NIGHTLY READING THREAD: Welcome to Edition #71 of #GMGReads. Every night through this weird time, I'm tweeting out a list of my five favorite books around a general theme—and a link to an indie bookstore where you can order them online....
Well, amazingly, welcome now to Week 11. I never imagined on March 16th when I started this nightly ritual that we'd all still be (mostly) hanging out at home come the end of the May—and now, it appears, through most of summer. What about you? ...
Now it's Memorial Day. To mark the holiday, I'm featuring books this week on America's recent wars—starting with novels about wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, all available at @rjjulia in Madison, CT, which I was thinking of today and how lovely, someday, it'll be browse inside again:
1) Kevin Powers' YELLOW BIRDS, a finalist for the National Book Award, is a heartbreaking story of two soldiers caught together in the madness of war: rjjulia.com/book/978031621…
2) Michael Pitre's FIVES AND TWENTY-FIVES has stuck with me for years, the story of a road repair and explosive disposal unit amid the Iraq War. I seriously think of this book almost every time I get out of a vehicle—read it and you'll know why: rjjulia.com/book/978162040…
3) Phil Klay's (@PhilKlay) REDEPLOYMENT, which did win a National Book Award, is an incredibly powerful, pointillist perspective on war, through a collection of short stories: rjjulia.com/book/978014312…
PS: Speaking of short stories, I've not read Siobhan Fallon's (@siobhanmfallon) collection YOU KNOW WHEN THE MEN ARE GONE, but it's also supposed to be fabulous. rjjulia.com/book/978045123…
4) Ben Fountain is one of the only writers I've ever fan boy-ed in person, and his BILLY LYNN'S LONG HALFTIME WALK is one of the few novels to focus on the disconnect between war and our reflexive, dismissive "Thank you for your service" culture at home: rjjulia.com/book/978006088…
5) Elliot Ackerman (@elliotackerman) is a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan and his novel GREEN ON BLUE focuses on an Afghan orphan amid the war: rjjulia.com/book/978147677…
Those are tonight's #GMGReads. What are your favorite novels about war? What did you read over Memorial Day? Share! Up tomorrow night: Memoirs of Iraq and Afghanistan. #avidreadersunite
