Puffin's Allsorts for 2017
The notable books that I have read up to end of 2017 not covered in one of my challenges for the year. The dates are the first published date.
1. The Road Back by Erich Maria Remarque. (German author, 1931)
This is the sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front. If you have read that I recommend that you be sure to read this. The two go hand in hand.
The story begins in Flanders with men still fighting and dying and being maimed, whilst the talk of peace ripples along the front line with a mixture of hope and disbelief.
Those who 'survive' slowly make their way home only to discover that nothing is as they remember because they themselves have been forever changed by the horrors of war.
There is a real insight into the both the PTSD and the state of Germany as it collapses in the aftermath. I learned a lot of this time period from one who was there.
The author's writing at times is sharp and jarring, and at others flows like pure water; as if Remarque himself was slipping between the hallucinatory world of the war and what it had done to him, and the romantic, idealistic educated young man he once was, as he wrote of these young comrades home from one hell into another kind of hell.
There were many parts of this book where I just wanted to weep at the psychological damage done to these men and the walking wounded of a returned generation.
Many scenes stand out in my mind but one in particular, a scene from later in the book: a march of returned soldiers who have come home only to find poverty, penury, and a world no longer valuing them or the sacrifice they made. At the front of the march are men with one arm missing carrying the banners. Then comes the blind with eyes shot out. Then those who have a little sight but their faces are damaged and many have deformed or no jaws/mouth, noses. Next comes those who had 1 leg amputated shuffling along on crutches, followed by those with both legs lost, pushed along in wicker wheeled chairs. And finally, men who are just a mere torso pushed along on trolleys like the type used to move carcasses of meat in an abattoir.
'awful misery, without much hope, prisoners of the destiny that others made for them.'
The journal I keep of quotes from books I read is full of wisdom and truth when writing from this book.
" We were making war against ourselves without knowing it! Every shot that struck home, struck one of us."
"The youth of the world rose up in every land, believing that it was fighting for freedom. And in every land, they were duped and misused."
This is a book I would like a copy of to keep on my bookshelf and hope others will read.
'all learning, all culture, all science is nothing but hideous mockery, so long as mankind makes war in the name of God and humanity with gas, iron, explosive and fire.' We need to remember and learn from the testimony of these fallen, or suffer it all over again
2. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (English author, 1940)
The story is set in 1938 in Mexico, during the government of President Callas and the infamous atheist governor of Tabasco, Garrido Canabal, and their persecution of the Catholic Church. The main protagonist is a whiskey priest on the run from this persecution.
In the story, the priest is slowly stripped of all material possessions, and all false emotions and beliefs. He sees himself as what he is and accepts he has lived a life full of pride, false piety, cowardice and lack of humility.
Greene has several themes running throughout the story including the dangers of excessive idealism, the disparity between representation and reality (showing the gap between life as it is remembered, recorded or retold, and life as it is lived) and the interrelated nature of so-called opposites. Also the paradox of Christian humility; how difficult it is for a Christian to be truly humble. Humility is a quality that a Christian is supposed to strive to realize in his life; yet as soon that person thinks that he is succeeding in being humble, he can become proud of his success.
Graham Greene's books have a darkness about them because I think Greene saw all too clearly that we live in a dark world of domination where today's liberators often become tomorrow's tyrants. His books are worth reading because, despite this clear sight of the darkness, Greene acknowledges the thread of gold in the rock; that there are good reasons to love humanity and keep striving with both our inner darkness and that imposed upon us by others.
3. A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
A small masterpiece. I read this slowly and savoured this poetical novel; a tale of a golden summer in England, 192o.
Recently returned from Flanders, Tom Birkin undertakes a job at a church in the North Riding of Yorkshire. He is a restorer of paintings and throughout this idyllic summer, the work and the people he meets acts as a restorative of health to his war-damaged psychology. As he slowly removes the grime of centuries and the whitewash covering the painting, the wonder and beauty of life is uncovered for him.
I enjoyed the historical slant of the story and being a Yorkshire lass myself I appreciated the place and dialogue. But most precious of all is the way the author takes the reader gently into a simpler world and a mood and time of peace.
If you don't know what Medieval wall paintings are like, look them up. An example of one in a church in the same North Yorkshire as the book is shown below.
4. Stoner by John Williams.
Described as 'a masterly portrait of a truly virtuous and dedicated man.' New Yorker
'A perfect novel so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving that it takes your breathe away.' New York Times Book Review.
That caught my interest, so let's crack open the book...
And once you do, you will not stop until you reach the end. Finding books like this is why I read.
This book is awarded the best book I read in 2017!
William Stoner, the only child of poor Missouri farmers, discovers unexpectedly that his future lay not in farming, but in reading and teaching literature.
“The love of literature, of language, of the mystery of the mind and heart showing themselves in the minute, strange, and unexpected combinations of letters and words, in the blackest and coldest print—the love which he had hidden as if it were illicit and dangerous, he began to display, tentatively at first, and then boldly, and then proudly.”
