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World War Stories
World War Stories
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NEWS FEED
DISCUSSION
MEMBERS (6)
War Literature
#1
Frances
Frances8 years ago
Read a good fiction or non-fiction about the era lately and want to suggest it? Put it right here, partner!
#2
Frances
Frances8 years ago
A few I love:

- Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky
- When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka
- Hiroshima by John Hersey
- Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
- With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa by Eugene Sledge
- Four Perfect Pebbles by Lila Perl
- The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje
- Night by Elie Wiesel
- Time's Arrow by Martin Amis (SUPER interesting narrative style if you are up for getting your mind blown)
#3
Nicole Armas
Nicole Armas8 years ago
Some of mine:

*The Guns of Normandy by George E Blackburn
*Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose
*Three Day Road by Joseph Boyden
*Canada's Great War Album by Canada's National History Society
*Billy Bishop: The Canadian Hero by Dan McCaffery
*Vimy by Pierre Berton
*Somme by Martin Gilbert

Only two of these are non-Canadian books since I read mostly Canadian war literature
Frances
Frances8 years ago
I have been trying to find suggestions for good Canadian literature! Which one is your very favorite concerning WWI? What is "Somme" about?
Nicole Armas
Nicole Armas8 years ago
@Frances, I'd say Vimy or Canada's Great War Album are my favourites ones about WW1. "Somme" is about the entire campaign of the Battle of the Somme. It's a pretty awesome book since it covers all of the Allied and Axis armies that were there and even talks about J.R.R Tolkien at one point (he served as an officer during WW1)
Frances
Frances8 years ago
@Nicole Armas, wow the entire campaign of the Somme? That must be super intense. Tolkien is one of my very favorite authors ever  but the more I have learned about his experiences in WWI, honestly I believe his creation of Middle Earth was partially a reaction to an untreated case of PTSD. I really believe he wrote to help him cope with the horror of what he saw. I mean come on, the Dead Marshes in Lord of the Rings is totally a mirror of No Man's Land.
Nicole Armas
Nicole Armas8 years ago
@Frances, I can believe that! The book talks about how Tolkien's experiences made their way into his writing. The Dead Marshes being one of them for sure. The book also suggests that the four hobbits (especially Frodo) were a representation of how soldiers dealt with their time at war after it was over. Pippin and Merry moved on and turned their negative experiences into positive things, Sam moved on as if nothing happened, while Frodo could never move on and was haunted by what he experienced.
Frances
Frances8 years ago
@Nicole Armas, You know that makes perfect sense. I always thought it was interesting how Bilbo and Frodo contrasted in how they handled the trauma in their lives and I wondered if that was how he observed fellow veterans. Makes perfect sense.

I recently saw a REALLY good documentary on youtube that interviewed quite a few British veterans from the Somme. I found it really interesting how each of them dealt with what they had experienced so differently. Its a very good piece if you are interested, its from the early nineties. I was totally sucked in. It's called "A Game of Ghosts".
Nicole Armas
Nicole Armas8 years ago
@Frances, Bilbo and Frodo certainly do contrast. I find when you consider Tolkien's service in the war with The Lord of the Rings, everything seems to take on a different meaning.

That sounds like a really awesome documentary! I'll have to look that up!
#4
Nicole Armas
Nicole Armas5 years ago
It's been awhile but I got three more books to share today:

I recently purchased a book about Canada in WW1 that was published in collaboration with the Vimy Foundation. It's called They Fought in Colour: A New Look at Canada's First World War Effort. All of the photographs in the book have been colourized  by colourist Mark Truelove and they look stunning. It really brings The Great War to life.

Also, I finally managed to get a copy of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque and it is now my all time favourite novel. It's a beautifully written book about a young man named Paul Baumer who is a soldier in the German Army and his struggle to survive in the trenches. It's tragic, it's moving, and Remarque has a great gift in absorbing his readers in his story.

And finally, Generals Die in Bed by Charles Yale Harrison is a gruesome and frank novel about a young, unnamed Canadian soldier's experiences in the trenches. The protagonist has no name and little to no information is revealed about him which I find is an interesting approach  to telling a war story. The book was quite controversial when it was first published but it's now considered one of the classics of WW1.
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