Today’s MUSING MONDAYS post is about the war books.
With yesterday being Anzac Day, I thought I’d ask a theme question this week. Are you a reader of war books? And if so, do you have any favourites?
Funny, when I thought about it, I can not think of any book, related to any war, that I have read. Ok, yes, I read The Dairy Of a Young Girl...about Anne Frank, when I was in school. But other than that, none. There may be, if I really thought about it, one or two set during a war, but really having anything to do with a war, no.
Is that a conscious decision. Well, I don't have any great interest on war as a subject, so yes, maybe it is. I am not really sure why. It is not the death and mayhem, it is not the evil, since I love murder mysteries, the creepier the better. So why?
I have said before that it is suggested that readers like mysteries because they like the battle of Good and Evil, where Good wins, the mystery is solved, the murderer caught and Order restored. I do think there is something to that suggestion. For me, it does not have to be all neatly wrapped up, all black and white, but I, like many readers, are not too happy with a book ends without the mystery being made clear.
War books, in a way, are the ultimate mystery not wrapped up. They are just to big, the motives too complicated, the moral of all the actions just too questionable. Looking at the Big Picture, they are never really completed, history showing us how one war leads into another..and another. War is simply the human condition, the worse motives and the attempts to defeat them. And there is never a complete solution.
I like my mysteries, my conflicts, smaller and, I will admit, more neatly tied up at the end.
You probably know this, but I have a little bit of a WWII obsession. I enjoy a good versus evil thing too, which probably why I share your love for the crime thriller. But war? The best that you can get out of these books is hope, stories of the unsung heroes, and the potential to walk away with dignity. Do I read these to attempt to remember the mistakes we have made? To appreciate the history of my husband's family? Probably a mixture of all of that!
ReplyDeleteI don't read tons of war books, but I do read some. Probably the most graphic and analytical war book I've read is We Were Soldiers Once. . . and Young. The author lived in Auburn when we did and I had to read the book after I heard him speak.
ReplyDeleteI like your answer ... you came at it from an interesting angle. I agree with you ... war is hard to understand and wrap up in a bow.
ReplyDeletewell, if I can't be right, I like to be unique. ;-)
ReplyDeletemom's next book is war and peace. how funny you should mention it...
ReplyDeleteGosh, that is a very big book Bandit!
ReplyDeleteAnd be sure to come back tomorrow..it is Bandit Tuesday!
I do not particularly seek out books on war, but I don't mind having that as a setting in novels. I have never thought about the war between good and evil---that's a very insightful answer. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm not much into war books either. I'm more into mysteries and romances.
ReplyDelete