Reading Recommendations: Veteran's Day-Inspired Picks

Reading Recommendations:

🎖️Veteran's Day-Inspired Picks


Tomorrow, November 11th, is Veteran's Day here in the U.S. In honor of that, I have chosen to feature some veteran-inspired books to share with you all. There's a bit of a mix here content-wise, but hopefully there's a least open book here that might appeal to you and share some insight on war, the military, or what it's like to be a veteran that has returned home. I also added a few kid's books at the bottom that discuss this subject, as it's never a bad time to share the importance of honoring those who volunteer and fight for us. Enjoy!
(I added a brief summary/blurb that is provided with each book on Goodreads--some are a bit long, but I wanted to make sure to give a little info for each book! You can find the full summary/read a preview over at Goodreads as well.)

The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien

"In 1979, Tim O'Brien's Going After Cacciato - a novel about the Vietnam War - won the National Book Award. In this, his second work of fiction about Vietnam, O'Brien's unique artistic vision is again clearly demonstrated. Neither a novel nor a short story collection, it is an arc of fictional episodes, taking place in the childhoods of its characters, in the jungles of Vietnam and back home in America two decades later."

A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo

"The extraordinary bestseller that provides a close-up look unlike any other, at the American experience in Vietnam. Powerful, vivid, compassionate, and heartbreaking, here is a very personal and yet universal grunt's-eye-view of the hopeless brutality and the ultimate, and seemingly endless horror where men and governments sacrificed their morality and the souls of their nation."

Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War by Matt Gallagher

"When Lieutenant Matt Gallagher began his blog with the aim of keeping his family and friends apprised of his experiences, he didn't anticipate that it would resonate far beyond his intended audience. His subjects ranged from mission details to immortality, grim stories about Bon Jovi cassettes mistaken for IEDs, and the daily experiences of the Gravediggers-the code name for members of Gallagher's platoon. When the blog was shut down in June 2008 by the U.S. Army, there were more than twentyfive congressional inquiries regarding the matter as well as reports through the military grapevine that many high-ranking officials and officers at the Pentagon were disappointed that the blog had been ordered closed. Like Anthony Swofford's Jarhead, Gallagher's Kaboom resonates with stoic detachment and timeless insight into a war that we are still trying to understand."

House to House: A Soldier's Memoir by David Bellavia

"One of the great heroes of the Iraq War, Staff Sergeant David Bellavia captures the brutal action and raw intensity of leading his Third Platoon, Alpha Company, into a lethally choreographed kill zone: the booby-trapped, explosive-laden houses of Fallujah's militant insurgents. Bringing to searing life the terrifying intimacy of hand-to-hand infantry combat, this stunning war memoir features an indelibly drawn cast of characters, not all of whom would make it out of the city alive, as well as chilling accounts of Bellavia's singular courage: Entering one house alone, he used every weapon at his disposal in the fight of his life against America's most implacable enemy."

Matterhorn: A Novel of the Vietnam War by Karl Marlantes

"A big, powerful saga of men in combat, written over the course of thirty-five years by a highly decorated Vietnam veteran."

The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway

"Encapsulates the angst of the post-World War I generation, known as the Lost Generation. This poignantly beautiful story of a group of American and English expatriates in Paris on an excursion to Pamplona represents a dramatic step forward for Hemingway's evolving style. Featuring Left Bank Paris in the 1920s and brutally realistic descriptions of bullfighting in Spain, the story is about the flamboyant Lady Brett Ashley and the hapless Jake Barnes. In an age of moral bankruptcy, spiritual dissolution, unrealized love, and vanishing illusions, this is the Lost Generation."

Home of the Brave: Stories in Uniform by Various Authors, edited by Jeremy Hess

"Among these are stories by writers including Kurt Vonnegut, Tim O'Brien, Tobias Wolff, Chris Offutt, Benjamin Percy and many others. There are parades and hurricanes, people getting high and some merely getting by, as well as the human sacrifices made, the losses endured, the hardships faced because of or in spite of some connection to the military. If you've served, you might recognize a couple of these characters, or their situations. Maybe you will relate to some because you're just like them or because they served in the same place you did. If you've never served, but have had contact with someone who has, you may find similarities between a character here and a person you thought you knew."

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko

"Thirty years since its original publication, Ceremony remains one of the most profound and moving works of Native American literature, a novel that is itself a ceremony of healing. Tayo, a World War II veteran of mixed ancestry, returns to the Laguna Pueblo Reservation. He is deeply scarred by his experience as a prisoner of the Japanese and further wounded by the rejection he encounters from his people. Only by immersing himself in the Indian past can he begin to regain the peace that was taken from him. Masterfully written, filled with the somber majesty of Pueblo myth, Ceremony is a work of enduring power."

The Wall by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Ronald Himler

"A young boy and his father visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial."

Rags: Hero Dog of WWI by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by Petra Brown

"During World War I, while stationed overseas in France with the United States Army, Private James Donovan literally stumbles upon a small dog cowering on the streets of Paris. Named Rags for his disheveled appearance, the little stray quickly finds a home with Donovan and a place in his heart. Although the Army did not have an official canine division, Rags accompanies Donovan to the battlefield, making himself a useful companion delivering messages and providing a much-appreciated morale boost to the soldiers."

The Poppy Lady by Barbara Walsh, illustrated by Layne Johnson

"When American soldiers entered World War I, Moina Belle Michael, a schoolteacher from Georgia, knew she had to act. Almost single-handedly, Moina worked to establish the red poppy as the symbol to honor and remember soldiers. She devoted the rest of her life to making sure the symbol would last forever. Thanks to her hard work, that symbol remains strong today. Author Barbara Elizabeth Walsh and artist Layne Johnson worked with experts, primary documents, and Moina's great-nieces to better understand Moina's determination to honor the war veterans."



Read any of these? What books would you include in this list? Let me know!

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