The life of this man of integrity is both painful and triumphant. A story of quiet endurance and beauty.
1. The Road Back by Erich Maria Remarque. (German author, 1931)
This is the sequel to All Quiet on the Western Front. If you have read that I recommend that you be sure to read this. The two go hand in hand.
The story begins in Flanders with men still fighting and dying and being maimed, whilst the talk of peace ripples along the front line with a mixture of hope and disbelief.
Those who 'survive' slowly make their way home only to discover that nothing is as they remember because they themselves have been forever changed by the horrors of war.
There is a real insight into the both the PTSD and the state of Germany as it collapses in the aftermath. I learned a lot of this time period from one who was there.
The author's writing at times is sharp and jarring, and at others flows like pure water; as if Remarque himself was slipping between the hallucinatory world of the war and what it had done to him, and the romantic, idealistic educated young man he once was, as he wrote of these young comrades home from one hell into another kind of hell.
There were many parts of this book where I just wanted to weep at the psychological damage done to these men and the walking wounded of a returned generation.
Many scenes stand out in my mind but one in particular, a scene from later in the book: a march of returned soldiers who have come home only to find poverty, penury, and a world no longer valuing them or the sacrifice they made. At the front of the march are men with one arm missing carrying the banners. Then comes the blind with eyes shot out. Then those who have a little sight but their faces are damaged and many have deformed or no jaws/mouth, noses. Next comes those who had 1 leg amputated shuffling along on crutches, followed by those with both legs lost, pushed along in wicker wheeled chairs. And finally, men who are just a mere torso pushed along on trolleys like the type used to move carcasses of meat in an abattoir.
'awful misery, without much hope, prisoners of the destiny that others made for them.'
The journal I keep of quotes from books I read is full of wisdom and truth when writing from this book.
" We were making war against ourselves without knowing it! Every shot that struck home, struck one of us."
"The youth of the world rose up in every land, believing that it was fighting for freedom. And in every land, they were duped and misused."
This is a book I would like a copy of to keep on my bookshelf and hope others will read.
'all learning, all culture, all science is nothing but hideous mockery, so long as mankind makes war in the name of God and humanity with gas, iron, explosive and fire.' We need to remember and learn from the testimony of these fallen, or suffer it all over again
2. The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene (English author, 1940)
The story is set in 1938 in Mexico, during the government of President Callas and the infamous atheist governor of Tabasco, Garrido Canabal, and their persecution of the Catholic Church. The main protagonist is a whiskey priest on the run from this persecution.
In the story, the priest is slowly stripped of all material possessions, and all false emotions and beliefs. He sees himself as what he is and accepts he has lived a life full of pride, false piety, cowardice and lack of humility.
Greene has several themes running throughout the story including the dangers of excessive idealism, the disparity between representation and reality (showing the gap between life as it is remembered, recorded or retold, and life as it is lived) and the interrelated nature of so-called opposites. Also the paradox of Christian humility; how difficult it is for a Christian to be truly humble. Humility is a quality that a Christian is supposed to strive to realize in his life; yet as soon that person thinks that he is succeeding in being humble, he can become proud of his success.
Graham Greene's books have a darkness about them because I think Greene saw all too clearly that we live in a dark world of domination where today's liberators often become tomorrow's tyrants. His books are worth reading because, despite this clear sight of the darkness, Greene acknowledges the thread of gold in the rock; that there are good reasons to love humanity and keep striving with both our inner darkness and that imposed upon us by others.
3. A Month in the Country by J. L. Carr
A small masterpiece. I read this slowly and savoured this poetical novel; a tale of a golden summer in England, 192o.
Recently returned from Flanders, Tom Birkin undertakes a job at a church in the North Riding of Yorkshire. He is a restorer of paintings and throughout this idyllic summer, the work and the people he meets acts as a restorative of health to his war-damaged psychology. As he slowly removes the grime of centuries and the whitewash covering the painting, the wonder and beauty of life is uncovered for him.
I enjoyed the historical slant of the story and being a Yorkshire lass myself I appreciated the place and dialogue. But most precious of all is the way the author takes the reader gently into a simpler world and a mood and time of peace.
If you don't know what Medieval wall paintings are like, look them up. An example of one in a church in the same North Yorkshire as the book is shown below.
Described as 'a masterly portrait of a truly virtuous and dedicated man.' New Yorker
'A perfect novel so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving that it takes your breathe away.' New York Times Book Review.
That caught my interest, so let's crack open the book...
And once you do, you will not stop until you reach the end. Finding books like this is why I read.
This book is awarded the best book I read in 2017!
William Stoner, the only child of poor Missouri farmers, discovers unexpectedly that his future lay not in farming, but in reading and teaching literature.
“The love of literature, of language, of the mystery of the mind and heart showing themselves in the minute, strange, and unexpected combinations of letters and words, in the blackest and coldest print—the love which he had hidden as if it were illicit and dangerous, he began to display, tentatively at first, and then boldly, and then proudly.”
The life of this man of integrity is both painful and triumphant. A story of quiet endurance and beauty.
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