All Quiet on the Western Front
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beautiful and disturbing
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If you really want to take on a masterpiece read Dante the Divine Comedy.
*I am legend is good too





Thanks for the ideas...good list going here.


I would read The Pianist, which is not fiction, and I thought one of the great books of the twentieth century -- although not to be confused with the movie.




Other reads I would recommend if you find "beautiful and disturbing" intriguing are:
- Co. Aytch - by Samuel R. Watkins (Civil War)
- A German Deserter's War Experience - by J. Koettgen (World War I)
- In Harm's Way - by Doug Stanton (World War II)
- Japan at War - by Haruko Taya Cook, Theodore F. Cook (World War II)
- The Things They Carried - by Tim O'Brien (Vietnam)


Owen was a British infantryman in the Great War. Tragically, he didn't survive the war. Amazing poet.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16..."
Yes, I was thinking the same thing while I was reading AQOTWF.

Much of the writing comes from letters and diary entries made when she was in her teens and twenties, so she comes across as snarky and snobbish sometimes, and she can't half ramble on.
She describes lengthy exchanges of letters about life, death, the beauty of the skies & countryside, randomly inserts poetry, but then she switches to the terse telegram she received announcing her correspondent's death, you learn how her fiance was machine-gunned just a day before he was due to return on leave, or how her brother was shot in the head by a sniper and "only lived a few minutes longer" and you can't help but feel desperately sorry for her. It's crushingly sad in places.

(Sorry I am not sure what the title is in English, but as it was published in an American newspaper there must be a translation).



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Has anyone read other books that they think achieved this or consciously made you feel complete opposite emotions at the same time?