No Characters in Ripcord

I don't have time for bad books anymore. What am I? Almost 50? Close enough were I can say I am 50! Let's say 50. That's a good deal past half my expected expiration date. Who wants to spend the few remaining days I have reading bad books. 

Some bad books I have to read . . . for work? . . . for school (hopefully that's coming to an end soon) . . . for other myriad reasons. But if I read for fun . . . I don't want to waste my reading time on bad books. Ripcord, it's a good book about a battle, but it's a horrible story. 

What's that mean?

Well, I find that even non-fiction needs to be a well-written story for me to care and want to keep writing. David Halberstam's The Coldest Winter was like this. Tons of great descriptions of battles, but no characters. No one to follow. Nothing to latch onto.

My favorite non-fiction authors are Erik Larsen and Hampton Sides. These guys no how to work a story. In the first few pages of In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larsen, the reader is introduced to Professor Dodd. We find out about his family, his wife's nickname, his children, what he felt about his job, and his past, how he grew up. What's that have to do with Churchill or the rise of Hitler? No idea yet, but now I want to find out!

Ripcord is an interesting book, but a horrible story. I wish there was a better story about the battle. I would gladly read it. But the way Nolan writes of the battle, it's confusing, and sadly the reader has to work to keep up. I'm not working that hard. I have better stories to focus on.