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Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Reading List: World War 2 Fiction
Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres was recommended by a couple of people. An anonymous commenter wrote that the book "is the story of a Greek island that comes under the control of the Italians and then the Germans in WWII. It's a fantastic read and one of those relatively untold stories of the war you were mentioning." 
Steve recommends some intriguing genre fiction that takes place during the war era: "Philip Kerr wrote three detective novels that have been anthologized under the title Berlin Noir. They are set in Berlin in 1933, 1938 or so (just prior to Kristallnacht) and in post-war Berlin around 1946. Spectacular - Kerr hasn't written anything close to this good since, but these are just fantastic. The changes in German society over the course of the three books are worth the price of admission by themselves, and the stories are quite good." Steve also recommends J. Robert Janes, Alan Furst, and Eric Ambler along those same lines.
Don Napoli reminds about some classic novels that center on the war: The Naked and The Dead by Norman Mailer, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, The Young Lions by Irwin Shaw, The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk, A Bell for Adano by John Hersey, Tales of the South Pacific by James Michener, Guard of Honor by James Gould Cozzens, and A Walk in the Sun by Harry Brown. To that list, I would add Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
The Happy Booker suggests Articles of War by Nick Arvin: "This new novel was inspired by Arvin's grandfather's service in WWll. I've heard it compared to Red Badge of Courage." And finally, Kate S. suggests Bernhard Schlink's The Reader, and S. Dougherty suggests The Book Thief by Markus Zuzek. So, non-fiction will be up tomorrow. Thanks for all the great suggestions and if anyone wants to make this list a work in progress, feel free to suggest more books in the comments.
Update: Laurie suggests The Thin Red Line by James Jones. She also proposes that we look to other countries for fiction about the war. For a Russian view, try Life & Fate by Vasily Grossman, a thick novel on the siege of Stalingrad finished in 1959 that never saw print in Russia in his lifetime. Along those lines I'd also suggest Vassily Aksynov's Generations of Winter, a sprawling Russian epic, the last part of which takes place during the war. I wrote about it last year. Laurie also points to a terrific bibliography of World War II novels from a community college library in Kansas City.
Update 2: A new World War II novel has just come out. It's called Suite Francaise and it's by Irene Nemirovsky. The book consists of the first two parts of what was intended to be a five-novel suite about the war in France. Nemirovsky started the book in 1940 but in the summer of 1942 she was sent to Auschwitz where she died. Her manuscript surfaced after being lost for more than 60 years. Scott read the book and liked it.
See Also: World War 2 Nonfiction
- C. Max Magee @ 11:14 PM ~ comments: 6 ~
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Since it was a *world* war, maybe you also better include more than just one non-American author. A good list that includes writers from Albania, Germany, Korea, Japan, Poland, Malaysia and just about every country hit by the war (though strangely no Russian authors) is available from the Billington Library in Overland Park, Kansas (and likely elsewhere, too, if you Google a little):
http://library.jccc.net/reference/guides/wwIIfiction.html
For a Russian view, try "Life & Fate" by Vasily Grossman, a thick novel on the siege of Stalingrad finished in 1959 that never saw print in Russia in his lifetime. An English-language edition has just been reissued in paperback (May 2006).
Anonymous @ May 24, 2006 11:52 AM Lynne AKA The Wicked Witch of Publishing
I just finished Shaara's To the Last Man, and found that it was dull and incoherent drivel. Anything better out there?
Thanks
Half: Re WWI, Try Ernst Junger's non fiction Storm of Steel.
Another one of Monsarrat's to read is Three Corvettes.
AYY
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