Several good suggestions in this thread. Looks like next years reading has a great starting point.


Wheels

Finished reading Samurai!, With the Old Breed and Helmet for my Pillow, excellent stuff, really enjoyed them. Still waiting for Helldivers from the US...



Thanks for all the suggestions!

With the Old Breed, one of the best I've had the pleasure of reading this last year.

The Jolly Rogers: The Story of Tom Blackburn and Navy Fighting Squadron VF-17

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Pacifica Press (CA) (March 1997)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0935553193
ISBN-13: 978-0935553192
Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds

Fork-Tailed Devil: The P38 tells a lot of stories about P-38s in the Pacific. It's written by Martin Caidin, so if you like reading Samurai! you might want to check it out.

I'll recommend both "Wahoo: The Patrols of America's Most Famous World War II Submarine"

http://www.amazon.com/Wahoo-Patrols-Amer...2398&sr=1-1

and "Clear The Bridge: The War Patrols of the USS Tang"

http://www.amazon.com/Clear-Bridge-Patro...2529&sr=1-1

Both are written by Richard O'Kane, the highest scoring U.S. submarine commander (# ships sunk)during the war. He was the Executive Officer of Wahoo for 5 patrols (3 of them under legendary Captain Dudely "Mush" Morton) before becoming CO of Tang, so the books are his account of the voyages of those vessels. They're both well paced, well written (there is a fair amount of "sailor speak" to interpret if you're not familiar with it, but there is a glossary that straightens out a lot of it), and enjoyable. I'm reading them for the 2nd time now. Makes you want to play Silent Hunter 4!

Actually I've tried using some of the tactics described in the books while playing SH4 to good effect, that I might not have thought of otherwise. Speaks well of the game then too I suppose.

I've just started reading 'Clear the Bridge' after rereading 'Wahoo' for about the fifth time. O'Kane is a very strong writer, and one who is not afraid of jumping into the details of an attack. First thing I did after starting 'Wahoo' again was reinstalling SH4. Love that game.

Victory at Sea: World War II in the Pacific by James F. Dunnigan and Alfred Nofi. The book is a big overview of the whole Pacific theatre. It's a good starting point to point you towards aspects of the war that might interest you.

Shattered sword is a good read.

Eric Bergerud's "touched by fire"

http://www.amazon.com/Touched-Fire-Land-South-Pacific/dp/0140246967/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_2

Peter Brune's "A #%&*$# of a place" Australians in New Guinea is great. Though I'm an Aussie.

http://www.amazon.com/#%&*$#-Place-The-Australians-Papua/dp/1741144035/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1332063236&sr=1-1

This book on Leyte Gulf is also very good.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Battle-Leyte-G...3452&sr=1-1

Just ordered this one, thanks.

John Toland's 'The Rising Sun' is a must have book if you're going to add the Pacific War to your library