# Best war novel

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-war-novel/110192>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 21, 2002, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-war-novel/110192 "2002-05-21T22:46:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-war-novel/110192/21 "2002-05-24T03:31:56Z")

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The only war novel I have ever read was **The Red Badge of Courage** and I really enjoyed it.

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**Author:** ![Jois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-war-novel/110192/22 "2002-05-24T04:37:21Z")

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Yikes! This thread reminded me of how little I’ve been reading lately. My book time is usually “Books on Tape” and you have reminded me of hiding to read Catch 22 without interruption, squeeling with laughter and having to find a new hiding place. And wondering if I could work up the nerve to ask the great uncles what _they_ did during WWII.

A Town Called Alice I read quite a bit later; Shute made it so easy to visualize each location featured in the book.

A Red Badge of Courage was assigned reading, bet I’d probably enjoy it a lot more now that I’m older!

Jois

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**Author:** ![detop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@detop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/detop)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-war-novel/110192/23 "2002-05-24T12:44:36Z")

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**Das Boot**

**Cross of Iron**

H.H. Kirst’s **08/15** trilogy.

**johncole** , I thought that **Chickenhawk** was non-fiction ?

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**Author:** ![jinty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@jinty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jinty)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-war-novel/110192/24 "2002-05-24T12:56:43Z")

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Agree with lots of the above (Naked & Dead, All Quiet, Birdsong, Chickenhawk (tho’ strictly speaking, Chickenhawk is biography), Catch-22 - incidentally, I recently read an anecdote that someone was talking to Heller about C-22, and mentioned that he must have based the bad officer characters on his own [Heller’s] wartime experiences. Heller replied forcefully that he’d never had a bad officer.)

Anyway, here’s my choices:

Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms”.

Derek Robinson’s “Goshawk Squadron”.

Paul Watkins’ “Night over Day over Night”.

(FWIW, the last two made nominations for the literary Booker Prize.)

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**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2002, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-war-novel/110192/25 "2002-05-24T15:41:25Z")

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I’m working on Faulkner’s **A Fable** right now, and so far it’s slow going. I must be some sort of masochist, as I keep picking up his books even though his writing makes little sense to me.

I’m an idiot:(

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