Sometimes I read books

Sometimes these books are good, and sometimes I stop reading these books when I am five pages in (I'm the kind of guy who needs a hook early on to keep reading, a kind of "hooker" if you will). Recently, I've had a fantastic string of luck with good books and I'd like to keep it going as long I possibly can. First, Conn Iggulden's Wolf of the Plains and then the sequel Lords of the Bow, both excellent books that are mostly about Genghis Khan having a tragic childhood, and killing a mathematically indecent amount of Chinese people, respectively. After that, I read Steven Erikson's novel Gardens of the Moon and now I can't remember how it ended. For some people, this would be a negative trait of their reading experience, but I find it nice, because I like to read books more than once and if I can get about halfway without remembering how it ends, that's even better. I'm a little worried that this forgetfulness means that I have extremely early-onset alzheimer's disease though. If this is the case, I need to start reading good books at an accelerated rate because soon I'll be reading the third chapter and wondering what happened in the first, and by the time I reach chapter five I'll find myself reading a copy of Woman's World and deciding that the book has taken a definite turn for the better.

Anyhow, I've hit a cold spot in the good book stream that I'm postponing by reading Tom Clancy's Patriot Games. In an act of desperation, I appealed to the classics (which I have a slowly growing reserve of, and that only get read when I have nothing else) and found a copy of Robert Fitzgerald's translation of The Iliad that I got at Value Village for 99 cents. It feels just dandy to go to a second-hand store and find books like Don Quixote for a toonie (that happened). Now, I haven't started reading this particular translation of The Iliad, but as I said before, I've already been hooked from reading the first page before I bought it. I wish I could be more eloquent about this, but here it is: Robert Fitzgerald spells Greek names like a man. Achilles is spelled Akhilleus, and Achaeans is spelled Akaeans. Basically, Fitzgerald is liberal with the letter "K" and that's OK (get it) with me.

The Pacific

World War II was a dirty, ugly, and absolutely miserable six years of combat, no matter what battle, country or theater of operations you look at. This becomes especially apparent when looking at events like the battle of Stalingrad in 1942, where the Russians intentionally shot their own soldiers when they tried to retreat because of Joseph Stalin's declaration of "Not one step back", or the Battle of the Bulge in the dead of winter, 1945 where the 101st Airborne were ordered to hold a line against almost impossible odds with little ammunition and no winter clothing. We're taught about the European aspect of the Second World War in history class, and it's used as a point of great reverence in our culture.

While the war in Europe should absolutely be remembered with the utmost reverence and the memory of those men held up with great vigilance, there's another aspect to the war that I find is very much overlooked culturally, and it's a mistake to overlook it. The "aspect" I'm referring to is the war in the Pacific. In our culture there is a shocking lack of knowledge (and therefore, respect) to the men who fought tooth and nail on tiny jungle islands in 110-115 degree heat (that's low-to-mid 40s Celsius). Really, the only thing most people know about the Pacific war was that it occasioned the first (and only) atomic bombs ever dropped in combat.

To this end, and since I know that history books are pretty dry, I'm recommending an HBO miniseries aptly named "The Pacific" that focuses on the experiences of three US Marines, Robert Leckie, Eugene Sledge, and John Basilone. All three of these men were actual, real-life marines who served during the war, and the miniseries is based off of the memoirs "A Helmet for my Pillow" by Robert Leckie, "With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa" by Eugene Sledge, and the close military records kept on Medal of Honor winner John Basilone. From exhaustive research into these memoirs and records, as well as collaboration with men who fought alongside the three main characters, Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg create a mercilessly authentic look at the Pacific war and how it affected the men who fought in it. I also highly recommend the film "Letters From Iwo Jima" which tells the story of one of the most pivotal battles in the pacific war from the Japanese perspective, a mindset and attitude that is integral to understand.