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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
40,227 members, 642 reviews
4.11 stars (4.11 stars)

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

Thumbs down: thecoroner

2
All Quiet on the Western Front
by Erich Maria Remarque
16,632 members, 364 reviews
4.1 stars (4.1 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
A Farewell to Arms
by Ernest Hemingway
20,157 members, 221 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.

4
The Iliad
by Homer
34,477 members, 346 reviews
4.03 stars (4.03 stars)

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

5
Catch-22
by Joseph Heller
36,662 members, 490 reviews
4.1 stars (4.1 stars)

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

Thumbs down: Bluewolf0411

6
The Red Badge of Courage
by Stephen Crane
9,734 members, 117 reviews
3.43 stars (3.43 stars)

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

Explanations:

aulsmith (6): US Civil War battlefield.

7
For Whom the Bell Tolls
by Ernest Hemingway
16,992 members, 160 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

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

8
Ender's Game
by Orson Scott Card
37,334 members, 1,001 reviews
4.31 stars (4.31 stars)

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

9
The Good Soldier Svejk
by Jaroslav Hašek
3,157 members, 53 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

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

Explanations:

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

10
The Kite Runner
by Khaled Hosseini
48,326 members, 1,237 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: dara85 (1), ahef1963 (12)

11
Half of a Yellow Sun
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
6,077 members, 280 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (2), ahef1963 (6)

12
Night
by Elie Wiesel
24,218 members, 535 reviews
4.28 stars (4.28 stars)

Lists: dara85 (2), ahef1963 (11)

13
Goodbye to All That
by Robert Graves
3,396 members, 60 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: thorold (3), varielle (9)

14
Testament of Youth
by Vera Brittain
1,939 members, 50 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: thorold (4), ahef1963 (7)

15
The English Patient
by Michael Ondaatje
10,718 members, 164 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: varielle (6), ahef1963 (8)

16
The Naked and the Dead
by Norman Mailer
3,808 members, 41 reviews
3.91 stars (3.91 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
9,291 members, 331 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: Dilara86 (3), thecoroner (22)

18
Gone with the Wind
by Margaret Mitchell
21,272 members, 415 reviews
4.28 stars (4.28 stars)

Lists: dara85 (3), thecoroner (28)

19
Journey to the End of the Night
by Louis-Ferdinand Céline
5,501 members, 70 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: anglemark (8), thecoroner (10)

20
Mother Courage and Her Children
by Bertolt Brecht
2,129 members, 13 reviews
3.52 stars (3.52 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
2,064 members, 27 reviews
4.47 stars (4.47 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (8), thorold (12)

22
A Soldier of the Great War
by Mark Helprin
1,670 members, 35 reviews
4.29 stars (4.29 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (1)

23
The Charterhouse of Parma
by Stendhal
3,975 members, 70 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
3,476 members, 66 reviews
3.95 stars (3.95 stars)

Lists: thorold (15), thecoroner (33)

25
War and Peace
by Leo Tolstoy
25,267 members, 398 reviews
4.27 stars (4.27 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (2)

26
Parade's End
by Ford Madox Ford
1,573 members, 25 reviews
3.79 stars (3.79 stars)

Lists: thorold (2)

Explanations:

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

27
Red Cavalry
by Isaac Babel
660 members, 22 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (3)

28
Girl at War
by Sara Novic
848 members, 51 reviews
4.14 stars (4.14 stars)

Lists: dara85 (4)

29
The End of the Affair
by Graham Greene
5,988 members, 160 reviews
3.96 stars (3.96 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (5)

30
Lilac Girls
by Martha Hall Kelly
2,956 members, 171 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: dara85 (5)

31
The Yellow Birds
by Kevin Powers
1,716 members, 132 reviews
3.76 stars (3.76 stars)

Lists: anglemark (5)

32
Red Storm Rising
by Tom Clancy
6,052 members, 54 reviews
3.93 stars (3.93 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (6)

33
History
by Elsa Morante
1,231 members, 26 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (6)

34
Officers and Gentlemen
by Evelyn Waugh
967 members, 8 reviews
3.88 stars (3.88 stars)

Lists: thorold (6)

35
Unconditional Surrender
by Evelyn Waugh
868 members, 5 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: thorold (7)

36
After Every War: Twentieth-Century Women Poets
by Eavan Boland
30 members, 0 reviews
4 stars (4 stars)

Lists: hipdeep (7)

37
The Moon Is Down
by John Steinbeck
3,017 members, 98 reviews
3.83 stars (3.83 stars)

Lists: aulsmith (8)

