What Book Are You Currently Reading?

[Rob Bloom]

Just finished Antony Beevor's Ardennes 1944.

It is basically a sequel to D-Day by the same author, giving an overview of the operations on the western front between August and December 1944 (Antwerp/Scheldt, Market Garden, Battle of Huertgenwald), but of course focusing on the events in the Ardennes from December 16th to 25th, with one chapter for each day.

As it turns out, the battle, Hitler's last big attack, was one hell of a quagmire. Both sides fought very grimly in bad weather conditions. Also there was a lot of bickering going on in the Allied headquarters, especially between Montgomery and Bradley.

Beevor has gone deeply into the archives to present the whole picture but at some point the reader might feel overwhelmed.

[Rob Bloom]

The Circus Fire by Stewart O'Nan.
An incredibly detailed and gripping account of the disaster that occured in Hartford, Connecticut in July 1944, leaving 167 people, among them 60 children, dead.