War in Fiction: The Lists - WWI & WWII

Sorry, this is going to be a bit of a rehash today.  I wanted to make sure I linked to all the great suggestions I received for books about and set during WWI and WWII, so I thought I would make two nice lists conveniently on one page.  Hopefully this will make it easy if anyone wants to print the lists off.  If you click on the titles you can read about them on Amazon. 

WWI suggestions:

Life Class, Pat Barker

Regeneration, Pat Barker

No Angel, Penny Vincenzi

Long Way Home, Sebastian Barry

Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks

Air We Breath, Andrea Barrett

Crimson Portrait, Jody Shields

Apple Blossom Time, Kathryn Haig

Dark Tide, Vera Brittain

Flowers of the Field, Sarah Harrison

The Last Day of the War, Judith Claire Mitchell

Mansfield, C.K. Stead

Random Harvest, James Hilton

Love's Mansion, Paul West

Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain

Dreamers of the Day, Mary Doria Russell

A Very Long Engagement, Sebastien Japrisot

Winter of the World, Carol Ann Lee

Parade's End, Ford Madox Ford

Under Fire, Henri Barbusse

An Airman's Wife: A True Story of Lovers Separated by War, Aimee McHardy

Penguin Book of World War I Stories, edited by Barbara Korte

Goodbye to All That, Robert Graves

The Great War and Modern Memory, Paul Fussell

A Soldier of the Great War, Mark Helprin

Barbed Wire and Yellow Roses, Peter Yeldham

Black Diamonds, Kim Kelly

All Quiet on the Western Front, Erich Maria Remarque

The Middle Parts of Fortune Somme and Ancre, Frederic Manning

A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway

Storm of Steel, Ernst Junger

Patrimony, Jane Thynne

Alfred and Emily, Doris Lessing

Goshawk Squadron, Derek Robinson

Verdun, Jules Romain

Greenmantle, John Buchan

Vimy, Pierre Berton

The Enormous Room, E.E. Cummings

WWII suggestions:

April in Paris, Michael Wallner

The Bronze Horseman, Paullina Simons

Heart Mountain, Gretel Ehrlich 

Resistance, Owen Sheers 

She Goes to War, Edith Pargeter

A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute

Atonement, Ian McEwan

Jill, Philip Larkin

Gone to Soldiers, Marge Piercy 

The Siege, Helen Dunmore

The Welsh Girl, Peter Ho Davies - 

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Mary Ann Shaffer

The English Patient, Michael Ondaatje

Charlotte Gray, Sebastian Faulks 

Land Girls, Angela Huth

Good Evening, Mrs Craven: The Wartime Stories of Mollie Panter-Downes, Mollie Panter-Downes 

The Balkan Trilogy and The Levant Trilogy, Olivia Manning

Tallgrass, Sandra Dallas

Debs at War, Anne de Courcy

Resistance: One Woman's Defiance in Occupied France, Agnes Humbert

Restless, William Boyd

If This is a Man, Primo Levi

The Summer of My German Soldier, Bette Greene

Night, Elie Wiesel

Suite Francaise, Irene Nemirovsky

The Night Watch, Sarah Waters

Human Voices, Penelope Fitzgerald

Sophie's Choice, William Styron

Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank

The Winds of War and War and Remembrance, Herman Wouk

These are definitely not complete lists (and it seems like there are more WWI titles than WWII titles--I thought it would be the reverse), but they are a starting point if you are looking for a book about this period.  I hope to read many of the books as well.  Hopefully I've listed all the suggestions I've received, and if I've missed something please let me know.  Thanks for everyone's help!

Comments

[Courtney]

WW II -
The Winds of War and War and Remembrance.
Everybody - EVERYBODY - should read both.

[Danielle]

Courtney--Thanks--Wouk is another author I pick up and look at in the bookstore, but can never quite decide. I will give them a try now, though!

[iliana]

These are great Danielle! Thank you for putting it together in one blog post. It's funny, I always say I don't like "war" literature/films/etc. but there are a lot of books on these lists that are on my radar.

[Kailana]

Oh, what a great idea! I tend to read a lot of stuff set in these two events, so I will be printing that list off for sure!

[dark orpheus]

My contribution will be minimum, I'm afraid. I don't seem to have read many books set around the World Wars.

Is A.L. Kennedy's "Day" in the list?

Also, "Singapore Grip" by J.G. Farrell, "Bridge Over the River Kwai"by Pierre Boulle, Norman Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead", "The Thin Red Line" by James Jones, "Empire of the Sun" by J.G. Ballard

I guess my list tends to be more towards the Japanese-American side of the conflict.

[litlove]

What great lists! Thank you - I'll be printing these out and keeping them.

