Books! Glorious Books!

I have always loved books. Not just reading them, but as objects in themselves. Magazines too. Maybe even more so. But this post is about books.

My love of books and reading eventually led me to getting my Master of Science in Library Science. And working in the library industry. And getting "Book Nerd" tattooed on my knuckles.  

As much as I love books, I try not to hold on to too many of them, for a variety of reasons. 

I give my books to friends who might find them interesting, donate them to the library for sale, or, like many book addicts, I sell them and buy more books with the proceeds. Several of these were acquired in just that way.

In any case, here's what I'm currently reading, recently read, and acquired mostly recently.

Current reading:

As the cover curl hence the thumb to hold it down) attests, I have been reading A History of the Great War off and on for a few months. Each chapter, while related to those before and after, stands alone for the most part. It's a long book - I'm on page 390 and there's 200 pages or so, not including the appendices - so I read other books as well between chapters.

Recently read:

For example, Pellucidar.

This is the second book in the series, and the events follow after At the Earth's Core.

This is the 1st ed. cover. Not the one I have!

Both books are quite fun reads, but this one offers a number of wargame scenario possibilities from man-to-man with a handful of figures per side (or a handful of figures vs a single prehistoric creature) on up, even "naval" (a stretch maybe to call it that).

As a setting it's near perfect - never mind the physics impossibilities - you have monsters (mostly per-historic types), a variety of human tribes/nations, non-human peoples, etc. with limited technology (at least initially). 

There's an hint of optimism about the goodness of "modern" civilization common to the era it was written, but Burroughs tempers it. That bit is a little preachy, even as I agree with the message, but it's maybe a page or two total, so I excused the heavy-handedness (I love reading Burroughs but a great author of Western literature he probably is not). 

I don't think this is a dearly held axe to grind, but I imagine it's the inevitable reaction of a human being to the massive slaughter taking place on the killing fields of WWI which had begun less than a year prior to the original publication of Pellucidar. 

https://peginc.com/product-category/tour-of-darkness/

I haven't read Tour of Darkness in its entirety, but that's not why I bought it.

Although written for Savage Worlds, I bought it for scenario/encounter ideas for Fall of Delta Green. At $9 USD on Abe Books, I couldn't help myself.

Admittedly, I skipped reading the Savage Worlds-specific stuff because I won't be using it.

This book has a decent summary of the history of the war in Vietnam, a history of its version of "Weird Vietnam War", specific traits for Savage Worlds, a decent sized list of weapons and equipment (Fall of Delta Green has more though), some random scenario tables and such that are always useful, and a mini campaign, which can be ported to your preferred system if desired.

Savage Worlds explicitly supports a wargaming mode of play on the tabletop - a true skirmish game, unlike playing D&D with miniatures. Indeed, the setting for Tour of Darkness is explicitly military personnel in country (compare to Fall of Delta Green which covers the world in the 1960s, not just Vietnam), which basically cries out for a wargaming treatment, and the supplied campaign assumes a mix of RPG sessions and wargaming sessions.

Recently acquired (as recently as two days ago) but not yet read:

More Burroughs.

And yet more Burroughs.

I will buy any paperback Burroughs I find at the used bookstore. Especially if it has an awesome cover. They may not be the greatest things ever written, but I find them consistently entertaining and fuel for both RPGs and wargames.

Acquired for Fall of Delta Green background. My best friend suggested this to me months ago and I had added it to my shopping list, but never pulled the trigger.When I saw it suggested also in Fall of Delta Green, it reminded me it was on my list and I picked it up (used copy, of course).

I know embarrassingly little about the SCW. Alex, at Up the Blue! made it easy to pick a place to dive in. As soon as I saw this cover, I knew I was buying it - I have a thing for older looking paperbacks.

Roger of The Hobby Blog for Model railways, Wargaming and Military modelling suggested this one. Found for a steal on Abe Books. I have my eye out for some Lego-style British paras (Germans of all sorts are easy to get)