Cattales by Win Stites 82 pages

As a history aficionado, I do enjoy a good read that explores more than what happened. I also love to dive into the why. However, every now and then, the best stories are not the ones that are researched, categorized, and written by historians. The great ones are written by those that were there. The “first hand’ accounts.

Some of these stories can be embellished for entertainment. Just like a fisherman, these stories can stretch the imagination of the one that got lost. Those are the qualities that make these stories an enjoyable read.

Cattales is one of those reads. The book is a collection of stories from PBY-5 Catalina fliers in the days of WWII. They range from accounts from the Aleutians to training on the east coast. I personally got a good chuckle from some, especially the first one about the weather report for Adak. Since I have a first-hand account of the weather on the island.

This book was an easy and fast read that just allows the mind to relax and laugh.

This book was a gift from a friend who also enjoyed the James Bond books as I have.  This was a fun and fast read.  At only 226 pages, I finished it in about 1 day.  A very pleasurable story for one of America’s great writers.  I would recommend it to anyone for just a fun read.  It is similar to the James Bond books, just no government involvement.  Although a lawman that does things different than what the law allows is defiantly a James Bond style writing.

Lopaka

To go back into time and read about events and why they happened, history.  After reading a few fiction novels, it was time to start a novel, again, the I started almost 20 years ago; however, never finished.

Six Armies In Normandy by John Keegan is a very detailed account of what happened at the invasion of Normandy on 6 June ’44 until the liberation of Paris in August of ’44.  He doesn’t talk about each army and what happened at each beach.  However, he did pick specific units and gave a reach detail of their history and what they contributed to Normandy.  For example, the 101th and 82nd Airborne for the United States.  The significant contribution of Admiral Sir Ramsay had on the invasion fleet.  This book is a great read.  For me, it took about a week and a half to finish.  It is very detailed and I know that I won’t remember everything from the book.  In the end, my knowledge of the invasion and the overall complexity has expanded.

Lopaka

Dune by Frank Herbert is a 793 pg (Story only)/878 pg (including 4 Appendix’s).  This is a science fiction classic, originally published in 1965.

This book was absolutely a delicious book to read.  I’m not even close to a fast reader and I read this in 2 days.  From the start, you are hooked and I just didn’t want to put it down.  The story is great.  If you have seen the movies, then the story line is the same.  However, many of the details really change the meaning of the story.  The ending is different from the movies.  Religion and politics play deep in the book.  It’s the depth of the book that makes it wonderful.  I would absolutely recommend this to any reader.  Currently, I’m asking myself “why didn’t I read this when I was younger”.

Octopussy and the Living Daylights, Book 14 and the last James Bond book by Ian Fleming.  This is collection of short stories that several of the movies get their titles from. Octopussy, The Living Daylights.  In the short story, Property of a Lady, the film Octopussy auction scene is based on this short story.

Overall, the stories are fun to read.  However, they are short.  The last one 007 in New York is only 7 pages long.  Again, this was published posthumously.

Nice to complete the collection and move on.  I will miss some of the Bond stories.

Now up, Dune.

Lopaka

You only Live Twice, the 12th and final polished, completed book of James Bond by Ian Fleming.  The Man With The Golden Gun was released after his death and before he could edit the first draft.

This book keeps with the humanity of James Bond that the movies never deal with.  At least, until Daniel Craig’s bond.  The start of the book is with how Bond is dealing with the death of his wife.  With a character like James Bond, he is not handling it very well.   M, to try and get Bond back to his old self, sends him on a what is considered an impossible mission to Japan.  Once Bond arrives in Japan, that’s where the book goes at an odd pace.

This book doesn’t have the wonderful polish that the previous novels have.  The pace is fast, almost like Ian wanted to just finish the book.  It feels like he was tired of writing about Bond.  Even the scene that Bond is captured by Blofield and then questioned/attempted executed was very short compared to his earlier novels.  This was the final book with Ernest Blofield and James finally finishes him off at the end of the book.

This is not one I would recommend to anyone to pick up for their first Bond book.  It’s a decent read and nice follow up from On Her Majestys Secret Service, there are other Bond books that would be a better read.

Movie comparison.  The movie only uses the names of the characters and the setting in Japan.  However, that is all it uses.  However, the way that Ian wrote about the Japanese and also how Tiger and Bond talk to each other, it wouldn’t be a very good movie to make without offending people.  Also, the “Castle of Death” would be very difficult to film at the time the movie was made.

Now, on to The Man With The Golden Gun.

Lopaka

A wonderful read.  Book 11 had me from the start of the book.  The first night that I started it, I got through about 25% of the book and wanted to continue, but alas I had to get up early in the morning.  I continued it and really enjoyed all the plots and twists that happened in the book.

This is a wonderful follow-up to The Spy Who Loved Me.  Although, it has been many years since I’ve seen the film, no comparison for this reading.

Interesting note: The World is Not Enough title comes from this book.  It is the motto of the Bond family crest.

Lopaka

Thunderball and the Spy Who Loved Me,

I was sitting in Greece and reading Thunderball, I just had issues with trying to finish the book.  It is not horribly written, it was just hard for me to finish it.  I’m not sure why.  I would put the book down for a few days and try again to read it.  While I was trying to finish it, it would put me to sleep.  Finally, I got to a point into the story that it got exciting in the story and finally finished it.  This one is not a good as the previous novels.  Although, you do get to know a little more about Ernst Stavro Blofeld than the movies ever let you know.  Also, this is one of the SPECTRE novels.  Something interesting is SPECTRE actually means  SPecial Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion.  There are many parts of the book that are in the movie which makes reading it even more enjoyable.

The Spy Who Loved Me, on the other hand, was a delicious read.  I was skeptical at first because I knew the story was from the view of a woman and not Bonds.  However, I was very surprised on how fast the story picked up and then I was just wondering when Bond was going to get into the story.  When he is finally introduced, it was like reading the style of Casino Royal again, Bond has to react to what is happening around him.  It was wonderful to read and I finished it in a day.  The other interesting part about this book is the movie has no basis from the book.  Not even the female characters name is the same.

Now, on to Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

I remember reading online, after I completed my degree, that most individuals stop reading after they finish college.  Promising myself that I will not fall down this trap…this is 2016’s list of books that I have completed.

Jan-

1.  Mission Beyond Darkness, 1945, Lt. Com. Joseph Bryan III, USNR and Philip Reed. This novel is the historical recount of the The Battle of the Philippine Sea, later known as the Great Marianas Turkey Shoot from the recount of the pilots of the Air Group 16 from the U.S.S. Lexington and their challenges of landing aircraft in the dark with little or no fuel left.