And so to reading material. Whether by unintentional design or accident, most of this year's reading has been non-fiction with the odd novel here and there. That is not to say there isn't more fiction in my reading pile and, to be honest, the pile didn't get much lower this year, despite reducing my book spend. Anyhoo, these are the more memorable books I read this year.
Starting off is 2020: World at War. I put a review of this book here a few months back and, with hindsight, I still find it a disappointing read. It compared itself to the seminal works of General Sir John Hackett and by my judgement, it fares poorly. That was the low point of the year.
Fiction wise, there were two titles in The Expanse series, books 5 (Nemesis Games) and 6 (Babylon's Ashes) and The Flight of the Bat. I reviewed TFotB here and I still like it. As for The Expanse novels, they continued the story centred on James Holden and the crew of the Rocinante. What I like about this series is the complexity of the story, the nuanced characters and the narrative style. I have seen some reviews say it's the Game of Thrones of sci-fi but that would be a disservice to The Expanse. Far more tightly written and lacking any of the flab of the GoT books, The Expanse series are the kind of books that you can get through in a couple of days steady reading, a week or so if you read in bursts. They encompass high concept sci-fi but are grounded by characterisation. If you get the chance, I heartily recommend them.
Non fiction tended to centre around military history and there were a few corkers this year.
Exocet Falklands by Ewen Southby-Tailyour detailed the special forces operations of the Falklands War, including the crashed recon team that trekked across the Argentian border to safety and the proposed operations that would have culminated in Mikado, a one way suicide mission to take out Argentinian Super Etendard pilots at their home airfield. Well written and entertaining, you get the feel Southby-Tailyour has a grudge against the higher-ups involved, that the missions were guided by a "must do something" mentality rather than of military necessity and that the lower level officers didn't fight too hard in case their "can-do" spirit was seen as lacking. Although there are a few technical discrepancies in the text, they do not detract from an interesting tome that should be on anybody's list if you have an interest in special forces or the Falklands War.
Red November, written by a former US submariner W. Craig Reed, tells a tale of espionage and cold war encounters between US and Soviet submarines. The author details his father's role in the struggle as well as his own and the extremes the US Navy (and its divers in particular) went to to gather information on their adversary. This is an easy read and highly informative, it certainly opened my eyes to a topic I thought I knew well and is worth a read.
Hostile Skies is a memoir of Sea Harrier pilot David Morgan in the Falklands War. I will say the description of his role in the conflict is written very well but, and it's a big but, his personal life does get a mention as well as his spirituality. Yes, I know that would have a bearing on how he felt during the conflict but to be honest, these sections were distracting and I felt they didn't need to be there. They may have been added to give a bit of humanity to the gentleman but they weren't needed, his descriptions of conflict and its aftermath do that well enough.
Luxury Fleet by Holger H. Herwig, originally published in the 1970's, is the story of the High Seas Fleet, not just technically and politically, but more importantly, of the human perspective. Highly detailed and with contemporary accounts, Luxury Fleet added flesh to the bones of my knowledge of the High Seas Fleet gained from Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie. An essential read if you have any interest in the period, I was fortunate to pick up a copy of this from a friend and am very pleased I did.
King of the Killing Zone by Orr Kelly, published in 1989, tells the tale of the development of the M1 Abrams main battle tank. It's an interesting book, considering that within two years, the M1 would be tested in battle during the Gulf War and come out of it with flying colours. The story of the development is one of conflicting beliefs in fighting, internal domestic politics and not-invented-here syndrome. That any battle tank entered service is nothing short of a miracle and it proves marvellously that good project management is key to any major defence project; something that, even today, still seems to be hard to achieve. The author, a journalist, writes with a light touch and even when it does get technical, Kelly nimbly weaves the details into the narrative with ease.
If you like tales of debauchery, violence, moral degeneracy and torture, switch off from The Archers(!) and try The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore. I'd already ready his two part biography of Stalin and this volume, detailing the Romanovs from their lucky beginnings to tragic end, seemed to be in the same vein. In a nutshell, it's a cracking read. It's a hefty tome, as the subject demands, but Montefiore brings the individuals of the family to life and an understanding as to why they acted the way they did. Anyone with an interest in Russian history should add this to their list of must reads.
Finally, we have a trilogy that took me a good couple of months to get though, not through lack of trying, more through the sheer density of the test. Richard J Evans' The Third Reich trilogy (The Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power and The Third Reich at War) are an all encompassing history of the rise and fall of Nazi power in Germany, Intensely detailed with contemporary statements, quotes and experiences, the trilogy is heavy going and, at times incredibly disturbing, as the processes used by Hitler and his cohort to gain popularity, then power, then finally self destruction are minutely examined. This is a thinking history of Nazism, it makes you consider events and practices we see today and realise that, certainly with social behaviour, the more things change, the more they stay the same. This trilogy was an impulse purchase and one I am glad I made. If you have any interest in history, either social or military, these three books will certainly inform and educate you.
That is it for books, so just one more review of the year to come, Film.
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