what has been your life's influential literature?

[karmadog]

rumple, I agree, Stephen Crane is great, but Erich Maria Remarque ( I spelled that wrong somehow) is up there.

And have you read 'The Short Timers' by Gustav Hasford? Full Metal Jacket was based on that book. Really, really good. Or PJ Caputo's 'A Rumor of War' (nonfiction, but still)?

 

[its Leslie]

Hmmm I have really enjoyed the responses to the thread (didn't know if it would fly like a garbage truck or not).

One thing I have learned from all my reading regardless of what or who by....no matter how much you read or how good the literature was....you always end up realising how much there is to know....and you can never fully ever learn everything enough.

The only danger, is in stopping.

Never stop learning, read everything you can. There is always something more. And no one has all the answers.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

rumple, I agree, Stephen Crane is great, but Erich Maria Remarque ( I spelled that wrong somehow) is up there.

You're wrong as can be Karmadog, not about the spelling, but about spelling it wrong. (I cheated and ran a name search)

You're also not wrong about that being a first rate work. In addition to the ones you mentioned, some other note-worthy "war novels" include Mailer's too fullsome "Naked and the Dead" Jim Webb's "Fields of Fire" and Joe Heller's "Catch 22".

"Red Badge of Courage" gets my nod due to its perfect brevity and because, IMHO, Crane, who at the time had never heard a shot fired in anger, got the feel of battle, the confusion, terror and emotional swings experienced by individual soldiers, "right".

Rumple Foreskin