5 books every gent should read this summer

The summer hols were just made for action and adventure, risk and reckless folly. They were also made for doing little more than sitting down, resting your bones and watching the tide roll away. Which, you will agree, is a predicament. Thankfully, an excellent paperback presents the perfect way to combine the two.

Below are 5 non-fiction action and adventure holiday reads, each true stories of heroism, endurance and survival. When in comes to trips away, good books are as fundamental as good friends and good drinks. Gentlemen, this summer, pick up one of these stirring tales and start reading.

ABDUCTING A GENERAL – PATRICK LEIGH FERMOR

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One of the greatest feats in Fermor’s remarkable life was this daring behind-enemy-lines mission to capture a German general in Crete. Fermor, (pictured, top) was once described as ‘a cross between Indiana Jones, James Bond and Graham Greene’ and this is a glorious first-hand account of one of the great adventures of the Second World War.

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BEYOND BAND OF BROTHERS – RICHARD WINTERS

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A remarkable memoir which tells the tales left untold in Band of Brothers. This is a fascinating account of one man’s experience of commanding Easy Company from D-Day, to the Battle of the Bulge and into Germany. Winters gives real insight into leadership under the most difficult conditions.

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DANCING ON ICE – JEREMY SCOTT

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In 1930 the dashing Gino Watkins led a group of intrepid and largely inexperienced young men to pioneer the first commercial air route between Europe and America. Scott paints a stunning portrait of two lost worlds: the Inuit hunters of the polar regions and the Brideshead generation of English men addicted to adventure.

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THE JUNIOR OFFICERS READING CLUB – PATRICK HENNESSEY

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A lucid, witty account of all the horror, boredom and exhilaration of war. As an officer in the Grenadier Guards, Hennessey fought in some of the most violent combat the British army has seen. He tells the story of how a modern soldier is made, from the testosterone-heavy breeding ground of Sandhurst to the nightmare of the Middle East.

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FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE – IAN FLEMING

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Ok, so we cheated with this one. Yes it’s fictional, but it’s perfect for the beach and it’s the novel that JFK named as one of his favourite books of all time. Ian Fleming’s masterful spy thriller boasts immense detail, elaborate settings and continually mounting tension, flavoured with sex, brutality and sudden death.

Buy here.

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