My Favorite Books, 2012: Dealing with Wars

[+ WilliamM]

It was not intended, but I spent the first months of 2012 reading "War and Peace" and finished the year taking an English literature course on the Vietnam War. There are too many other war-related books as well--the LBJ and Washington biographies for example.

 

Here goes.

 

"The Patriarch" (Joseph P. Kennedy) by David Nasow

 

"Days of Valor" (Vet Offensive in Vietnam) by Robert Tonsetic

 

"The Diffusion of Military Power" by Michael Horowitz

 

"War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

 

"The Uncommon Appeal of Clouds" by Alexander McCall Smith

 

"The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from J. Adams to B. Clinton" by Stephen Skowrnek

 

"Burr" by Gore Vidal

 

"Kirchner" Stadel Museum, Frankfurt (Hatje Cantze Books)

 

"George Washington: A Life" by Ron Chernow

 

"The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Passage of Power" by Robert Caro

 

"Infinite Jest" by David Foster Wallace

 

Jack Holmes and His Friends" by Edmund White

 

"Eminent Outlaws" by Christopher Bram

 

Full Service: My Adventures in Hollywood" by Scotty Bowers

 

"The Quiet American" by Graham Green

 

"Dispatches" by Michael Herr

 

"Born on the Fourth of July" by Ron Kovic

 

"The Things They Carry" by Tim O'Brien

 

"When Heaven and Earth Changed Places" by Le Ly Heyslip

 

"Dien Can Dau" by Yusef Komunyakea (poetry)

 

"The Sorrow of War: A Novel of North Vietnam" by Bao Ninh

 

"In Country" by Bobbie Ann Mason

 

I am concerned about including books I read for a course, but the Herr and Bao Ninh books were amazing (my favorite books of the year). And perhaps people may be interested in the books read in a university course on the Vietnam War. And I am not charging tuition, or offering student loans

 

Finally, I decided not to read "War and Peace" with an e-reader, and followed that decision throughout the rest of the year with every other book. I may go back to using an e-reader, but enjoyed greatly a long break from what I initially enjoyed a lot.

[+ Lucky]

WilliamM, one could read that title to expect to see your favorite books of 2012 in the thread. Now I see that the list is the books which you liked the most that you read in 2012, not necessarily written in 2012. I may (did) come up with my own list, but it would more likely be books from 2012 that I liked best. Either way we speak of what we read this year and liked.

 

One of the novels on my list, also one of my favorites, is The Headmaster's Wager, by Vincent Lam. It takes place in Saigon befopre and during the war. I found it to be a fascinating look at the war. It all sure sounds right on, albeit fiction. You might like it, even if fiction is not big on your list.