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War Literature

Description: Literature that deals with war and its consequences. Please recommend good books on this topic and remove those that don't belong on the list.

Members: 12 participating members (show all)

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date
1
Slaughterhouse-Five
by Kurt Vonnegut
37,937 members, 598 reviews
4.11 stars (4.11 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (1), varielle (1), Dilara86 (1), sturlington (2), anglemark (2), hipdeep (2), aulsmith (2), Bluewolf0411 (5)

Thumbs down: thecoroner

Explanations:

sturlington (2): World War II

2
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
15,390 members, 337 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: electrice (1), thorold (1), aulsmith (3), thecoroner (4), varielle (4), anglemark (7)

Explanations:

aulsmith (3): World War I on the Western Front

3
Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
34,894 members, 466 reviews
4.11 stars (4.11 stars)

Lists: sturlington (1), anglemark (1), aulsmith (1), ahef1963 (2), hipdeep (4)

Thumbs down: Bluewolf0411

Explanations:

sturlington (1): World War II

4
A Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
18,876 members, 209 reviews
3.74 stars (3.74 stars)

Lists: Bluewolf0411 (2), ahef1963 (3), varielle (5), aulsmith (5), anglemark (6), thecoroner (25)

Explanations:

aulsmith (5): I personally find the misogyny in this book so bad as to make it unreadable, but others think it is an important book about war.

5
The Iliad
by Homer
32,095 members, 324 reviews
4.03 stars (4.03 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (1), varielle (2), hipdeep (3), anglemark (4), aulsmith (4)

6
The Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
8,909 members, 109 reviews
3.43 stars (3.43 stars)

Lists: Bluewolf0411 (1), thecoroner (5), aulsmith (6), varielle (7)

Explanations:

aulsmith (6): US Civil War battlefield.

7
Ender's Game
by Orson Scott Card
35,403 members, 970 reviews
4.32 stars (4.32 stars)

Lists: Bluewolf0411 (4), sturlington (5), ahef1963 (5), aulsmith (10)

Explanations:

sturlington (5): War games

8
For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
15,755 members, 154 reviews
3.94 stars (3.94 stars)

Lists: Bluewolf0411 (3), ahef1963 (4), varielle (8), thecoroner (23)

9
The Good Soldier Svejk
by Jaroslav Hašek
2,967 members, 47 reviews
3.98 stars (3.98 stars)

Lists: anglemark (3), thorold (5), thecoroner (16)

Explanations:

thorold (5): One of the best satirical accounts of war. Ever.

10
The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje
10,231 members, 156 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: sturlington (6), varielle (6), ahef1963 (8)

Explanations:

sturlington (6): World War II

11
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
45,885 members, 1,184 reviews
4.2 stars (4.2 stars)

Lists: dara85 (1), ahef1963 (12)

12
Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
5,573 members, 265 reviews
4.16 stars (4.16 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (2), ahef1963 (6)

13
Night
by Elie Wiesel
22,271 members, 511 reviews
4.28 stars (4.28 stars)

Lists: dara85 (2), ahef1963 (11)

14
Goodbye to All That
by Robert Graves
3,213 members, 54 reviews
4.02 stars (4.02 stars)

Lists: thorold (3), varielle (9)

15
Testament of Youth
by Vera Brittain
1,800 members, 45 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: thorold (4), ahef1963 (7)

16
The Naked and the Dead
by Norman Mailer
3,591 members, 39 reviews
3.92 stars (3.92 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (7), aulsmith (7)

Explanations:

aulsmith (7): I personally can't stand this book, but others think it's an important war novel.

17
Suite Française
by Irène Némirovsky
8,908 members, 328 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (3), thecoroner (22)

18
Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
20,036 members, 403 reviews
4.29 stars (4.29 stars)

Lists: dara85 (3), thecoroner (28)

19
Journey to the End of the Night
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
5,139 members, 67 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: anglemark (8), thecoroner (10)

20
Mother Courage and Her Children
by Bertolt Brecht
2,047 members, 11 reviews
3.51 stars (3.51 stars)

Lists: thorold (9), aulsmith (9)

Explanations:

aulsmith (9): Civilians in the Thirty Years War.

21
If This Is a Man; The Truce
by Primo Levi
1,912 members, 24 reviews
4.46 stars (4.46 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (8), thorold (12)

22
A Soldier of the Great War
by Mark Helprin
1,584 members, 33 reviews
4.27 stars (4.27 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (1)

23
The Charterhouse of Parma
by Stendhal
3,685 members, 65 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: thorold (10), thecoroner (29)

Explanations:

thorold (10): An account of Waterloo by someone who knew what war was really like.

