rileyuk.co.uk

Spurred on by Channel 4's count down of the 100 Greatest War Films ever made, according to god knows who, I've become interested in unearthing some novels regarding the subject of war and its consequences. Inevitabley, my attention would be more directed toward anti-war books such as the fabulous Catch-22 or even the much more serious but no less enthralling Farewell To Arms by Ernest Hemmingway, but anything would do from any time period, genre or point of view.

Now I'm back in work, even if it is as enjoyable as shooting off my own gonads with a bazooka, I can actually afforded to buy some new books so I'm planning a blanket bombing of Waterstones within the next fortnight, so any suggestions need to be in before then.

You have your orders, don't disappointment me,
Captain Underpants

My recommendation would be to try "Wasp" by Eric Frank Russell. Ostensibly a Science Fiction novel, and indeed presented as such, it is really about war and the subversive world of the terrorist, but its viewpoint leaves the interpretation very much up to the reader. I guess that most people would enjoy this book as a jolly good yarn, but look beneath the surface and you can see Russell's acid wit and keen mind very much in evidence.

You can find this novel in the Gollancz series of SF novels, or on eBay or amazon.co.uk My copy is much valued and, sadly, not up for loan, but I can recommend no book more highly than this one.

Do please read it!

Best wishes

John

I have heard that Captain Corellies Mandolin is a novel well worth a read. However, I have never had the oportunity to read it so this is purely hearsay. I discovered the novel through the film (of the same name) and by a visit to Kefelonia, Greece.

The novel is all about the Russian / Nazi occupation of the Island in WW2 and the struggle for the local people to come to terms with the new regime's.

As for the poll. . . . War would not a nice thing to experience, however, in terms of evelution and species population control an observer (in a scientific sense) may call it essential. . . Personally I hope I never have to go through the experience. Ever.