Compulsively Aimless

One of the joys of browsing in bookshops is that you discover interests you didn't know you had.  I didn't know I had an interest in Southeast Asia until I saw a clump of books in a used bookshop in Seattle.  It sparked an interest and I went on a brief book buying binge with the following results. 1.  Chasing the Dragon: Into the Heart of the Golden Triangle, Christopher Cox (1996).     Cox traveled to the shadowy zone where Burma, Thailand and Laos meet.  An area of drug smuggling, tribes and jungle, Cox reports on a region where few Americans have ventured.  Bought new. 2.  The Forgotten Kingdom, John Murray (1957).   A rare and revealing account of of a largely forgotten kingdom.  Murray's book draws on the life of  a Russian-born Depot Master in the Tibetan province of Nakhi--on the border of China and Tibet.  Great black and white photos showing village markets and the arduous trail on the way to Nakhi.  Bo...

1.  Guadalcanal Diary, Richard Tregaskis (1943).   War correspondent Tregaskis was the original embedded journalist who wrote this classic WWII account of the Marines fighting in the South Pacific.  Written in a series of journal entries.  Black and white photos.  Bought used, no recollection where.   2.  Invasion Diary, Richard Tregaskis (1944).  Tregaskis's follow up to Guadalcanal Diary, Invasion Diary follows the American landings in Italy in 1943.  Black and white photos.  Judging by the map in the book, I may have bought at a used book store on Beaver Island, Michigan.  Once owned by gentleman who lived on Harvard Street, Norfolk, VA.     3.  The Forgotten Soldier: The Classic WWII Autobiography, Guy Sajer (1990). Told  from the perspective of a German soldiers on the Russian front.  Bought from the Department of State used book store.   4.  Soldat: Reflections of German S...

I am endlessly intrigued by the soldiers who survived the horrors of war.  Admiration for those who can tell their stories of what they saw to the rest of us.  Most are regular guys plucked from small towns and sent into circumstances beyond their imaginations.  So many go in as idealists and come out changed.  One of my larger bookshelf collections.  I have had the rare luxury to live in an age where I not to have to be drafted to fight.   Here it is in two parts: 1.  And No Birds Sang, Farley Mowat (1980).     Mowat is best known for his writings about the Canadian arctic, was a soldier in the Canadian Army who was an eye witness to the horrific, bloody battles in Italy.  Bought used and don't know where.   2.  Goodbye to All That, Robert Graves (1929).    WWI to me is perhaps one of the most senseless tragedies.  Graves wrote what may be the quintessential English memoir of WWI entering as a patrioti...