Re: OT Non SF Recommendations..

On Thu, 5 Sep 2024 21:28:53 -0700, Bobbie Sellers
<blissInSanFrancisco@mouse-potato.com> wrote:

On 9/3/24 23:04, Titus G wrote:

On 4/09/24 10:31, William Hyde wrote:
snip

My first day in the US I wanted to eat at a restaurant across the street
from my hotel in Maryland.  As I got to the end of the hotel driveway I
was confronted with nine traffic lights.  I ate at the hotel.  In fact,
I never left the hotel except by cab.

 
My first day in the US late last century was spent in Disneyland. We
decided on a Mexican restaurant close to the hotel in the Disneyland
area. Although the traffic wasn't heavy, the footpaths and surrounds
were filthy, poorly maintained and empty of pedestrians. Despite the
short distance we took a cab back to the hotel and did not attempt to
walk anywhere local again.
 
My favourite reads in recent decades include your recommendation of
Robertson Davies' trilogies and Lawrence Durrell's Alexandria Quartet.
Do you have two or three more to recommend? Thank you.
 

>
Currently, I recommend written and drawn mangam "Showa History of
Japan" in 4 thick volumes.  Showa in case you missed that knowledge is
the name of the period during which the Emperor Hirohito
reigned and is also his Buddhist death name.  Written by a mangaka
Shigero Mizuki who has the qulifications to be called the `Walt Disney
of Japan'. He is also was a man of Showa born about the time Hirohito
ascended to the Imperial Throne. If you have ever wondered why the
Japanese were so stupid as to annoy the USA at Pearl Harbor this
book gives you the reasons. As a comic artist Mizuki used Japanese
folklore and he uses them in the History to explicate matters.

The story of why go to Pearl I have run into in the military history
magazines is that they decided on the Southern Strategy, and that
required neutralizing the American fleet at Pearl. AKAIK, however,
these were all written by Westerners, so something may have been lost
in translation.

When I played the SPI game /U.S.N./, which starts with the attacks
that included Pearl Harbor, I chose to destroy the /port/ rather than
the ships. In the game, this required me to shift the fleet to
American Samoa to preserve the link to Australia. This was a major
pain. Whether that would have happened in real life I have no idea.

I find it quite re-readable and have done so about 5
times by now and may read it again when I have trouble getting
to the San Francisco Public Library Main Branch to find something
new. SFPL has a graphic novel section that includes manga, but
if your PL has a Japanese history section you may find it there
as well. If you do not find it in your library you may make
a request to have it either borrowed or bought.

--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"