24
Empire of the Sun
by J. G. Ballard
3,272 members, 64 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: thorold (15), thecoroner (33)

25
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
23,467 members, 375 reviews
4.26 stars (4.26 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (2)

26
Parade's End
by Ford Madox Ford
1,442 members, 25 reviews
3.77 stars (3.77 stars)

Lists: thorold (2)

Explanations:

thorold (2): For my money, this is the best English novel about WW1

27
The Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
7,408 members, 164 reviews
4.3 stars (4.3 stars)

Lists: sturlington (3)

Explanations:

sturlington (3): American Civil War

28
Red Cavalry
by Isaac Babel
719 members, 22 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (3)

29
The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
11,795 members, 338 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: sturlington (4)

Explanations:

sturlington (4): Vietnam War

30
Girl at War
by Sara Novic
765 members, 50 reviews
4.16 stars (4.16 stars)

Lists: dara85 (4)

31
The End of the Affair
by Graham Greene
5,598 members, 150 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (5)

32
Lilac Girls
by Martha Hall Kelly
2,401 members, 152 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: dara85 (5)

33
The Yellow Birds
by Kevin Powers
1,573 members, 128 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: anglemark (5)

34
Red Storm Rising
by Tom Clancy
5,729 members, 52 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (6)

35
History
by Elsa Morante
1,203 members, 25 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (6)

36
Officers and Gentlemen
by Evelyn Waugh
918 members, 5 reviews
3.89 stars (3.89 stars)

Lists: thorold (6)

37
Life After Life
by Kate Atkinson
6,766 members, 526 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: sturlington (7)

38
The End of the Battle
by Evelyn Waugh
822 members, 3 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: thorold (7)

40
The Moon Is Down
by John Steinbeck
2,822 members, 90 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (8)

41
American War
by Omar El Akkad
1,271 members, 71 reviews
3.78 stars (3.78 stars)

Lists: sturlington (8)

42
Men at Arms
by Evelyn Waugh
1,048 members, 13 reviews
3.83 stars (3.83 stars)

Lists: thorold (8)

43
The War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells
14,685 members, 264 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: sturlington (9)

Explanations:

sturlington (9): Imaginary warfare against a superior alien species.

44
And Quiet Flows the Don
by Mikhail Sholokhov
1,256 members, 16 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (9)

45
The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman
7,928 members, 215 reviews
4.02 stars (4.02 stars)

Lists: sturlington (10)

Explanations:

sturlington (10): Space warfare

46
World War Z
by Max Brooks
12,828 members, 647 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: sturlington (11)

47
Doctor Zhivago
by Boris Pasternak
9,272 members, 123 reviews
3.86 stars (3.86 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (11)

48
Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
5,450 members, 83 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: thorold (11)

49
The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller
4,715 members, 313 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: sturlington (12)

50
Life and Fate
by Vasily Grossman
2,604 members, 76 reviews
4.36 stars (4.36 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (12)

51
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
14,385 members, 605 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (13)

52
Group Portrait With Lady
by Heinrich Böll
1,136 members, 15 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (13)

53
A Dance to the Music of Time: Third Movement, Autumn
by Anthony Powell
800 members, 13 reviews
4.2 stars (4.2 stars)

Lists: thorold (13)

54
Crooked Heart
by Lissa Evans
436 members, 39 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: sturlington (13)

55
The Tin Drum
by Günter Grass
6,644 members, 83 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (14)

56
Palestine
by Joe Sacco
1,438 members, 35 reviews
4.22 stars (4.22 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (14)

57
Billiards at Half-Past Nine
by Heinrich Böll
1,149 members, 18 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: thorold (14)

58
Semiosis: A Novel (Semiosis Duology)
by Sue Burke
517 members, 25 reviews
3.8 stars (3.8 stars)

Lists: sturlington (14)

59
The Thin Red Line
by James Jones
1,155 members, 14 reviews
3.8 stars (3.8 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (15)

60
The Debacle
by Émile Zola
683 members, 11 reviews
3.99 stars (3.99 stars)

Lists: thorold (16)

61
V.
by Thomas Pynchon
4,567 members, 31 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (17)

62
The Balkan Trilogy
by Olivia Manning
928 members, 29 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: thorold (17)

63
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
30,083 members, 389 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (10), thecoroner (31)

Thumbs down: aulsmith

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): More an urban revolution than a war.

64
The Quiet American
by Graham Greene
6,793 members, 155 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: thorold (18)

65
The Radetzky March
by Joseph Roth
2,365 members, 63 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (18)

66
The Leopard
by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
5,405 members, 126 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (19)

67
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
by T. E. Lawrence
4,201 members, 53 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: thorold (19)

Explanations:

thorold (19): Love it or hate it, it's definitely war and definitely literature...

68
Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
10,571 members, 99 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (20)

69
Johnny Got His Gun
by Dalton Trumbo
3,123 members, 61 reviews
4.17 stars (4.17 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (21)

70
The Last of the Mohicans
by James Fenimore Cooper
10,515 members, 109 reviews
3.48 stars (3.48 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (24)

71
The Sergeant in the Snow
by Mario Rigoni Stern
279 members, 15 reviews
4.21 stars (4.21 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (26)

72
Men and Not Men
by Elio Vittorini
310 members, 6 reviews
3.84 stars (3.84 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (27)

74
Sophie's Choice
by William Styron
5,244 members, 81 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (32)

75
Pillars of the Earth
by Ken Follett
23,411 members, 688 reviews
4.17 stars (4.17 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (34)

76
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh
10,711 members, 228 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: varielle (3), ahef1963 (9)

Thumbs down: aulsmith, thorold

Explanations:

thorold (0): The War Trilogy is about the war; Brideshead is about what came before.

77
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer
16,589 members, 1,151 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Thumbs down: sturlington, aulsmith

Explanations:

aulsmith (0): While some of this got at the experience of being in occupied territory during the war, I thought on the whole the book was too fluffy, especially to be called literature.… (more)

All members' listSort: Score | Title | Author | Date

About this list

Started by: sturlington (March 2014)

Type: Numbered and unnumbered

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