Brian English

Great Sea Adventure

Revisado: 11-14-18

The first Reeman I've read, and I'm eager to read more. Fascinating look at the war in the small Motor Torpedo Boats in the early stages of WW2. Can't wait to get through the rest or Reeman's books -- his reputation is well deserved. #UnlikelyHero #ComingOfAge #Gritty #Violent #WorldWarII #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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Too Many Tangents into General WWII history

Revisado: 11-05-18

Steve Snyder has an intriguing story to tell about his father's service in the 8th Air Force during World War II. I just don't think that Steve should've been the one telling it. The story needed a more seasoned writer.

This is a fascinating story tackled by a first-time author, and the result is a bit of a hash: there's first person accounts, sidelines into the back stories of minor players, and a lot of needless, top-line WWII history. It's as if Snyder doesn't realize that anyone interested in reading his book would already know basic facts about the war.

Really wish that Snyder had spent more time on personal stories from his dad, and Snyder's own observations about what his father was like after the war. I'd love to have known more about the families of his crew. Snyder hints that the families of the crew were drawn together by their shared experiences, but only provides a few sentences. Instead, pages are spent of the family stories of resistance fighters, other airmen from the same bomb group, even German pilots.

It's as thought Snyder felt like he didn't have enough of a story to tell about the primary subject of the book, and that he needed to somehow pad the story. It's a shame. I wish this had been a more personal story instead of a mere recitation of the facts. Snyder had the opportunity to write a much more interesting book.

The book is decent, but if you've read a lot of 8th Air Force books, much of this will seem like a re-hash. There is some interesting stuff here, but I wanted a closer examination of one bomber crew. But Snyder makes the story too broad.

#UnlikelyHero #Inspiring #Suspenseful #WorldWarII #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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Still relevant all these years later

Revisado: 08-06-18

Took me forever to get around to finally reading FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. I worried that it might seem dated so many years after its original publication. After all, the events in the book take place pre-Internet. Would the high school seem like a throwback? Would the story still seem relevant?

The answer is "yes" and "yes."

The book really is a classic, and no matter when you've played, coached, or watched high school football, many of the players and emotions will be recognizable. The immediacy and emotion of the story have not faded with time. Bissinger's writing is terrific and evocative.

A 25th anniversary addenda brings the reader up to speed on what some of the key people in the book are up to now that they've reached middle age.

If you love sports, don't wait to read this one. I regret it took me so long to finally enjoy it.

#ComingOfAge #Inspiring #Nostalgic #Texas #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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Why all the praise?

Revisado: 07-12-18

This book was probably just not for me. It's absurd to compare to Stephen King's stuff - unless you're talking about King's awful DREAMCATCHER novel. There's a lot of gross out stuff that, quite frankly, quickly becomes boring and repetitive rather than scary.

The more we learn about the source of the horror, the sillier it seems. And there are plenty of long, expository portions that go into lots of detail about the experiment that's gone awry.

The book is well written, but the author constantly had his 14-year-old characters speaking in pop culture references that expired years before they would even have been born: Weebles toys, Deal-a-Meal cards, The Bobsy Twins ... not one reference to smartphone apps, memes, etc. Cutter obviously has spent no time around any modern teenagers and didn't bother to do any research. His teens spoke like 45-year-olds, and that was really distracting.

#ComingOfAge #Scary #Violent #Gritty #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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It's no Bernie Gunther Mystery ...

Revisado: 01-28-18

As a fan of Kerr's Bernie Gunther books, I was excited to read Kutscher series set in the waning days of the Weimar Republic. But what a disappointment.

Sadly, I think a lot of the problems stem from the fact that this book is translated. But I found the language clunky and and the story difficult to follow. There are a lot of characters, few with any real personality.

I fought my way through BABYLON BERLIN, and then even gave SILENT DEATH a shot because I so wanted to give the series a chance. But about four hours in to SILENT DEATH, I realized what the problem in both of these books really is: both books are almost utterly devoid of atmosphere. There's a smattering of history in BABYLON, but in DEATH there's very little to let you know that you are reading a book set in 1930s Germany; instead, it's just a boring police procedural.

I write this review mere days away from the Netflix premier of the BABYLON BERLIN TV series, which has been widely acclaimed. I have a feeling that this may be one of those rare cases when the TV show is actually better than the book.

