Granted, the second volume is usually more expensive but I believe it is still worth the additional cost.

I think most people agree that O'Brian was much the better storyteller. That said, I never liked his books much because I felt they were long on adventure, which is good for most people, but short on history. Forrester's books felt to me like they were detailing an actual career of the time. C. Norcote Parkinson was so affected that he wrote a 'biography' of Hornblower, complete with 'official' portraits of Hornblower and his wife.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Life-Times.../dp/0750921099

Since I much prefer history to adventure stories (funny, since I love Edgar Rice Burroughs) I prefer Hornblower. For a different opinion ask Onkel Neal. :sunny:

Now G.T.M. Kelshall´s "The U-Boat War in the Caribbean". Love this book!:sunny:

My copy of British Battleships: Warrior (1860) to Vanguard (1950), by Oscar Parkes arrived yesterday. Seven hundred pages, huge amounts of detail with a wealth of photos and drawings. It's an old battered copy and set me back $120, but it was worth it. A 'like new' copy costs over a thousand. It's mostly for reference, but I keep pulling it back out and looking through it just for fun. :D

That sounds like one hell of a read Steve and I must admit I am tempted:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Batt.../dp/1557500754

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-searc...rkes/sortby/3/

£135 here:

http://www.puddletownbookshop.co.uk/...oduct_id=18176

stalingrad By Antony Beevor.

Third the way in now and so far a good read.

The pair of Clay Blair's books on Ebay, going for just £6.50, one hour left. If anyone is interested.

Might have been about six years ago :)

It was due to finish at 9:21 pm. In the end they went for £17.17 inc P&P.

Finished The Starvation Blockades: Naval Blockades of World War 1 by Nigel Hawkins.

This well written book covers the surface blockades by the RN, the Otranto Barrage and the attempts at enacting an undersea blockade of the Entente powers by Germany's U-Boat force. Hawkins demonstrates how successive (mostly British) violations of international law regarding blockades and contraband helped escalate the naval war to the German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare, first in 1915 and again in 1917.

Excellent and enlightening work for anybody interested in the Great War at sea.

A lot cheaper than I paid about six years ago...volume two is usually the dearest.

102 Minutes by J.Dwyer and K.Flynn about 9/11 and WTC towers.
The Glass Room by S.Mawer. A great story which I started reading last year as it was a part of the Booker Prize Winners course.

U-88 Das Kriegstagebuch. Very interesting book.

Die Deutsche Kriegsmarine Vol 2, Light Warships by Ulrich Elfrath

Mock me if you will, but I just finished the Harry Potter series a couple of weeks ago. :O:

Finished "Taught to Kill: An American Boy's War from the Ardennes to Berlin" by John Babcock.

Started "Panzer Grenadier Aces: German Mechanized Infantrymen in WWII" by Franz Kurowski.

:)

The latter is a particular good read :cool:

Finished Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy by Diana Preston.

If you only intend to read one book about the sinking of RMS Lusitania, avoid this one like the plague.

I just started Red Storm Rising about a week ago. :D

But.....Its my last Clancy until the new one comes out. Ive read all the other ones. :shifty:

Ive also read his "Panzer Aces II" and "Infantry Aces". Both are good reads although a little uneven at times.

I still have "Panzer Aces" to read as well.

:)

U-Boat attack logs, really wonderful book.