Book Club of War

  One of the many interesting discussions I have been involved in of late has been about the writing and recording of combat experiences and how reliable or not those accounts are. Some of the first books we all read on the wars is those of soldiers, sailors and airmen and their personal experiences, their involvement in war, what they saw and felt.   We get drawn in by the excitement, heroism, action, and outcomes. A lot of time we have read these in isolation without being able to share with others that have our interest and without understanding the wider context. In some ways that comes with age and experience. Social Media has enabled people from all over the world to come together and discuss all aspects of war and the question of “Reconstructing and Recording combat experiences in World War 1 and Second World War” keeps coming to the fore. As we understand more, we start to question the evidence in front of us. We start to understand how these accounts are written a...

  I have a confession, as an 8 year, I was taken to Finningley Airshow by my Mum.   The highlight of the whole day was seeing the Lancaster Bomber in flight.   I had never seen something so mesmorising and utterly beautiful.    The slow grace in which it flew with its bomb doors open, down the runway and away.    The noise of those 4 Rolls Royce Merlin engines will live with me forever.     Even now 45 years later seeing and hearing a Lanc takes me back to that moment with my Mum open mouthed in awe of that day. John Nichol has written a book that takes me back to being that 8 year old.   The book tells the inspiring, passionate and profoundly moving story of the legendary Avro Lancaster, the heroic crews who flew her, the men and women who kept her flying and stories of taking the fight to the heart of Germany. The writing in the book is outstanding.   The author not only tells you the story of the Lancaster but tells stor...

  The brilliant thing with this book is how easy it is to read.    A really beautiful flow of words with a plot that is easy to follow. Out of the Desert: Danger Close… is book one in the wings of victory series.   It starts in 1940 in Egypt and follows the story of a young ambitious Royal Air Force pilot Peter Denhay who is posted to an operational bomber squadron at the start of a major Italian offensive into Egypt. This is a story of relationships, of suspicion that there is a double agent operating in their midst, of intelligence and of the XXI squadron and their battles though Egypt, Create and mainland Greece. The intensity of the last air battle leaves you breathless, you live the fight through these brilliant characters. The author Tom Walker has written a brilliant part one to the series.   His writing is detailed but with a real pace in the story.   He has captured a real part of history that is well researched and woven a fantastic fictiona...