UK Book Club discussion

Hi all, well it's War/Revolution for July. Seems suitable considering what's going on with both the Labour party and the Tories at the moment....

This genre will certainly help with the Round the World Challenge!

I really enjoyed Cold Mountain, which is set during the US Civil War. Half of a Yellow Sun takes place in 60's Nigeria and is also very good. I was in tears reading Sebastian Barry's A Long Long Way, the story is set during WW1 and it's become one of my favourites. And the Booker Prize-winning The Narrow Road to the Deep North, is very, very good, (plus it will get you Thailand as it's about soldiers building the Thai/Burma Railway during WW2).

That's off the top of my head, I am going to take a look at my to read list for some more ideas.... What are your recommendations?

Er... I don't know. I am completely unprepared for this genre it seems. Wait...
Yes, I am probably the only one in all of Goodreads that hasn't read this one yet, but it's sitting on my book shelf. No time like the present genre challenge, right?

Oh, excellent! I shall read The Generals, which is about Arthur Wellesley (who became the Duke of Wellington) and Napoleon Bonaparte. It's been on my reading list for ages, so it also satisfies the "Shelf Love Challenge".

And I haven't read The Book Thief either. :-)

Leni wrote: "Er... I don't know. I am completely unprepared for this genre it seems. Wait...
Yes, I am probably the only one in all of Goodreads that hasn't read this one yet, ..."

I hope you enjoy The Book Thief, Leni. I loved it, although I know some didn't.

I am going with as i already have it. Do me for the Falklands as well.

I have just read The War of the End of the World which I enjoyed.

So not sure what I will be reading. I could re-read All Quiet on the Western Front. I can read A Long Long Way or Half of a Yellow Sun....

by Alison MacLeod is excellent. About a woman, her strained marriage and hidden and not so hidden prejudices. Set in Brighton during WW2.

I can also recommend by David R. Gillham which is also set during WW2 but in Berlin.

Leni wrote: "Er... I don't know. I am completely unprepared for this genre it seems. Wait...
Yes, I am probably the only one in all of Goodreads that hasn't read this one yet, ..."

Leni, I haven't read it either but also have it on my bookshelf. Started it once but couldn't get into it. This might be a good time to try again.

I've got a few possibilities in mind;

- The General by C.S. Forester;
- Gunner Asch Goes To War by Hans Hellmut Kirst;
- The Guns of Navarone by Alistair MacLean;
- Shout at the Devil by Wilbur Smith; or
- The Moon is Down by John Steinbeck.

Caroline wrote: "Leni, I haven't read it either but also have it on my bookshelf. Started it once but couldn't get into it. This might be a good time to try again. "

Cool! We can both try the Book Thief then.

Liz mentioned in the Intro thread, and that reminded me that I had determined to read that this year. My husband has been trying to get me to read it for years. He is utterly baffled that I haven't yet. I can't really explain it myself either. I'm sure it's brilliant. So that's two books I'll attempt for this genre.

Leni - You could read The Road Back. Technically, it's a post-war story, but should still count as it's about the effects of war.

T. K. Elliott wrote: "Leni - You could read The Road Back. Technically, it's a post-war story, but should still count as it's about the effects of war.

"

Well, yes, I could. And now that you mention it, I should read as well. Yet another of those books that I'm embarrassed that I haven't read yet. But let's not get too carried away now! I have other challenges too. :-/

I got a book in the mail today which I may choose, Bomber: by Len Deighton.

I think I'll go for Darkness Falls from the Air but I also want to read Silver Stallion at some point.

Leni wrote: "Liz mentioned Catch-22 by Joseph Heller in the Intro thread, and that reminded me that I had determined to read that this year...."

I read Catch-22 last month (if only I'd waited...). Have to admit I'm not a fan - it gave me a headache!

Got this from Book Deposit today

http://www.bookdepository.com/war-sto...

Hmmmm I've no idea... going to need a bit of a think!

The Secret Life of Bletchley Park: The WWII Codebreaking Centre and the Men and Women Who Worked There by Sinclair McKay was interesting and war-time related without being front line - bit of a different kind of a war-time read.

Em wrote: "Hmmmm I've no idea... going to need a bit of a think!

[book:The Secret L..."

This is a book I've been looking for. It does sound interesting.

If I can find the time I may read JG Ballard's Empire of the Sun

Would One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in this genre?

Tania wrote: "Would One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in this genre?"

It's more of a prison type story as I recall.

Rather less "historic" and a play rather than a novel but I have just finished The Fear of Breathing - stories from the Syrian Revolution which was compiled from interviews undertaken in 2012 by various reporters with a range of people in Syrian as the revolution took hold.

Agh mistaken pressed post! It's a very short play, and interesting to read given all that has since happened in the intervening years, although rather distressing in places.

Bill wrote: "Tania wrote: "Would One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in this genre?"

It's more of a prison type story as I recall."

Thanks Bill will wait till we have a prison genre then or of a mind to read it. Got it on a whim at a charity shop.

Tania wrote: "Bill wrote: "Tania wrote: "Would One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in this genre?"

It's more of a prison type story as I recall."

Thanks Bill will wait till we have a prison gen..."

It is an excellent story. I read quite a few Solzhenitsyn back in my university days. He did write one book set in WWI.

I have chosen to read Island Madness by Tim Binding. Which is about the German occupation of Guernsey during WW2. Hopefully it will tick the War/Revolution box.

I'm starting off with Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham a series of stories set in WWI

i>Leni wrote: "Caroline wrote: "Leni, I haven't read it either but also have it on my bookshelf. Started it once but couldn't get into it. This might be a good time to try again. "

Cool! We can both try the Book..."

