Thanks to all of our veterans!

Good day bookies! It's wet here in West Tennessee, but with Memorial Day being tomorrow it seems a good time to blog a bit about some forthcoming WW2 books, as well as some loose clutter form my recent unplanned sabbatical.

*** Anthony Beevor is one of the more respected World War II historians working now, otherwise, the news that there is yet another book on D-Day and the liberation of France would pass by without comment. I mean, at some point we get it, right? The Allies invaded France, fought hard to get ashore and eventually overwhelmed the bad guys. How many more details can there be to flesh out yet another book on the subject.

However, I'm not calling foul on this one for two reasons: First, the book I am currently reading is Shattered Sword: The Untold Battle of Midway which I resisted reading for several years because, let's face it, how much more of Midway's story could possibly be untold, right? Well, as it turns out, quite a lot of it. So if it's true for Midway who knows, it might also be true for D-Day.

Second, Beevor is a really fine historian who is not usually content to simply regurgitate what others have written. If he thinks there is a fresh story here to tell then maybe there is. I'll sure give him a chance to show me.

Beevor does D-Day


--- Monday, May 25. Update. Beevor is quoted in British newspapers as saying that Allied bombing of French cities post-D-Day is almost a war crime. What utter rubbish. After reading this nonsense, Beevor comes across as a revisionist clown who is re-writing history because of his own political agenda. Some say he is only doing this to draw attention to the new book, but I can tell you that after reading his comments I have to assume the book is slanted by this crap. Count me out.

*** With tomorrow being Memorial Day, it seems appropriate to mention another new book on World War II, this time the memoir of a US fighter pilot who was shot down and fell into the hands of the SS and found himself at Buchenwald. Unlike places like Auschwitz, Buchenwald not not a death camp per se. It was a work camp, supplying slave labor for German industry, but the difference is only one of degree. Surviving Buchenwald was highly unlikely.

It was not a place captured military personnel were usually sent and Joe Moser found himself there along with other American fliers and barely escaped death. His story is told in the book A Fighter Pilot in Buchenwald, a book aviation buffs would probably enjoy.

Surviving the worst

*** Booksellers have always known that one of the biggest problems in the industry are forged signatures. By and large this doesn't apply to the lesser valued titles, books that sell for less than a couple of hundred dollars, because forging a book to sell it for $50 or so just isn't worth it. That's not to say it can't happen, just that it's rare. Used booksellers in West Tennessee that I know, and who shall remain nameless, are aware that a probable forger has been operating in a southern state for many years now. (Is that vague enough for you? Good. I love writing this blog but lawsuits aren't part of the plan.) I've talked to people who claim they know people who claim they know employees who did the actual forging.

Maybe, maybe not.

Anyway, legitimate dealers are always happy to see forgers charged and convicted, thus the following happy link, wherein a bad guy pays the piper for his crimes.

Bad guy takes the fall for forgeries

*** A sequel to Catcher in the Rye? Yep, it's true. Bet you didn't know that. Of course, it wasn't written by J.D. Salinger but you take what you can get, right? Except John David California's 60 Years Later Coming Through the Rye has caught Salinger's attention and, more importantly, the attention of his lawyers. Can you say lawsuit? This could be interesting, though, because it appears that Mr. California (I get this mental image of a big guy in Speedos, which is not an image I wanted to have) has done his homework in avoiding infringement. This one might be worth following.

Salinger isn't happy, or so we hear

*** I would put this next blogbit under the category of 'There is so much data flow happening that my brain can't pay attention to things I really would like to pay attention to.'

I'm a Sherlock Holmes fan. Not a buff, I don't read every scrap out there written by just anybody, I haven't joined my local chapter of the Giant Rats of Sumatra, but I do really enjoy the character. So, how is it that I didn't know Robert Downey, Jr., was making a new Sherlock Holmes film, one that appears from the trailer to be right up my alley? Just too much to keep up with in a world that is far too joined-at-the-hip. Information overload, indeed.

Sherlock Holmes to the Rescue