Please nominate the "war novel" you would like to read in March in this thread.
Please remember that:
- Only those members with 50+ posts can nominate.
- One nomination per member.
- Only the first 10 nominations will be included in the poll.
The Book Club readings are for those who would like to read and discuss books together with other members.
If you are not able to take part or unwilling to (re)read your own nominations, please refrain from nominating book.
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"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
One can probably guess the books that would be nominated for this genre and what I have chose to nominate seems cliche and like I'm missing the opportunity to explore the depths of the genre, but I'm nominating it anyway.
I nominate Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls.
"Do you mind if I reel in this fish?" - Dale Harris
"For sale: baby shoes, never worn." - Ernest Hemingway
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Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda
March might be a good time to focus on a text and try to stop myself from going stir crazy, so I will nominate:
The Naked and The Dead by Norman Mailer, which I have wanted to read since he appeared on Charlie Rose in his wheelchair, shortly before he died.
If for some reason I cannot get online from my temporary relocation in the building, I will open a library account, even though I guess I can't transfer this account to the public one--but the packing lady told me they will give me a net line, so here is to crossed fingers...
If someone wants to nominate Joseph Heller's Catch-22 for me, I will join in for that too, as I was a young and healthy teenager with a hamster I named Yossy after the title character when I first experienced it. I love Heller's humor.
I'm torn between All Quiet on the Westernfront and A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. Here's something on the Helprin if you've never heard of it:
I still have a little time to nominate.From Library Journal
In summer 1964, a distinguished-looking gentleman in his seventies dismounts on principle from a streetcar that was to carry him from Rome to a distant village, instead accompanying on foot a boy denied a fare. As they walk, he tells the boy the story of his life. A young aesthete from a privileged Roman family, Alesandro Giuliani found his charmed existence shattered by the coming of World War I. The war led to an onerous tour of duty, inadvertent desertion, near-execution, forced labor, service high in the Italian Alps that took advantage of his (and Helprin's) skill at mountain climbing, capture by the enemy, and return home, dispossessed of most of his friends and family. Along the way, he gains, loses, and eventually rediscovers love. This rousingly good story of survival is all the more remarkable in the telling. The language is rich without cloying, complex yet luminous in Helprin's best style. In a number of thoughtful philosophical passages as engaging as any adventure story, Alesandro struggles to reconcile his appreciation of beauty and his religious faith with the horror around him. That he finally persuades us to believe in a "God without any hope, in a God of splendor and terror" is testimony to the indomitable human spirit. Highly recommended. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/15/91.
-Barbara Hoffert, "Library Journal"
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
I'll nominate All Quiet On The Western Front for you Virgil. Also, for the rather selfish reason that i've just purchased the book and it will save me effort if it wins
All Quiet On The Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque.
I'm not sure what you mean. I log in from the library, school, my mom's... all over the place!Originally Posted by Jozanny
The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
http://www.amazon.com/Things-They-Ca...406979-6221560
I've read parts and loved it!
Thanks Tallon. Then I'll nominate A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin and debate with myself on which to vote for.I'll nominate All Quiet On The Western Front for you Virgil. Also, for the rather selfish reason that i've just purchased the book and it will save me effort if it wins
All Quiet On The Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque.
LET THERE BE LIGHT
"Love follows knowledge." – St. Catherine of Siena
My literature blog: http://ashesfromburntroses.blogspot.com/
Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane - an oldie but goodie!
When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent
~ Isaac Asimov
With the same account mother? I know I commit the sin of off-topic digression, but what has probably ruined me in my middle age as a writer is my inability to handle major disruptions in life without ripping out my hair, and my chair died right before the major American holidays, and now has conveniently merged with it being time to renovate my floor and my ex'es, below me. I have to be placed on the second flr, in a used power chair I can barely manage and don't trust, and my sister is fighting with me because she wants my help financially and I put my foot down, and my little brother wants to kill us both. So I am not writing! Like that solves anything!But if I can just transfer my handle and account to the library, that will be cool.
Last edited by Jozanny; 01-02-2009 at 12:35 AM.
I'll nominate Catch 22. It's one of the most brilliant, funniest and most well constructed novels I've ever read. And I'll never forget the alpaca sack filled with hairy strawberry ice cream image which has got to be one of the best ever!
Want to know what I think about books? Check out https://biisbooks.wordpress.com/
All Quiet on the Western Front - I wanted to read that, so I will add my vote for that.
OT - you can log from everywhere, just sign in.
At thunder and tempest, At the world's coldheartedness,
During times of heavy loss And when you're sad
The greatest art on earth Is to seem uncomplicatedly gay.
To get things clear, they have to firstly be very unclear. But if you get them too quickly, you probably got them wrong.
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Jozanny *high-fives* FifthElement (it is not quite a cool American urbanism anymore but I am only a wee little younger than Virgil
Appropos of nothing, I am listening to a feature about stress and suicide in army recruitment jobs. I am now starting to see how Foucault was fascinated by the way we turn ourselves into subjects.
This genre is proving to be popular!
I would like to nominate Master and Commander by O'brian.
1. For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
2. Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield
3. The Naked and The Dead by Norman Mailer
4. All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque
5. The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien
6. A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin
7. Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane
8. Catch 22 by Heller
9. Master and Commander by Patrick O'brian
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
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