NFT: Book recommendation thread: Mobsters vs. Nazis

I've always been interested in WW2 and lately I've been watching several documentaries about the nazi's. I just finished Hitlers inner circle on Netflix. I also watched the Defeated which was show loosely based on true events of Munich right after the end of WW2. I had no idea that the Nakam existed and that they were extremely close to poisoning millions of German civilians.

Speaking of Mobsters --

I recently read a book about the Mob in Monmouth County NJ, called 'Mobsters I Have Known and Loved' by Frances McKee. The book is non-fiction and a lot of the stories in it align with the rumors that were rampant back in the early 60's. If you know Long Branch, Asbury Park and Monmouth Racetrack, you'll recognize all dese guys. It's not quite The Godfather, but it is an entertaining read.

Any resident of the Jersey Shore should give this book a read....I found my copy in the Middletown Public Library.
Mobsters I Have Known and Loved - ( New Window )

Guys the title is actually Gangsters vs Nazis not mobsters. Same idea lol

Just finished reading two books:
Harlem Shuffle a novel by Colson Whitehead
The Last Days of the Dinosaurs by Riley Black

Harlem Shuffle made me laugh a lot and it's a good story. Set in 60's harlem about a slightly bent business owner who gets caught up with some serious crooks.
Last days is good too if you are interested in paleontology or even just like dinosaurs. Not a scholarly work it's accessible to any reader 7th grade or older. It's no "inner Fish" but it's a good read.

And liked it.

Now reading cormic McCarthy’s “blood meridian” which is not a feel good book, to say the least, but it is compelling.

In comment 15716276 Named Later said:

Quote:

Speaking of Mobsters -- I recently read a book about the Mob in Monmouth County NJ, called 'Mobsters I Have Known and Loved' by Frances McKee. The book is non-fiction and a lot of the stories in it align with the rumors that were rampant back in the early 60's. If you know Long Branch, Asbury Park and Monmouth Racetrack, you'll recognize all dese guys. It's not quite The Godfather, but it is an entertaining read. Any resident of the Jersey Shore should give this book a read....I found my copy in the Middletown Public Library. Mobsters I Have Known and Loved - ( New Window )

Thanks. This is a must-read for me this summer...

In comment 15716315 djm said:

Quote:

And liked it. Now reading cormic McCarthy’s “blood meridian” which is not a feel good book, to say the least, but it is compelling.

LOL no not a feel good book. But I've gone back and reread it twice more.

If the names Vito Genovese or Pussy Russo rig a bell....you'll find this book very interesting.

In comment 15716379 Named Later said:

Quote:

If the names Vito Genovese or Pussy Russo rig a bell....you'll find this book very interesting.

Little Pussy Russo....I remember when he got whacked. I was in HS and my best friends mother worked at the place where it happened in Long Branch. Gonna check this book out for sure.

If you liked Harlem Shuffle you might also enjoy James McBride's Deacon King Kong set in Red Hook Brooklyn housing project in 1969. He's a terrific writer and his characters are all memorable and the story is wonderful.

And McCarthy, who hasn't published a book since The Road in 2006, has two new novels coming out later this year at the age of 88.

A few worthwhile novels (I pretty much only read fiction) that I can recommend are:

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, set in Chechnya during the two wars Russia fought there in the 1990's. But not for the faint of heart with as it depicts the brutality of those wars in graphic detail.

Also not for the faint of heart is Richard Flanagan's Narrow Road to the Far North which won the Man Booker Prize in 2014. It's about an Australian doctor fighting the Japanese in WWII who is captured and imprisoned as a POW and the brutal conditions he and his fellow POW's endure, and how their experience as POW's affects them in later life.

I would also recommend Karl Marlantes' two novels - Matterhorn set during the Vietnam War about a Marine company and their efforts to take and hold a hill, and Deep River, a multi-generational family saga about Finnish logging communities in the Pacific Northwest.

On the (slightly) lighter side is the Irish author Kevin Barry's Night Boat to Tangier. His City of Bohane was also a good read. It's set in the future but it reads more like a somewhat surreal Western. Sounds strange but it works. Sebastian Barry is another excellent Irish writer. But there are just too many exceptional Irish writers to name them all here.

Another of my faves is Little Big Man by Thomas Berger. It is funny and wise but somehow manages to offer interesting insights about identity. The movie with Dustin Hoffman from the early '70's was excellent, but the book is even better.

Lastly, Mick Herron's Slough House series of British spy books are fast-paced and hilariously funny. Slough House is a building in London where MI5 sends agents who screw up and then are exiled to do boring scut work. They are called Slow Horses, and are led by Jackson Lamb, one of the the most memorable characters I have ever encountered. But even though they are not supposed to be assigned any operational missions, they somehow manage constantly to keep getting involved in them where they generally outshine the MI5 regulars. I would recommend reading them in their order of publication, starting with the first, Slow Horses.

Too many books, too little time!!!

If you liked Harlem Shuffle you might also enjoy James McBride's Deacon King Kong set in Red Hook Brooklyn housing project in 1969. He's a terrific writer and his characters are all memorable and the story is wonderful.

And McCarthy, who hasn't published a book since The Road in 2006, has two new novels coming out later this year at the age of 88.

A few worthwhile novels (I pretty much only read fiction) that I can recommend are:

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra, set in Chechnya during the two wars Russia fought there in the 1990's. But not for the faint of heart with as it depicts the brutality of those wars in graphic detail.

Also not for the faint of heart is Richard Flanagan's Narrow Road to the Far North which won the Man Booker Prize in 2014. It's about an Australian doctor fighting the Japanese in WWII who is captured and imprisoned as a POW and the brutal conditions he and his fellow POW's endure, and how their experience as POW's affects them in later life.

I would also recommend Karl Marlantes' two novels - Matterhorn set during the Vietnam War about a Marine company and their efforts to take and hold a hill, and Deep River, a multi-generational family saga about Finnish logging communities in the Pacific Northwest.

On the (slightly) lighter side is the Irish author Kevin Barry's Night Boat to Tangier. His City of Bohane was also a good read. It's set in the future but it reads more like a somewhat surreal Western. Sounds strange but it works. Sebastian Barry is another excellent Irish writer. But there are just too many exceptional Irish writers to name them all here.

Another of my faves is Little Big Man by Thomas Berger. It is funny and wise but somehow manages to offer interesting insights about identity. The movie with Dustin Hoffman from the early '70's was excellent, but the book is even better.

Lastly, Mick Herron's Slough House series of British spy books are fast-paced and hilariously funny. Slough House is a building in London where MI5 sends agents who screw up and then are exiled to do boring scut work. They are called Slow Horses, and are led by Jackson Lamb, one of the the most memorable characters I have ever encountered. But even though they are not supposed to be assigned any operational missions, they somehow manage constantly to keep getting involved in them where they generally outshine the MI5 regulars. I would recommend reading them in their order of publication, starting with the first, Slow Horses.

Too many books, too little time!!!

Sorry for the dupe post.

Damascus Station by David McCloskey, who worked for the CIA for several years at headquarters and in the field. The novel is filled with trade craft and is on a par with the Red Sparrow trilogy as one of the best espionage novels I have read. It is absolutely one of those novels you can not put down.