[Karen]

Thanks for all your great ideas Danielle. I just finished No Angel and really enjoyed it. I'll be looking out for the next two books in the trilogy.

[Cath]

Thank you so much for doing this, Danielle. I have the list duly saved in my book rec folder. A few I haven't read but are on my tbr pile are:

The Patriot's Progress - Henry Williamson (WW1)
Memoirs of an Infantry Officer - Siegfried Sassoon (WW1)
Reunion - Fred Uhlman (WW2)
Winter, A Berlin Family 1899-1945 - Len Deighton (WW1 and 2)
Saplings - Noel Streatfeild

[Cath]

And I completely forgot one of my favourite WW1 books - The First Casualty by Ben Elton, who was one of the Blackadder writers. I read this WW1 crime novel last year and absolutely loved it.

[Dorothy W.]

Thanks for the lists Danielle -- they are very useful! Definitely something to save and consult when in the right mood.

[Jessica]

War literature is one of my favorite genres. There is a ton out there for the Civil War too.

I also would have thought that there would be more available for WWII. Odd.

[_lethe_]

Oh, and I must put a plug in for one of the greatest Dutch novels about WWII: The Darkroom of Damocles, by W.F. Hermans. The book has only recently been translated into English, and none too soon in my opinion!

I can't seem to get html to work on your blog, but here are a couple of links with (non-spoilerish) reviews:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Darkroom-Damocles-W-F-Hermans/dp/1843432064

http://www.amazon.com/Darkroom-Damocles-Willem-Frederik-Hermans/dp/1590200624/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219423251&sr=1-1

http://johnbakersblog.co.uk/the-darkroom-of-damocles-by-wf-hermans-a-review/

I hope you can get your hands on a (library) copy, it's worth it!

[Nan]

Here's another one for WW ll - The Chestnut Tree by Charlotte Bingham. Great list!

[Danielle]

Iliana--I know what you mean--I think some of these stories touch on the war peripherally and others are entirely about it. Some of the stories can be hard going but they appeal to me in some way.
Kailana--I hope you find it useful!
Dark Orpheus--Thanks for all the great suggestions. I think I tend to read about the wars from the western european perspective. It's interesting to read about the other theaters/fronts (is that what they call it?) of the war. I'd love to read the Ballard book--I remember seeing the movie and it really affected be deeply.
Litlove--I think I will have to print it out as well actually, as there are so many more suggestions than I came up with.
Karen--So glad you enjoyed it. I found the books very addicting.
Cath--Thanks--several of those are completely new to me. I'd really like to read Saplings. I've been trying hard to not order anything new from Persephone books, but my list keeps getting longer and my resolve weaker.
Dorothy--There should be lots to choose from when you feel like reading something from this period. Of course just making the list makes me want to pull some of them out and start them now.
Jessica--I have a feeling there is lots on WWII, but somehow the WWI list just ended up longer. I've read very little Civil War era fiction or NF. Another area I am weak in. Maybe I'll have to make a list for this sometime as well, though I'm not sure how many titles I could come up with.
Lethe--I will definitely look for it. I am always interested in fiction (or NF really) in translation. Thanks so much for the links (I wish I could help with the HTML, but I'm pretty hopeless about some of that stuff)--they work just fine! :)
Nan--I think I have a couple of Charlotte Bingham's books (perhaps even that title). Another author that sounded good, I bought and haven't yet read. Must pull her out and see what I have on hand.

[Les in NE]

You might want to add Losing Julia by Jonathan Hull to your WWI list. Oh, and Mary Doria Russell's A Thread of Grace is a wonderful book about WWII.

Great lists!

[Danielle]

Les--Thanks--I actually have both of those and they didn't come to mind (probably because I still haven't read them yet). Thanks--I will add them to the list! :)

[Citronyella]

Don't forget the Cazalet Chronicles by Elizabet Jane Howard!!! The Light Years, Marking Time, Confusion, Casting Off. Elizabeth Bowen's The Heat of the Day. Derek Robinson's Piece of Cake.

[Citronyella]

Almost forgot Graham Green The Ministry of Fear.

[Danielle]

Cintronyella--How could I have forgotten the Cazelet Chronicles??! I read the first three, but I don't think I got to the last one. I really need to reread them. Excellent books--you're right. I also read the Bowen, but I don't remember details, but she wrote a lot of WWII short stories, so I should have thought of her! Thanks for ther suggestions--I need to update my lists again. The other books are new to me, so must check them out now.

[Amanda]

Another WWI novel worth tracking down is Bury Him Among Kings by Elleston Trevor. Very much like All Quiet on the Western Front, except from the British side.

[Danielle]

Amanda--I really need to read the Remarque book. Thanks for the suggestion--I've not heard of Elleston Trevor--it sounds interesting and I'll be looking for it as well!