I am reading Dongri to Dubai by S. Hussain Zaidi.

Growing up in Mumbai in the 1980s/90s, I remember reading news stories about the Mumbai gang wars.

This book covers that in great detail and as such qualifies as a genuine history book.

And yet, it reads like a potboiler. It is essentially unputdownable.

10/10

  • Yangervis@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    The Winter Fortress by Neil Bascomb. It details a British/Norwegian raid to destroy Nazi Germany’s heavy water plant.

    • KatJen76@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      So much scary shit happened to me when I read that book. It was like HH Holmes’ ghost didn’t want me knowing what he did.

    • LukeSniper@alien.topB
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      1 year ago

      I recently read Thunderstruck, also by Larson, and I found it to be much more tense and exciting. I knew nothing about both stories in that book though. I’d read Harold Schecter’s book on Holmes before I read DitWC, so that was likely a factor.

      But I recommend Thunderstruck either way.

  • uuneter1@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    In Harms Way by Doug Stanton. Only book I’ve read in one sitting. Could not put it down. What those sailors went through…just insane.

  • FunkAMediC@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Erich Maria Remarque - Arch of Triumph

    So good. A German doctor that fled to Paris during the Nazi occupation and works undercover as a surgion. One day he sees the Gestapo officer that killed his wife. A Cat and Mouse scenario begins.

    Also beautifully written, cause Remarque 🙂

  • Knight1errant@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    On a first date, when I walked into the lady’s house I noticed a Tom Wolfe novel on her coffee table. When I asked her what she thought of it she said it was “mind candy”. I’ve never forgotten that phrase.

  • squeakyshoe89@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    I could not put down The Wager. Maybe not a thriller exactly, but the “will they make it?” suspense was brilliant.

  • _Razor787_@alien.topB
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    1 year ago

    Jerusalem: The Biography by Simon Sebag Montefiore.

    I really enjoyed this one. I got turned on to it by a character in a John le Carré novel who was reading it. It’s a page turner. Herod was certainly a mob boss villain of epic proportions.