Hi LamSon
If you notify me the title of your French book about Dien Bien Phu,may be I can help you to translate the captions.
I have also a lot of French books who are not yet in my LT library; if I don't have your book, I'll find it probably here in Belgium.
Kind regards

posted by GEOCO at 3:53 am (EST) on Jul 26, 2008

Hi LamSon,
I've added your library to the interesting libraries because you have nearly an exhaustive bibliography about the Vietnam War. Even if some titles are hard to find in Belgium were I live I'll try to follow you.

Best regards
GeoCo

PS I am French speaking and I hope you will forgive my grammatical and orthographical errors.

posted by GEOCO at 3:25 pm (EST) on Jul 25, 2008

Thanks. I have never heard of Keith Nolan before. The only book by him in our local library is Death Valley, and I may read it. I see you have the book. What did you think of it? Nolan's politics is not mine, and I am wondering if that shows much in his books? Don't get me wrong--I supported the Vietanm war till 1968 and was never a wild-eyed dove. But I wouldn't in my old age be much interested in reading a far-right rant.

posted by Schmerguls at 7:59 am (EST) on Apr 12, 2008

Thanks for answering. I have been thinking of reading A Bright Shining Lie for ages, and with your suggestion I now probably finally will. I read Laurence's book. Here is my comment thereon:

3632. The Cat From Hue: A Vietnam War Story by John Laurence (28 Sept) This book appears a bit daunting (850 pages) and is a TV journalist's account of his time in Vietnam, including his finding of a cat who is quite a cat, though one suspects that Laurence exaggerates his behavior, as most cat owners do when talking of their cat. While Laurence came to oppose the war, this is only inferentially an antiwar book. It is ultimately a unique and
powerful tour de force and well worth reading by anyone who wants a different perspective from that given by other books, though I still think the most powerful book on Vietnam I have read is We Were Soldiers Once...And Young, by Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway (read 4 May 1999).

How about Vietnam fiction? Have you read:

3289. Word of Honor, by Nelson DeMille (read Jan 29, 2000) This is only the third DeMille book I've read (the others were By the Waters of Babylon and Cathedral) and this is a better book than were those, tho I do not deny those are exciting books. I found this book's story engrossing, and I was amazed at how my attitude toward the central character, Ben Tyson, changed as the book progressed--which of course was the author's intention. Especially the last part of this book was riveting and emotionally overpowering, I thought.

It is a Vietnam story.

posted by Schmerguls at 7:14 am (EST) on Apr 9, 2008

In view of your interest in Vietnam, I am wondering if you have a book which you feel one so interested should read? Each year I pick a "book of the year" and in 1999 my pick was:

We Were Soldiers Once...And Young Ia Drang: The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam, by Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore, U.S.A. (Ret.) and Joseph L. Galloway (read 4 May 1999) (Book of the Year)

This was out of 142 books I read that year.

posted by Schmerguls at 8:47 am (EST) on Apr 8, 2008

I used to have even more, but my wife and I have moved four times in the past six years, and I had to get rid of a bunch of books. My fascination with Vietnam was strong enough 20 years ago that I played hooky from work to attend the Westmoreland libel suit in Manhattan.

posted by languagehat at 8:17 pm (EST) on Apr 4, 2008

Hello!

Thanks for the quick response!

Goodness! You have a Vietnam "room" in your library? Oh, my. Well, I suppose with over 9,000 books thus catalogued, that would take up quite a bit of space. At a mere 300 books, I suppose I've only gotten through about 1/3 (more or less) of my collection. I've never counted them, so it's hard to say.

As for not being a veteran, I think we are probably near the same age (early 50's for myself). I lost my brother when I was 14. He was WO1 Gregory Stephen Crandall, 2/17th Cav, 101st Airborne. A quick google search revealed some interesting hits, like he is listed in a book entitled, "Wacky Laws, Weird Decisions, and Strange Statutes." Not something I had expected. There are, of course, the more expected hits linked to the Arlington cemetary and several POW/MIA sites. The sister most often quoted is not me.

I find it interesting that we have both had connections of one sort or another to the Lao people. While I may have lost my brother in Laos, as you likely well know through your own research, during the incursion into Laos, we were not officially there, so my family had no clue that we'd lost him in Laos. Rather, I thought we'd lost him (as did everyone else) in Vietnam. Thus, when a boy in one of my classes was an exchange student from Laos, it did not occur to me that I should harbor him any ill will (not that I would have--I tend to take people on an individual basis rather than collectively as a group). I don't remember his name, but recall he was very nice. How sad for the Lao people that the governments concerned felt they needed to be "re-educated." It must take a terrible toll on the psyche.

It would seem that commonalities in our respective libraries is climbing. As I write this, we are at 64 and I've not yet entered any of my Vietnam books (especially the tome by Stanley Karnow). Thus far, it would appear we share a good many of the Time/Life collections of books. I expect that before I am done, we will have a good deal more in common, though I don't expect my library shall ever be as large as yours.

Warmly,
PuddyRat (I take my pseudonym from my cat who has, sadly, passed on)

posted by PuddyRat at 1:21 pm (EST) on Mar 16, 2008

I can't help but wonder if your moniker (LamSon) on this website is a reference to LamSon 719 (if it is, you will know what I mean)? I had a brother in that particular conflict as an LOH pilot. Sadly, he wasn't repatriated until 1991, but that is another story altogether.

As for your library, we share much in common at least insofar as to HOW we go about collecting our books. I've inherited many of mine, but I treasure most every one. I didn't start out as a "collector" nor do I now consider myself one. I just happen to have a lot of books.

I had to chuckle about your "underline" comment as my grandmother was a prolific underliner. In addition, she frequently penned comments in the margins of said texts. My mother used to say how she "ruined" the books by writing in them and I suppose that is true, if were interested in selling them, which I am not (at least not yet).

As I've only just begun entering my library, it will be interesting to see how many books we ultimately have in common. So far we have 15 and I've only just started.

posted by PuddyRat at 1:54 am (EST) on Mar 9, 2008