Von Luck. It is basically the second world war from his perspective, through the desert in North Africa and so on.
He has some interesting encounters and seems to have got a lot of life experience while in the army. Funny in places. But it mainly adds a well needed dimension to ww2 history thats so often overlooked in favor of "the SS killed this many and the germans were all evil"

I really enjoyed the read, so maybe it's worth you picking up to have a flick through

John.

I quite enjoyed both "The Eagle has Landed" and its sequel "The Eagle has Flown".

If you like Flashman, the Sharpe novels by Bernard Cornwell are of a very similar nature, based on the fictional experiences of a British soldier during the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with Wellington as a backdrop for a lot of the stories.

For Sci-Fi, I would recommend John Stakeley's Armor as a good read, and the David Weber/Steve White Stars at War books as good war stories.

Fiends on the Eastern Front. There was supposed to be an off-shoot series called Fiends of the Rising Sun but ever since Black Flame went belly up the chances of that trilogy being finished are sadly slim to nothing.

Try these:
Sven Hassel series
Graham Sharp Paul- Helfort's War
Jack Campbell- The Lost Fleet
John Scalzi- Old Man's War
And for a bit of humour:Toby Frost- Space Captain Smith
All are excellent books

OR THESE:

ARMAGEDDON
ARMAGEDDON RETURN OF THE BEAST
ARMAGEDDON IRON WILL
THE MOVEMENT OF KRAKAN
BLACK TEMPLARS
WAGHHH WAZDAKKA

--_*BoSn*_--

redacted

All of Flashman are excellent.

The Hornblower stories, collected into three anthologies, are a good historical series about the naval war of Napoleonic times. Sharpe is basically the light infantry Hornblower.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Young-Hornblower-Omnibus-Midshipman-Lieutenant/dp/0140119396/ref=ed_oe_p

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Captain-Hornblower-R-N-Atropos-Return/dp/0140081771/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Admiral-Hornblower-Flying-Colours-Commodore/dp/014011940X/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246658584&sr=8-11

The (infrequent) love scenes are a bit 1960s but the naval detail reeks of salty authenticity and the general course of the novels is based on a historical admiral.


Vietnam stories
It used to be a major interest of mine -- I sold all my Vietman wargames stuff years ago and am gradually collecting it back.

If I Die In A Combat Zone
The Only War We Had
Chickenhawk
Dispatches
A Rumor Of War
Fields Of Fire
Flight Of The Intruder
Once A Warrior King

For something a bit more modern, Blackhawk Down is very good.

Jarhead is a good Gulf War 1 memoir.

World War 2
Das Boot
Bomber (Len Deighton)
SS: GB (Len Deighton)

World War 1
All Quiet On The Western Front
The Regeneration Trilogy (Pat Barker)

Hemingway wrote a couple of good WW1 books.

Armour,
Starship Troopers,
David Drake's Hammer's Slammers stuff.

Fiction:
Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield: The build up and the battle of Thermopylae from the pov of a Spartan helot.
Forever War by Joe Haldeman: Enjoyable if you liked SST and Armor
Guns of the South by Harry Turtledove: What if Afrikaner white supremacists went back in time and supplied the Confederacy with AK-47s? Well written despite the goofy premise.
The Use of Weapons by Iain M. Banks: Tracks the career of a covert operative of a hyper-advanced society as he intervenes in the wars of less advanced races.

Non-fiction:
Into the Jaws of Death: British Military Blunders 1879-1900 by Mike Snook
Generation Kill by Evan Wright: Reporter follows a Marine Recon unit during the invasion of Iraq. Full of black humor.
My Tank is Fight! by Zack Parsons: Analysis of stupid inventions from WWII. Flying tanks and superheavy subs, abound.

Many thanks for the recommendations

I have ordered a couple off Amazon.

Just remembered:
Red Storm Rising-Tom Clancy
Red Phoenix-Larry Bond (I think)