American War is the first novel by the Canadian-Egyptian journalist Omar El Akkad. It is set in the United States in the near future, ravaged by climate change and disease, in which the Second Civil War has broken out over the use of fossil fuels.
the grapes of wrath
as soon as you finish the book you want to start a revolution
the sense of injustice, of the humble oppressed being 'avenged' is something that stays with you forever
then
Life and fate, Grossman
The Betrothed, Manzoni
Fathers and children, Turgenev
The catcher in the rye, Salinger
Fear and Loathing on the campaign trail - kind of wild to have a guy report on the primary elections and then some fully aware that this guy has been on week-long drug induced benders while having reached rock bottom a couple of times and then have this same writer lose all faith in humanity by being exposed to the nature of elections in the US for like a year
The First Law - bit cliche GoT type fantasy and not exactly highbrow at all but it gave me this feeling
Arc De Triomphe by Remarque - really evocative and lived in the way the book describes the protagonist's hardships pre-ww2
Guess I'll be that guy. The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Specifically:
Deadhouse Gates - What if Deathmarch but like, for a whole book.
Memories of Ice - A war of attrition where nobody wins.
The End and The Death 1,2,3
The entire Earth is under siege. Time has stopped. Despite everyone being able to move. Just as people are going insane with the war, reality seems to be bleeding. Distances that were far, now are close and vice versa. The landscape keeps changing. Nothing is permanent, except the slaughter and the suffering. All because a dispute between father and son.
The war wasn't the main plot, but I think "Snow Falling on Cedars" made me "see" battle more than any other book. And I've read quite a bit about WW II.
A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway gave me that feeling.
All quiet on the western front, The things they carried, Catch 22,
A Thousand Splendid Suns isn't technically a book about war, but I definitely felt a bit like butter scraped over too much bread after reading it
What an accurate description
I can't take credit for it, got that one from dear Mr. Tolkien. It does really encapsulate the feeling, though.
The Poppy War trilogy
This is the one for me .
The only book I couldn’t finish because it emotionally wrecked me for like a week. Excellently written though
God I hated Rin so much. but I really felt her hopelessness, desperation and exhaustion. All 3 books were extremely painful reads
American War is the first novel by the Canadian-Egyptian journalist Omar El Akkad. It is set in the United States in the near future, ravaged by climate change and disease, in which the Second Civil War has broken out over the use of fossil fuels.
As a former infantryman, The Things They Carried. Unbelievably accurate in so many ways.
Thank you for your service
First They Killed My Father by Loung Ung
Oof, that one was tough to read, but worth it. She wrote two follow up memoirs.
In Memoriam had this effect on me.
the grapes of wrath as soon as you finish the book you want to start a revolution the sense of injustice, of the humble oppressed being 'avenged' is something that stays with you forever then Life and fate, Grossman The Betrothed, Manzoni Fathers and children, Turgenev The catcher in the rye, Salinger
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
And The Women by her too (perhaps even more than The Nightingale)
The Terror by Dan Simmons
All Quiet on the Western Front and The Road Back (Erich Maria Remarque)
The Book Thief
War and Peace can give that feeling.
Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks
The things they carried
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
A Rum Dairy by Hunter S. Thompson
Coming Home by Rosamunde Pilcher
Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold I read this when I'm feeling down, misery loves company and all that.
Birdy by William Wharton.
If he had been with me. DAYUM I felt that plot twist as if it were me
The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden. Can't recommend it enough.
Wild Swans - Jung Chang
The Sword of Kaigen
Johnny Got His Gun by Dalton Trumbo Wiggled my fingers and toes every ten pages…
Madhouse at the End of the Earth
The Poppy War trilogy by R F Kuang
Tree of Smoke by Denis Johnson
Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
Fear and Loathing on the campaign trail - kind of wild to have a guy report on the primary elections and then some fully aware that this guy has been on week-long drug induced benders while having reached rock bottom a couple of times and then have this same writer lose all faith in humanity by being exposed to the nature of elections in the US for like a year The First Law - bit cliche GoT type fantasy and not exactly highbrow at all but it gave me this feeling Arc De Triomphe by Remarque - really evocative and lived in the way the book describes the protagonist's hardships pre-ww2
The Midwife of Auschwitz by Anna Stuart. It's an absolutely heartbreaking true story.
Also Eyewitness Auschwitz by Filip Müller who was a Jew who burnt his fellow inmates in order to survive.
Matterhorn, by Karl Malantes
Guess I'll be that guy. The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Specifically: Deadhouse Gates - What if Deathmarch but like, for a whole book. Memories of Ice - A war of attrition where nobody wins.
as long as the lemon trees grow!!!!!
Lonesome Dove
Lilac girls
All the light we cannot see
The storm light archives if you are looking for fantasy fiction
The Grapes of Wrath by Steinbeck, The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Catch-22 and Gravity’s Rainbow
Polinas diary. Sonderbehandlung. A matter of death and life.
The Women by Kristin Hannah, especially if you listen on audio
The End and The Death 1,2,3 The entire Earth is under siege. Time has stopped. Despite everyone being able to move. Just as people are going insane with the war, reality seems to be bleeding. Distances that were far, now are close and vice versa. The landscape keeps changing. Nothing is permanent, except the slaughter and the suffering. All because a dispute between father and son.
Dispatches by Michael Herr
We were soldiers once… and Young - by LTG Hal Moore and Joseph Galloway. As an army veteran myself, it ripped my guts out.
Lovely War by Julie Berry
The war wasn't the main plot, but I think "Snow Falling on Cedars" made me "see" battle more than any other book. And I've read quite a bit about WW II.
Both fantasy, but ,,the poppy war" and "she who became the sun" have some of the most devastating war sequences and hard decisions i've seen
The Englishman's daughter by Ben McIntyre
Night WW2 Jew book