readingthepast | Mod post: theme suggestions

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damned_colonial posting in

readingthepast

Please suggest themes you'd like to see covered here! Cut and paste the following into a comment:

ETA: please put your theme in the subject of your comment!

Theme:
Are you prepared to run it? Yes/No
Suggested books, if you have them already:

What does it mean to run the theme?

1. At least one month in advance, you'll let everyone know about the theme and your suggested reading for it. You need to suggest at least 3 works of fiction.
2. On the first of the month, you will post a welcome/introduction/kickoff for the theme.
3. Throughout the month, you'll take an active part in discussion of the theme.

You do not have to be an expert on the theme to run it. You just need to have an interest in it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

damned_colonial

We should probably do WW1 in general, too.

"All Quiet on the Western Front" is an obvious choice.

One of the Richard Hannay novels would be a good comparison from the same period.

Not sure what to pick for a more modern perspective... we read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fly_Away_Peter in secondary school, and I hated it at the time, but wouldn't mind revisiting. It's short at least.

From:

wychwood

True!

I'd suggest Blackadder Goes Forth as an interesting TV series for this - it's ridiculous and hilarious, certainly, but it actually respects the context more than I expect.

Also, how about Regeneration, the Pat Barker series? I've heard a lot of good things about that, though I wasn't overwhelmed myself. That's actual historical fiction, go team me!

I'd like something from elsewhere in the world, but I don't know what to suggest, again. There's nothing obviously non-European in that category you linked, though I need to look more closely.

From:

nightmareink

I liked Regeneration myself. I need to read the other two books however.

From:

damned_colonial

Fly Away Peter is Australian. And there's the movie "Gallipoli", of course, for more of that. Ooh, and here's a home front New Zealand YA novel: http://teen-historical-fiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/review_a_rose_for_the_anzac_boys

Midge Macpherson is a 16-year-old New Zealand girl enrolled in an English finishing school when her two brothers go off to war. Her best friends are Anne, the youngest daughter of an aristocratic British family and Ethel, the daughter of a Yorkshire wholesale grocer.

The three girls struggle with their inactivity and the irrelevance of their studies in deportment and home management skills while their brothers and loved ones are fighting in France, Belgium and Gallipoli. Stirred into action by a telegram telling her that her twin brother is missing in action, Anne rallies her friends to join her as she sets off for France with a plan to start a canteen to provide meals to the troops travelling to the Western Front.

As they deal with the tens of thousands of soldiers who pass through their lives, the girls discover hidden strengths and abilities. They unearth a sense of purpose in their desire to contribute to the well-bring of the soldiers and are impacted by the connections that they make with the local French villagers, other volunteers and the soldiers themselves

From:

wychwood

Wow, that sounds awesome! I want to read it!

*bets there will not be copies in Europe...*

From:

damned_colonial

That's what http://bookfinder.com/ is for ;)

From:

wychwood

Yeah, but they cost money *g*. Mostly I rely on my library system and Bookmooch, but that's obviously fairly limiting.

From:

nightmareink

If there's no one who has volunteered to run this one, I'd be willing to do so. WWI is an area of interest of mine and I'm at least familiar with two of the books mentioned here.