Are you looking for something to read? Here’s the “good” books I read this year. In 2019 I was most heavily interested in 4 main topics: urban America, WW2, Delaware and business/economy.
Maybe The Best Book I’ve Ever Read:
(1) The Caine Mutiny
An astonishingly creative and interesting book. Written by a WW2 naval officer (he was actually there) in 1951, it’s a novel about a minesweeper in the Pacific where some of the crew mutiny against a supposedly incompetent captain. The movie is in my opinion not very good. Doesn’t come close to conveying the nuance of the book.
2 Authors I’ve been Lucky to Get to Know Personally in 2019
World War Two has always a favorite topic tbut until this year I’d never actively attempted to interview WW2 veterans except for informal conversations with relatives who died before I could really engage in depth. As part of a book I am attempting to write in 2019 I interviewed at least 20 from my hometown. Two of them have written their own very good books:
(2) A Sailor’s Diary: In War and Peace
The author was drafted in 1942 and was all over the Pacific on a Destroyer, including at Okinawa. Most WW2 memoirs I’ve seen tend to come from either naval officers or from the infantry, rarely enlisted naval but his book as insightful and reflective as any I’ve read.
(3) Against All Odds: The Ray Firmani Story
The memoir of a B17 pilot who flew 25 missions over Nazi-occupied Europe.
