Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Books about World War II.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015



Phil and I are reading Patrick Hamilton's books about World War 11. What are some of your favorite books set during the second world war?

13 comments:

Unknown said...

My favorite is CATCH-22, but I also like SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE.

Rick Robinson said...

The Tin Drum, Guns of Navarone, The Moon Is Down

Anonymous said...

The Cruel Sea, Away All Boats, The Barren Beaches of Hell, HMS Ulysses

pattinase (abbott) said...

Lots of new titles to me on here.

Gerard said...

There are a bunch.

Anonymous said...

Tears in the Darkness: The Story of the Bataan Death March and Its Aftermath

by Michael Norman and Elizabeth M. Norman

Dana King said...

All of Cornelius Ryan's books are excellent, as is Ambrose's BAND OF BROTHERS. (I haven't read CITIZEN SOlDIERS, but I'd have to expect it's pretty good, too.) The best overview of the war I've ever read, bar none, is Max Hastings' INFERNO. Wonderful and heartbreaking book, written in an understated way that makes the suffering more real than trying to milk emotion from people.

Cap'n Bob said...

My family had a two-book set called The Illustrated History of World War II that I perused all the time when I was a kid. It's gone now.

Lately I've been reading about the US Navy in the South Pacific. The books are good, but nothing I'd rate a favorite.

Anonymous said...

Among nonfiction books, I have read the first two volumes of Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy, An Army At Dawn and The Day of Battle, and they are outstanding.

Rick Robinson said...

Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy is excellent, but I was thinking of fiction.

Anonymous said...

The Winds of War and War and Remembrance are classics!

Gerard said...

The most recent fiction I've probably read have been James R. Benn's BILLY BOYLE series. Benn will pick lesser known events and stick Boyle in the center of them.

Max Hastings' books are excellent. I listened to the one covering the Pacific campaign. I've read plenty before about the island fighting but Hastings pointed out how the submarine campaign was vital in isolating the Japanese islands.

Unknown said...

I think it qualifies as WWII novel -- The Caine Mutiny (Note: the novel is even better than the movie).

And I agree with Margot. The Wouk novels are great entertainments.

However, I confess that I have not read either Mailer's or Jones's highly regarded WWII masterpieces. I need to get started!