Help me decide how to depress myself next week!

[dira]

The poll options are what they are due to book availability, so making suggestions of academic/British sources will not help in the short term. Although I did get to read Jeffery Farnol's Great Britain at War, which was a collection of his contemporary accounts of the war effort as a journalist, and fascinating on multiple levels. Anyway:

Poll #12632 Doing a spot of research, because of reasons.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 52

View Respondents

Which fun and delightful book shall I read next?

View Answers

Regeneration, Pat Barker
19 (36.5%)

Home front, 1914-1918 : how Britain survived the Great War, Ian F.W. Beckett.
7 (13.5%)

Testament of Youth, Vera Brittain
7 (13.5%)

Letters from a lost generation : the First World War letters of Vera Brittain and four friends
7 (13.5%)

Edward Carpenter : a life of liberty and love, Sheila Rowbotham
5 (9.6%)

A class society at war, England, 1914-1918, Bernard Waites
6 (11.5%)

Death's men : soldiers of the Great War, Denis Winter
1 (1.9%)

Comments

[ariadnes_string]

fwiw, the best book about WWI I've read recently is Wade Davis's Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest. It's popular history, available in pb, but you might have to get in a queue to get it from the library.

Looking forward to knowing the reasons.

[dira]

Oooh, that does look quite interesting! But sadly not quite on target for my reasons. :)

[cesperanza]

Carpenter is a marvel! Carpenter is the obvious slashy answer! Carpenter/George forever!

[dira]

Dude, I was all resigned to actually having to read Maurice (I did see the movie! And read the Wikipedia article about the book! I just am not super excited about reading the book) and then I realized that I could READ ABOUT THE REAL-LIFE VERSION INSTEAD. I am pretty excited to read about Carpenter, and happily it looks like his writings that are relevant to my purposes are in the public domain now and available online. :D

[vass]

Regeneration! Ruth Head/Henry Head/W.H.R. Rivers 4EVA!

[dira]

Here I go. I'm not sure I'm psychologically prepared for this book, but I've promised myself some comfort reading afterward before I tackle another Great War book. :)

[derryderrydown]

REGENERATION. Because, sure, Sassoon and Owen and First World War poets in love vaguely aware of the other's existence/stonkingly crushing on the other respectively is awesome.

However. BILLY PRIOR. BILLY FUCKING PRIOR. I love Billy Prior more than is remotely healthy and one day I'll finish the story where he ends up in 21st century Cardiff and there are Torchwood Shenanigans.

In conclusion: BILLY FUCKING PRIOR. For all your class-defying bisexual sadist hero needs.

[dira]

Yeah, Regeneration seems to be what's next. *g*

I ... may have more class-defying bisexual sadist hero needs than I had previously surmised, so hooray for Billy Prior.

[gwyn]

They're all pretty amazing books, and quite good. I voted Testament of Youth because it really haunted me and there's an excellent BBC adaptation, and I figured everyone would vote for Regeneration, which is also really dear to my heart.

Man, you're a glutton for punishment, though, aren't ya? I guess that's why I like you.

[dira]

Yeah, looks like Regeneration is up first, but I'm sure I'll need Testament of Youth and the book of letters as well. *g*

Mind you, I have six months or so to get through all of these, and I've firmly decided never to read two of them in a row without a happy funtiems book in between. Becuase... yeah.

[shosh]

Now I want to read all of those. Is this for fic research? Is your focus on how WWI changed the British class system? I've been thinking about that, as well, of late. And not for any particular reason, actually, other than everywhere I turn, someone is talking about Downton Abbey, which I'm clearly going to have to watch.

[dira]

Writing research, yeah, though hopefully something saleable rather than fic. I'm trying to get a general-purpose grip on the end of WWI in England, including class issues and pacifists and etc.