2nd World War Stories.

DiscussieHistorical Fiction

Sluit je aan bij LibraryThing om te posten.

2nd World War Stories.

Dit onderwerp is gemarkeerd als "slapend"—het laatste bericht is van meer dan 90 dagen geleden. Je kan het activeren door een een bericht toe te voegen.

1Claire5555
Bewerkt: mei 15, 2015, 10:01 am

I find history very interesting, and I am particularly interested in the 2nd World War era. I am planning, but not yet bought the book ...... Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett, is this book based on the movie? Anybody got any suggestions for other world war 2 books? let me know. Thanks. Although I have started to read Pearl Harbor by Randall Wallace.....

3rocketjk
mei 17, 2015, 11:49 am

I believe the movie The Eye of the Needle is based on the book, not the other way around. I will be back a bit later to list a few of my favorite novels about World War 2. The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer would be at or near the top of that list.

4dajashby
mei 17, 2015, 7:08 pm

Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan, which won last year's Booker prize.

5aulsmith
mei 18, 2015, 9:03 am

Once again, we come to the definition of "historical" fiction. Do you mean fiction written about subjects regardless of whether the person lived through them or not? Or do you mean fiction taking place during a time the author did not live through but has done historical research on?

It also sounds like you want action stories, not stories written from the home front or about concentration camps?

For books written by people who actually lived through WWII and then wrote fiction I would recommend (in addition to The Naked and the Dead)

Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut
Mr. Roberts by Thomas Heggan

A couple of good thrillers (not sure if the authors went through wwii) :

The Guns of Navaronne by Alistair MacLean
Stalag-17 by Donald Bevan

Alan Furst writes really good spy stories, nmany set during WWII, but I've only started reading him, so I don't know which to recommend. Furst was born in 1941, so I'd put his stuff in the researched historical category.

6rocketjk
mei 18, 2015, 3:03 pm

I read a book many years ago called The Big War by Anton Myrer. It's a terrific book, sadly unheralded. Myrer was a Marine during the war, wounded on Guam. His NYTimes obituary is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/01/23/arts/anton-myrer-73-whose-novels-focused-on-wa...

Looking back on his own wartime service, Mr. Myrer said: "World War II was the one event which had the greatest impact on my life. I enlisted imbued with a rather flamboyant concept of this country's destiny as the leader of a free world and the necessity of the use of armed force. I emerged a corporal three years later in a state of great turmoil, at the core of which was an angry awareness of war as the most vicious and fraudulent self-deception man had ever devised."

7Tess_W
Bewerkt: apr 27, 2016, 10:00 am

WWII books I have enjoyed, they are true stories, but written as novels, so historical fiction?! (I'm not into the historical fiction debate)

The Monuments Men
A Band of Brothers
The Sunflower : On the Possibilities and Limits of Forgiveness
Playing for Time
All The Light We Cannot See
The Red Rooster

8John5918
Bewerkt: jun 13, 2015, 12:53 pm

Three books about the Home Front (two British, one German) which I have enjoyed:

The Fire Fighter by Francis Cottam

Other Times by Leslie Thomas

The Night of the Generals by Hans Hellmut Kirst

Then there's the immediate post-WW2 occupation - The Second Victory by Morris West

If you like Ken Follett then you might want to try Night Over Water.

9aquascum
mrt 25, 2016, 1:06 pm

Have another recommendation request:

WW2 novels/stories written by people involved. Or written using journals/letters by people involved.

I know of German ones, but not translated (as far as I know). Anything in English?

10tjm568
apr 8, 2016, 1:58 pm

Flyboys by James Bradley. (Not related to the movie of the same name). A Higher Call by Adam Makos. Neither written by the involved parties but with their input.

Jeff Shaara also has a four book trilogy about WWII starting with The Rising Tide. Originally he meant it to cover just the European theater, then added a fourth book covering the Pacific War. Shaara tells the stories (which are very historically accurate) in the first person from the perspective of different people who were involved. So it sort of fulfills your latest request.