I asked this question a few months ago and figure I’d ask every few months because it was great to see the large response and it was nice to get book recommendations to add to my ever expanding pile to read. The book I most recently finished was The Cat Who Walked Through Walls by Heinlein and I’m currently reading The Strong Shall Live which is a series of short stories by Louis L’Amour. I have found a ton of his books at yard sales and they are usually sold for a quarter or 50 cents a piece so I have quite a few and this is the first one I’m reading. Also found the book Lonesome Dove along with L’Amour’s stuff. Anyway, what are yall reading?
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I'm currently reading Storm of Steel by Ernst Jünger (original 1929 translation, published by Mystery Grove).
A books about the experiences of a young German officer in WWI. I'm still at the beginning, but it seems interesting so far, even if a little over the top at times.
Before that I read Lost to the West, by Lars Brownworth, which is about the history of the Byzantine empire. A great book, very concise, and it was the only book about Byzantine history I ever managed to finish.
Sounds interesting. Is that like All Quiet on the Western Front?
It's the anti-All Quiet on the Western Front.
Erich Marie-Remarque served in combat a relatively short time before he was wounded and exited World War I, was an avowed pacifist, and spent much of his life living abroad outside of Germany.
Ernst Junger,on the other hand, fought for over three years in numerous battles, was wounded multiple times, and received Germany's highest award for valor. He utterly rejected pacifism and although recognized the horrible carnage of modern war he also appreciated it's capacity for adventure and personal, even transcendent growth through adversity. You'll see all of that in Storm of Steel. Just the type of book you'll never see assigned in high school literature class.
Some of Junger's fiction is quite good but rather unknown in the States, like the Glass Bees.