Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ernie]

i liked 'The Wars' by Timothy Findley, too...

[mnhnhyouh]

Frederic Manning wrote a fantastic novel, The Middle Parts of Fortune.

T.E. Lawrence and Hemmingway are meant to have loved it.

[peemil]

Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testament_of_youth

Well worth it.

[spliff]

All Quiet on the Western Front

[Pa Jan Jo A Hamnida]

To the Last Man by Jeff Shaara

http://www.amazon.com/Last-Man-Novel-First-World/dp/0345461363/ref=pd_bbs_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1208578912&sr=8-3

[Arthur Dent]

Helprin's novel is excellent. I highly recommend it. I once saw a copy at Abby's book shop. She has left the country now and the store is long gone, but I would bet a sharp eye on the shelves at "What the Book?" will come up with a copy.
A long novel involving many themes but especially the mad chaos and coincidence of war, it is poetically written.

It reads as a history/novel/adventure story, as an old man recounts his life to a youngster. Long but never feels like it.

Another of his works is Memoir from Ant-proof Case. An excellent and highly amusing story. His books are rarely set in one place, but move around the world.

[fadedgirl]

It's partly set in WW1...The Burning Shore by Wilbur Smith.

[Sam Handwich]

May I recommend two novels and an autobiography?

First, I highly recommend Three Day Road, by Joseph Boyden. It is about the travails of two Native snipers in the Canadian Army during the First World War. Very intense adn blood-and-guts nasty, and very well-written.

Also, The Wars, by Timothy Findley. It's about a Canadian artillery officer who does something controversial as a response to all the carnage around him. Also very dark, and also, a pretty quick read.

Last, Goodbye to all That, by Robert Graves. This is the memoirs of British poet Robert Graves of his time in the trenches. Damn good.

Hope this is helpful.

[blurgalurgalurga]

'Mrs. Dalloway' was good.
"All Quiet on the Western Front" was too.
And hey, if you're not too picky, the "Sword of Honour" trilogy by Evelyn Waugh is good too. Wrong war though, I guess.

[Cheonmunka]

This is an interesting collection of more than several quite short stories from and about the trenches. And bludgers get them free to read.

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/towld10h.htm

Tales of War
by Lord Dunsany

[Ya-ta Boy]

Lots of good tips.

One I've run across is Jack London's 'The Iron Heel'. It's really an 'alternate history' kind of thing. It was written pre-WWI and is about the Fascist take-over of the US before there was any fascism. You have to slog through quite a few chapters of socialist propaganda before you get to the good stuff though.

[panthermodern]

For Non-Ficiton I would highly recommend

"The Rites of Spring".

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE1D9143AF930A25750C0A96F948260

[Ya-ta Boy]

For a war that shattered an entire civilization, it's remarkable that there aren't more world-class works of fiction that deal with it, don't you think? Pretty much everyone has read 'All Quiet..." but none of the others mentioned really has the staying power.

Just an observation.

[Unposter]

I would throw Johny Got his Gun in there with Alls Quiet...but yeah many of these books haven't had the staying power.

I'd also throw out "The Razor's Edge" by W. Sommerset Maughm (Sp?), one of my favorite books. It starts off a little before and during WWI, though most of the story is after. It was turned into a movie by Bill Murray, which was nowhere near as good as the book.

WWI was a major theme in its time but WWII has just overshadowed it. And, with attention spans what they are Vietnam has already over-shadowed WWII. The lessons of both great wars are already fading in the mist of time...

[mehmeh]

For a very well written history (ie non-fiction) of the battle of Verdun you should check out The Price of Glory by Alistair Horne. It's standard reading for anyone studying the time period.