I thought Catch-22 was worth the effort but it took some concentration to keep up with the changing viewpoints and timeframes - I plan to re-read it at some point but I'm not in the mood right now.... still can't totally make up my mind for this month but I am feeling drawn to Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I've given up on The Generals - got 27% of the way through it and decided I'd had enough. It suffers from being a fictionalised account rather than what I'd call a novel - so there's a lot of they-did-this-then-they-did-that-and-then-they-went-here. I think it's because there's just not enough page space to cover so many events in the lives of two different people.

So I'm going back to Scarrow's other series (Macro and Cato) and I'm reading Britannia, which is the latest.

I've started the second book in the Guy Crouchback trilogy by Evelyn Waugh, Officers and Gentlemen.

Ashenden: Or the British Agent by W. Somerset Maugham was excellent. I love his writing style. He's a great observer. I guess it might have been more spy than war, although it was set during WWI.

I'm finally reading Suite Française which is not at all what I thought it was ie. the story of the author. It is about people fleeing from Paris in WW2. Interesting but heartbreaking - too many parallels with today.

I'm starting The General by C.S. Forester.

Just finished reading Island Madness which was a murder mystery set during the German occupation of Guernsey. It was a really well written story looking at both sides and how lives intermingled and uneasy relationships developed. I gave it 4 stars. 1 deducted due to poor proof reading - words missed out quite frequently!

Officers And Gentlemen is the second book in Evelyn Waugh's Guy Crouchback trilogy. It's a war series (set during WWII), but more about the fog of war and the characters, than about war itself.
In this story, Crouchback is back from a mission in Africa with the Halberdiers and is assigned, as a punishment, to a Commando training unit on an island off Scotland.
Eventually they find themselves sent to Alexandria, where they sit and wait and then move on to Crete. Their arrival couldn't be at a worse time, as the Germans have just invaded and the British and allies are being turned back quite effectively. This is the fog of war, men rushing towards the beaches hoping for a ship to take them off the island, troops (the Commandos) moving up the island trying to find out what their mission is; a calamity of actions.
I like Guy's straight-forward way of dealing with things, when all about him seems to be going crazy. It's an interesting, satirical look at war. Worth reading. I will try the final book. (3 stars)

Still haven't started mine.... I have The Orchard of Lost Souls coming from the library.

BTW Mercia, I thought Empire of the Sun was excellent. I hope you're enjoying it (although that may not be the right word to use!)

Tania wrote: "I am going with as i already have it. Do me for the Falklands as well."

Am still plodding through this. Feel like I'm playing name them politician/general while reading this.

JG Ballard's Empire of the Sun promised themes of internment camps, Asian setting, and the only nuclear bombs ever used in war, so it sounded right up my street. At the time I did not link it to the Spielberg movie.

I gave up watching the movie of this book when it became clear that it was about the cruel fate of a rich little British Empire boy denied his right to rule by the thuggish Japanese. I kept reading the novel and it turned out to be quite different in the presentation of the Japanese running the internment camp the novel moves onto. It ends up as a thoughtful young teenage view of the collapse of the British Empire in Asia.

It includes an epilogue of an interview given by Ballard in which he defended the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and at that point I returned to thinking of him as the spoilt little boy who thought he was born to rule.

Mercia wrote: "

JG Ballard's Empire of the Sun promised themes of internment camps, Asian setting, and the onyl nucluear bombs ever used in war, so it sounde..."

Glad you enjoyed it. I thought it showed the madness, complexity and complete randomness of it all, very effectively. The characters often exhibited morally ambiguous behaviour in the struggle to survive... It felt authentic to me.

Re-read the excellent Vietnam War novel by John M. Del Vecchio and by Pat Barker which is also a great read.

Read Suite Française. Told in two parts but should have been more but sadly the author was taken to Auschwitz. One of her daughters packed her manuscript, thinking it was her diary, and carried it around France as she was being pursued by the police although still a child. The first part deals with peoplee fleeing Paris and tbe second about life in tbe country under german occupation. Very good.

Just finished Silver Stallion which tells the story of the Korean war from the point of view of some ordinary rural Korean villagers. A very interesting read and very unflattering to the NATO soldiers, communist soldiers and to traditional Korean society.

Just finished Britannia and reviewed it here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Macro and Cato are involved in trying to exterminate the druids on Anglesey. In winter. Fun times...

Started The Orchard of Lost Souls (Set in 80's/90's Somalia). I am gripped already. I know it's all about to spiral into chaos. Will I need the tissues?

Liz wrote: "Started The Orchard of Lost Souls (Set in 80's/90's Somalia). I am gripped already. I know it's all about to spiral into chaos. Will I need the tissues?

[bookcover:The Orchard of L..."

er......yes......but a beautifully written fab 5 star read.

Catch-22 reads like a M.A.S.H set during WW2, with more and crazier characters in even more absurd situations and conversations. I'm enjoying it, but finding it a bit hard to follow at times.

I won't get around to The Book Thief this time around. I am soon to depart for an Arctic island where I will have no wi-fi, but will be reading my kindle under the midnight sun. I'll be back with updates and to find out what the next genre is in a couple of weeks.

It can be a crazy read plot wise but just stay with it as the characters and the beautifully crafted sense of the absurdity of war will remain with you for ever.

I finished my 2nd War book, The General by C.S. Forester, set during WWI. Very interesting.

Target America by Scott McEwen a story about terrorists attacking USA with nuclear bombs

I re-read The Attack.