38
Men at Arms
by Evelyn Waugh
1,115 members, 15 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: thorold (8)

39
And Quiet Flows the Don
by Mikhail Sholokhov
1,357 members, 16 reviews
4.04 stars (4.04 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (9)

40
Doctor Zhivago
by Boris Pasternak
10,152 members, 132 reviews
3.86 stars (3.86 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (11)

41
Homage to Catalonia
by George Orwell
5,899 members, 95 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: thorold (11)

42
Life and Fate
by Vasily Grossman
2,916 members, 78 reviews
4.37 stars (4.37 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (12)

43
Number the Stars
by Lois Lowry
15,708 members, 621 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (13)

44
Group Portrait With Lady
by Heinrich Böll
1,231 members, 17 reviews
3.9 stars (3.9 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (13)

45
A Dance to the Music of Time: Third Movement, Autumn
by Anthony Powell
839 members, 14 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: thorold (13)

46
The Tin Drum
by Günter Grass
7,008 members, 88 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (14)

47
Palestine
by Joe Sacco
1,541 members, 38 reviews
4.21 stars (4.21 stars)

Lists: ahef1963 (14)

48
Billiards at Half-Past Nine
by Heinrich Böll
1,233 members, 18 reviews
3.82 stars (3.82 stars)

Lists: thorold (14)

49
The Thin Red Line
by James Jones
1,237 members, 17 reviews
3.8 stars (3.8 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (15)

50
The Debacle
by Émile Zola
717 members, 11 reviews
4.01 stars (4.01 stars)

Lists: thorold (16)

51
V.
by Thomas Pynchon
4,791 members, 33 reviews
4.05 stars (4.05 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (17)

52
The Balkan Trilogy
by Olivia Manning
987 members, 29 reviews
4.07 stars (4.07 stars)

Lists: thorold (17)

53
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
32,483 members, 419 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.

54
The Quiet American
by Graham Greene
7,320 members, 167 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)

Lists: thorold (18)

55
The Radetzky March
by Joseph Roth
2,568 members, 67 reviews
4.17 stars (4.17 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (18)

56
The Leopard
by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
5,863 members, 133 reviews
4.09 stars (4.09 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (19)

57
Seven Pillars of Wisdom
by T. E. Lawrence
4,309 members, 51 reviews
4.03 stars (4.03 stars)

Lists: thorold (19)

Explanations:

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

58
Ivanhoe
by Sir Walter Scott
11,494 members, 107 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (20)

59
Johnny Got His Gun
by Dalton Trumbo
3,329 members, 64 reviews
4.16 stars (4.16 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (21)

60
The Last of the Mohicans
by James Fenimore Cooper
11,460 members, 116 reviews
3.48 stars (3.48 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (24)

61
The Sergeant in the Snow
by Mario Rigoni Stern
304 members, 15 reviews
4.19 stars (4.19 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (26)

62
Men and Not Men
by Elio Vittorini
330 members, 6 reviews
3.84 stars (3.84 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (27)

64
Sophie's Choice
by William Styron
5,542 members, 82 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (32)

65
Pillars of the Earth
by Ken Follett
24,882 members, 714 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)

Lists: thecoroner (34)

66
Brideshead Revisited
by Evelyn Waugh
11,382 members, 240 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.

67
The War of the Worlds
by H. G. Wells
15,920 members, 286 reviews
3.75 stars (3.75 stars)
68
World War Z
by Max Brooks
13,963 members, 676 reviews
3.99 stars (3.99 stars)
69
The Things They Carried
by Tim O'Brien
12,737 members, 362 reviews
4.18 stars (4.18 stars)
70
The Forever War
by Joe Haldeman
8,553 members, 227 reviews
4.02 stars (4.02 stars)
71
The Killer Angels
by Michael Shaara
7,898 members, 175 reviews
4.3 stars (4.3 stars)
72
Life After Life
by Kate Atkinson
7,400 members, 561 reviews
3.97 stars (3.97 stars)
73
The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller
7,018 members, 393 reviews
4.17 stars (4.17 stars)
74
American War
by Omar El Akkad
1,499 members, 83 reviews
3.77 stars (3.77 stars)
75
Semiosis
by Sue Burke
681 members, 29 reviews
3.81 stars (3.81 stars)
76
Crooked Heart
by Lissa Evans
482 members, 42 reviews
4.13 stars (4.13 stars)
77
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer
17,651 members, 1,183 reviews
4.15 stars (4.15 stars)

Thumbs down: 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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