Catch 22 just celebrated its 50th birthday? One of my favorite war novels.
Which war novels do you like?

Väinö Linna: Tuntematon sotilas

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I don't know half of you half as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.

Definitely Catch 22, and though most wouldn't think of it strictly as a war novel, Slaughterhouse Five made a profound impression on me.
Oh and Fail Safe scared the crap out of me when I read it at 11 years old.

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My friend Chuck, who just recently lost his wife Helen, fought in WW11 and the Koren War, and his only comment about it is: "War is hell...hell, hell Marissa, hell on earth, hell!"

I read a book once, a long time a go that won--I believe--the Nobel prize for literature. I think, though I am not sure, it was written in French, and I read the translation. I can't remember the name of it or how to even begin to search for it on the web. I think it was written in a kind of stream of consciousness from different characters point of view-- a bit like Faulkner. And even though it was about war, it was very poetic and beautiful. Maybe it was the author who won the award for literature. And it seems it was written about WW1. If anyone knows which book I am writing about and the Authors name, I would be much obliged.

Mr. Glantz:
I did not like: "Catch 22", because was to "strong" for me. And I believe is a "ANTI-WAR" novel.

Recently read Catch-22 for the first time and it immediately became one of my favourite books. It can hardly be said to glorify war, in fact it's more a condemnation of the idiocy behind it. I don't think it's contrived at all; I couldn't stop laughing in parts, but also found it upsetting (which, to be fair, is hardly surprising given the setting of it). It's not so upsetting as to give you nightmares unless you're particularly sensitive.

As for other war books - I'm not really into them. However, Siegfried Sassoon's WWI poems are very strong.

Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, also based in WWI is interesting. It's mainly based in a psychiatric hospital with real characters (Dr Rivers, Sassoon, Owen and some others) but there are fictional characters and settings which fit beautifully with it. It's a very well researched thread and each book can be read as stand-alone stories. I had to read the 3rd one for a course and was interested enough to get the other two to see how it had all come to that particular ending. Not for the faint hearted, but again, not over the top in nasty descriptions, just realistic. Worth a read.

Johnny Got His Gun, by Dalton Trumbo was one of the most controversial 'anti war' novels of it's time; All Quiet on the Western Front also one of the most influential. Hooker's M*A*S*H ( and Altman's film version) and Catch-22 are great satires, with Catch-22 speaking to paradoxes in logic.

Victor Klemperer's diaries are insightful. The Diary of Anne Frank speaks for itself.

Ulysses S. Grant's memoirs are interesting reading too.

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Forgiving is Love, Love is For Giving.

The　circle　game Buffy Sainte Marie

War and peace.

Gone with the Wind was a pretty good read.

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In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.--Mar Atwood

I don't know if I am right PPS, but I think war films glorify war, I don't think that novels glorify war at all, it really rather depends on the person reading the novel, what do you think?

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I live in my own little world, but it's OK - they know me here...

King and Country

Here are three that immediately come to mind:

A Very Long Engagement by Sebastien Japrisot (WWI)

The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak (WWII)

1776 by David McCullough - not technically a novel, but a really fantastic nonfiction book about the beginning of the Revolutionary War.

Catch 22: the title of a novel, honored with idiom-hood.

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Off to Singapore for a spell!

"The Dogs of War" written by Frederick Forsyth

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