Books for Christmas

I think you might like THE DECISIVE DUEL: SPITFIRE Vs 109, a “dual biography” of the two classic Second World War fighter aircraft. It is published by Little, Brown and is available at bookstores throughout the UK and from Amazon.

I wrote this book to appeal to a broad audience (and offer it as an alternative to the necktie for holiday giving) but I believe that even a hard-core enthusiast will learn something new.

David Isby

‘Longitude’ by Dava Sobel

‘Seven Pillars of Wisdom’ by T.E. Lawrence

‘The White Rabbit’ by Bruce Marshall

All non fiction, and all outstanding.

Mods, a complaint. Gratuitous use of the ‘C’ word….

Beachcomber, there’s been some good new releases of late and since you have a large library already I’ll only mention the very new ones as there’s more of a chance you won’t have them.

The new, updated edition of the Brennan/Hesselyn Spitfire Over Malta is rather special (‘editor’ Paul Lovell is a member on here). Andy Bird’s new Coastal Dawn is impressive and a more flowing writing style than A Separate Little War. Along the lines of the Malta Spits book is They Hosed Them Out, the BC classic written by John Beede. This has again been updated with a biography on the author (his full name is on the cover – John Bede Cusack) written by his daughter and the text is now, for the first time, unabridged. It is ‘fiction’ but closely based on his experiences in the bombers.

The Bomber Command Memorial Book is now being sent out to pre-orders. Another recent release this year is Richard Stowers’ latest, Wellingtons Over The Med , which is the story about his father’s time in the desert (Kiwi). Richard puts together a nice book that is always a little bit different. On the Wimpey front, apparently The History Press’ Flying Among Heroes and Fonthill Media’s Unwanted Hero (and certainly FM’s Viking Spitfire) are good but I have not seen them.

All of that, of course, depends on if you’re into WW2 aviation with an RAF/C’th bent. 🙂 That’s the ‘world’ I move in mostly.

Watson’s Bush Pilots Do It In Fours (older book but not super-common, I don’t think) is good if you’re into a bit of African propliner action and Bill Anderson’s A Lifetime In Longhaul is a good compilation of stories from active/almost retired (i.e. older!) QANTAS pilots.

Hope that might help.

Beachcomber

Vulcan 607. If this doesn’t have you on the edge of your chair complete with sweaty palms you’re an alien! ISBN 978-0-552-15229-7. £7.90 Transworld books.

Are we talking aviation only or anything….? Fact or fiction?

I posted this information on the NAM thread http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showpost.php?p=1945855&postcount=168 and some positive feedback about it came in subsequently from another forumite! 😉