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Plays, novels or poetry written about the First World War.
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224 books · 357 voters · list created January 17th, 2009 by Abi (votes) .
101 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Abi 378 books
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Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3386 books
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Comments Showing 1-15 of 15 (15 new)

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message 1: by Míceál (new)

Míceál  Ó Gealbháin I'm wondering why A Farewell To Arms, Birdsong, A Very Long Engagement and Storm Of Steel are not on this list.


message 2: by Abi (new)

Abi Because Birdsong isn't very good, and I haven't read the others, but feel free to add them yourself.


message 3: by Míceál (new)

Míceál  Ó Gealbháin Birdssong isn't very good? Hmmm. And why do you feel that way? Granted it is not as strong as A Very Long Engagemnet, A Farewell To Arms, Storm Of Steel but I found it quite good. Much better than his other war novel Charlotte Gray.
I would add To The Last Man by Jeff Shaara but although I found the book interesting I find that Shaara has a problem with unrealistic dialogue. If you have ever spent time in the military or on a sports team or with a group of men you would know that the dialogue can be quite colorful. Shaara's inability to use profanity in his books takes much of the realism out of the characters. I don't know if he is trying to reach a younger audience or does not want to offend the Puritians in his readership but the "Ah shucks" dialogue just doesn't ring true in war. Read G. F. Borden to get a true picture of combat conditions. Neverthe less, All Quiet On The Western Front is probably the best war (anti-war) novel ever writen. That coming from a Hemingway scholar but A Farewell To Arms pales next to All Quiet. I'd post those books but I'm new to this and have no idea how. I was very happy to see you include Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves, Vera Brittian and Erich Maria Remarque. Thanks for your input. We agree to disagree. Mike


message 4: by Abi (new)

Abi The 'add books' button is on the top right, just above the bit where you vote.
I don't dislike Birdsong, it just didn't like it either and really don't consider it to be one of the best world war 1 novels. Hence two stars on Goodreads and I didn't personally add it to this list. But I accept that a lot of people think it's ace, so by all means add it.
My favourite is Under Fire, incidentally, but it's not a very well-known one.


message 5: by Gabriele (new)

Gabriele Wills Do autobiographies, like Testament of Youth and Goodbye to All That, belong on this list? Granted, people have claimed that Robert Graves used a lot of artistic licence in his.


message 6: by Abi (new)

Abi Yes.


message 7: by Antoine (new)

Antoine Just because something is true, doesn't mean it isn't literature.


message 8: by Manray9 (new)

Manray9 A good list, but the list author stated "plays, novels and poetry." Readers appear to have ignored that aspect. I see Tuchman, Brittain, Eksteins, Fussell, T.E. Lawrence and others who wrote memoirs or works of non-fiction. Why spoil a good list?


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Abi: you want the non-fiction off the list?


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Note: "Memoirs of an Infantry Officer" by Siegfried Sassoon is, actually, a novel.


message 11: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Apr 19, 2015 11:24PM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I don't remember Isabel Colgate's The Shooting Party (currently #104) being a novel "written about the First World War"...?


message 12: by Paul (new)

Paul Bowes Checked for duplicates: 1 book removed.


message 13: by Paul (new)

Paul Bowes Checked for duplicates: 2 books removed.


message 14: by Warwick (new)

Warwick This says "Plays, novels or poetry" but there's a lot of non-fiction here. I mean, Goodbye to All That is at number 4. I think they should either be removed, or the description should be changed – don't particularly care which but it's very confusing right now what should be added.


message 15: by Manray9 (last edited Dec 16, 2015 07:51AM) (new)

Manray9 Warwick wrote: "This says "Plays, novels or poetry" but there's a lot of non-fiction here. I mean, Goodbye to All That is at number 4. I think they should either be removed, or the description should be changed – ..."

Apparently, some readers are so intent on adding to GR lists that they ignore the lists' criteria. Or perhaps they don't understand the difference between fiction and nonfiction?


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