#UnlikelyHero #Gritty #Dark #WeimarGermany #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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Strains credulity

Revisado: 06-19-17

Wow, I saw all the reviews about how this book came off as incredibly far fetched, and I tried it anyway. Big mistake. It sounded plausible until Roberts tells the story of his "service" in Vietnam (there's no evidence that he served in any branch of the military, by the way). Yikes, what a load of nonsense. Roberts describes a B-movie slasher film version of the Vietnam experience that's at odds with any veterans memoir I've ever read. Tales of how he skinned prisoners alive "all the time" and then was recruited to do some kind of secret parachute mission behind enemy lines. And on top of that, he constantly refers to his time there as when he was "in the woods" -- not "the jungle." The woods? It just sounds goofy, like a drunk guy at the bar telling you how he was Rambo back in the day.

After that, the stories continue to get more and more outlandish. I just couldn't stick around to see just how whacky they got.

Bums me out because it makes me feel like the Cocaine Cowboys documentary was a lot of made up nonsense. This guy is the epitome of the unreliable narrator. I think a lot of this book is fiction.

Kudos to Wright for at least being forthright that he tried to verify a lot of these tall tales, but you can tell that they came at him so thick and fast that he couldn't keep up with them. After a while, the poor author just must've rolled his eyes, nodded and just kept taking notes.

There's no doubt that Roberts is a bad dude. But most of this story sounds like bunk.

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Not really "Band of Brothers" for the AWI

Revisado: 05-05-16

What made the experience of listening to Washington's Immortals the most enjoyable?
The book is a great general overview of the military aspects American War for Independence. I know it's being called a "Band of Brothers" for the Revolution, but it's really not. There's a fair scattering of information about Maryland soldiers, but at the end of the day you don't really get a sense of them all being together as a cohesive unit. It's more like, "Hey, this was the Revolution and here were the battles. There were Maryland troops here. And here. And here." Many of the battles described didn't have any Maryland troops in them. Still a good book.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?
Left out the Maryland part. It wasn't that compelling and didn't really tie together as advertised. As a narrative of the war, it was pretty good. But there are surely better books out there about Maryland soldiers in the AWI.

#UnlikelyHero #Inspiring #AmericanRevolution #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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Why a female narrator?

Revisado: 05-05-16

What did you love best about Zinky Boys?
It's a deeply moving, grunt's eye view of the Soviet-Afghan conflict.

What other book might you compare Zinky Boys to and why?
Reminded me very much at times of WAR by Sebastian Younger, but it's all first-person accounts.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Christine Marshall?
Absolutely. In fact, my only complaint with this book is that they chose a female narrator. The bulk of these accounts are from Soviet soldiers. This book desperately needed a male narrator. I was able to get past the performance, but a male narrator would have vastly improved the final product.

#UnlikelyHero #Violent #Gritty #SovietAfghanWar #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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Great concept, terrible novel, awful narrator

Revisado: 01-19-15

What disappointed you about The Last Policeman?
The lead character's constant declarations of "holy moly." Brutal.

And the narrator was whiny and annoying, which made the bad book even worse.

What do you think your next listen will be?
Certainly not the sequel to this book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?
Whiny delivery that made the lead character seem like a simp.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Last Policeman?
I would've tried to make the characters more realistic instead of goofy cartoons. This was just a bad book all around.

Any additional comments?
This book fails as a both mystery novel and a sci fi novel. It's so below average. The poor narration is just the final nail.

#OnTheRoad #Depressing #Witty #TorturedHero #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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Just doesn't work as an abridged book.

Revisado: 12-15-13

What did you like best about Flashman on the March? What did you like least?
While this is not anywhere near my favorite narrator of the Flashman series, he does a serviceable job. But what kills this audiobook is the fact that it's abridged. The Flashman series relies on historical detail and plot twists -- the abridged version simply skims the important points of action. You lose so much of the period flavor and historical feel of the complete books. GMF is a talent writer who is an utter joy to read; if you want to abridge something, abridge those awful lawyer books by hacks like John Grisham. Leave the good books alone.

#UnlikelyHero #Funny #Satire #Colonial #Africa #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

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