I'd go for Sven Hassel just for the action element. It was boys own type WW2 action. He churned the books out by the bucketload.
I had the whole set of his books. Was different to see the war from a German perspective. Also the humour he used did appeal to me, especially, with some of the antics of Tiny. DT, have you deen the film 'Wheels of Terror', based on Hassel's book of the same name? It's the one where they come across the Legionnaire for the first time. On a side note, and please don't think I've got a a 'problem' here, but after reading elsewhere of ACS's fixation with redheads, I have this vision of ACS as Joseph Porta from the Sven Hassel books, complete with top hat and monocle.
Ive resisted a while but recently got a couple of Rankin books that weren't in the Rebus series - the impossible dead and the complaints - really good. Favourite authors...how many are we allowed ? conan doyle truman capote kinky friedman hunter s Thompson bill Bryson.......... the list goes on and you tend to forget " one offs " and I thought I was the only one in the world who loved sven hassel don't know what Id make of them now if I re-read them but I do remember they were very funny in places... Tiny repeating to an officer that his bowler hat was " an elephants pessary " because Porta had told him that's what it was properly called " breath in deep boys there`s vitamins in the air"
Interesting Wiki stuff about Sven Hassel: Hassel claimed that he was born as Sven Pedersen at Frederiksborg, Zealand, Denmark, and later adopted his mother's maiden name, Hassel. At the age of 14 he joined the merchant navy as a cabin boy and worked on ships until his military service in 1936. In 1937, to escape the Great Depression, the unemployed Hassel moved to Germany to join the army. In an interview in 1990, he said, "Germany happened to be closer than England, I went to a Wehrmacht recruiting office to enlist, but it wasn't as easy as I had thought. Only German citizens could serve. After six months of trying to join up, the Seventh Cavalry Regiment finally accepted me on the condition that I became a naturalized German."[citation needed] Hassel served with the 2nd Panzer Division stationed at Eisenach and in 1939 was a tank driver during the invasion of Poland.[citation needed] A year later he attempted to escape. He served with the 2nd Cavalry Regiment and later the 11th and 27th Panzer Regiments (6th Panzer Division) on all fronts except North Africa and was wounded several times. Eventually he reached the rank of lieutenant and received an Iron Cross 1st and 2nd class. He surrendered to Soviet troops in Berlin in 1945 and spent the following years in various POW camps. He began to write his first book, Legion of the Damned while he was interned.[citation needed] He was released in 1949 and was planning to join the French Foreign Legion when he met Dorthe Jensen, whom he married in 1951. He went to work in a car factory, but his wife encouraged him to continue to write about his experiences. Legion of the Damned was published in 1953. In 1957 Hassel suffered from an attack of a sickness caught during the war and was paralyzed for almost two years. After recovery, he began to write more books. In 1964 he moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he lived until his death. In total he published 14 novels which have been translated into 18 languages. In 1987 his book Wheels of Terror was made into a film titled The Misfit Brigade.[2]
Albert/Mick - I think " Curator " would be a more fitting title than " Moderator " for the entertainment section
Was thinking of reading The Brothers Karamazov was a bit worried that it may be a bit heavy for me, have you read it?
It's still on my 'to read' list, I'm afraid. I've read Crime & Punishment and The Idiot and both were very easy reads. However, I've read reviews of The Brothers Karamozov and, like you, think it might be hard work.
I read it in my twenties, along with the rest of his stuff. Didn't seem particularly difficult, although there are long sermons that go on for several pages at a time which perhaps I skimmed over. There is a very clear straight narrative which is entertaining in its own right, so it can quite easily be read as a story without having to furrow the brow on the metaphysical struggles to which Mr D subjects all his readers in most of his work. There is a movie starring William Shatner Yul Brynner and Lee J Cobb which Mr D might have had some issues with....
Just found this Books forum and glad I did. Personally My favorite author is Bernard Cornwell, Historical fictoin and all that. I will give any thing a read, ecept biographies of footballers/celebrities unless they have had some sort of amazing existance. Which very few of them have. FinD Bill Bryson quite inspirational