My library just grew again 2017

[Mossie]

A Civilian Affair: A Brief History of the Civilian Aircraft Company of Hedon, by Eduard F. Winkler.

An account of the Civilian Coupe, a very promising aircraft for its time, built in my home town.  Great things were expected of it, but only five were built, mostly due to the effects of the great depression.  One still survives at Biggin Hill by sheer luck, the original owner kept it in his loft for 40 years!

Surviving aircraft, G-ABNT 'Bunty':
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Untitled/Civilian-Coupe-II/1828928

[The Wooksta!]

Fighting Colours 1937 - 1975 by Micheal J.F. Bowyer

The section on Malta is the most intriguing, specifically the Mosquito NF.IIs of 23 Sqn that were sent out in December '42 (of the first six, one ditched just short of Gibraltar).  Bowyer has these in desert colours with Black undersurfaces, presumably with dull red codes, but all the info I've seen elsewhere - including one colour photo - has them in the standard nightfighter colours.  He does give me serial/squadron code tie ups for four aircraft, although one DZ230/YP-A I already had (I have the decals somewhere). For these snippets alone, the book was well worth the few quid I spent.

[Gondor]

Received today Warpaint Series No. 103 Avro Manchester

Gondor

[jcf]

From Articles of War, 75% off all their Biblio listings:
AIRCRAFT OF THE RAAF 1921-1971 - Jubilee edition / Pentland, Geoffrey & Peter Malone
Kookaburra Press, Melbourne, 1971

ROLLS-ROYCE AERO ENGINES / Gunston, Bill
Patrick Stephens Ltd, Somerset, 1989.

For the princely sum of $29 including shipping.

https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/articles-of-war-ltd-silver-city

[PR19_Kit]

A friend I knew slightly has just died, and his executors have said that he'd have wanted me to have many of his transport books, so I have two piles of books sitting on the end of my bed, each one of around a dozen copies! 

Four of them are the Janes Aircraft and Ships of WWI and WWII, they're going to take a while to get through for sure!

[The Wooksta!]

Not books but a new bookcase.  I say new - new to me.  £4 in a charity shop - I gave the woman a fiver - and one of the feet is missing.  Not an issue as I'll take the other three off because it'll sit atop another waist height bookcase.

[jcf]

[Spey_Phantom]

im expecting to get my copy of "British Secret Projects: Vol.1" in the mail today 

[zenrat]

Looks interesting Jon.  I did a google images on Syd Mead and I love his work.

[jcf]

BTW the vehicle ilustration at the top of the cover is an early concept for the dropship
from Aliens.

[Thorvic]

A new copy of Janes Fighting Ships 2016-17, a very expensive book bought at a more reasonable price (but still expensive to most) due to the new edition being published in August.

A bit self indulgent but a very nice addition to the reference library.

[zenrat]

Finished reading The Martian.
Excellent.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.  Better than the movie because it went into more detail, included stuff i'm sure they left out because they thought they would lose the audiences attention, and it took more than 2 1/2 hours to read thus prolonging the pleasure.

Now reading Fairey Rotodyne by David Gibbings and received Infinity Engine by Neal Asher today hot off the presses.

[PR19_Kit]

Finished reading The Martian.
Excellent.  Thoroughly enjoyed it.  Better than the movie because it went into more detail, included stuff i'm sure they left out because they thought they would lose the audiences attention, and it took more than 2 1/2 hours to read thus prolonging the pleasure.

I'm with you 100% there, I've re-read my copy twice now.

[jcf]

I enjoyed both, different mediums so different decisions need to be made when telling
the story. I think the conclusion was better in the film, as the somersault of his rover
right within sight of escape was a silly bit of stringing out the story, there were so many
mishaps and near-death situations throughout the book, that adding in another at that
point was gilding the lily. The book is enjoyable, however it definitely could have used
an editor.

I've never been able to re-read pop-fiction of this sort, even years later I'll get a couple
of pages in and the whole thing comes back, so no point in going on. Conrad and Lovecraft
are the only two I can re-read on a regular basis, the former because I find new nuances each
time. The latter because I enjoy the  craziness of his writing style, plus many of the texts have
been restored to as close to as written versus as published as possible, which means that some
are surprisingly different as the restoration of excised sentences, paragraphs, and even pages,
alters the perceived meaning of preceding and following passages, adds details, and improves
understanding. Yeah, I'm a Lovecraft geek, and have been for over forty years. 

[zenrat]

I read fast and don't retain detail well so if a books good I can re-read it and get almost as much pleasure as I did the first time.
The ones I really like I go back to again and again.  Catch 22 and Starship Troopers being examples.