Looking for books on WWII that could be read aloud to an elderly, ex-Marine who served in the war.
May 18, 2012 2:18 PM   Subscribe

I am looking for book recommendations that might be suitable to read aloud to an elderly man who served six years in WWII as a Marine, he has dementia, but has some very alert periods of time. He loves war movies (and MASH), and is still very much interested in the war.
posted by nanook to Writing & Language (24 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
With the Old Breed: At Peleliu and Okinawa by E.B. Sledge.

This was one of the books used as the basis for the HBO series The Pacific.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:21 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]


In fact, here's the other book that was used as the basis of the series: Helmet for My Pillow: From Parris Island to the Pacific, by Robert Leckie.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 2:23 PM on May 18, 2012


Once an Eagle. Straight-forward plot, plenty of action scenes, a great hero figure. The book is beloved by soldiers.
posted by No Robots at 2:48 PM on May 18, 2012


Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. Not only will he love it, but pretty sure you will too. What an awesome story.
posted by Sassyfras at 3:11 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]


Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. She also wrote the book Seabiscuit.It's a very engaging story of an olympic hopeful who enlisted in the US air force during WWII and is captured by the Japanese when his bomber goes down over the Pacific. An amazing story of a man who remains unbroken in spirit under unbelievable conditions and treatment. Got it from my Dad who may be about the same age as your associate. He loved it, I loved it and my 18 yo daughter loved it.
posted by Northwest at 3:14 PM on May 18, 2012


I would think that The Thin Red Line by James Jones might be worth a try.
posted by HuronBob at 3:18 PM on May 18, 2012


W.E.B. Griffin set a lot of his works in World War II. The Corps Series follows a group of Marines through WWII and Korea. I have the seventh of the series, Behind the Lines, a story about these Marines seeking out Brig. Gen. Wendell Fertig on Audio CD and it was entertaining enough that I passed it on to a friend who served in Afghanistan. They might do the trick.
posted by phoebus at 3:36 PM on May 18, 2012


Did you know that MASH, the movie as well as the TV show, were based on a series of books written by Richard Hooker? I think your elderly gent --- as well as the person who's reading aloud to him! --- would enjoy them.
posted by easily confused at 3:47 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]


A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin is a wonderful, lyrical meditation on what it means to be alive and to survive world war one.
posted by gauche at 4:04 PM on May 18, 2012


Catch-22 is a very fun and engaging read. This sounds like an awesome thing to do, thank you for doing it.
posted by Blasdelb at 4:11 PM on May 18, 2012 [1 favorite]


Studs Terkel, "The Good War."
posted by MonkeyToes at 4:30 PM on May 18, 2012 [2 favorites]


Citizen Soldiers: The U. S. Army from the Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany

My stepfather loved it. Other books by the same author: "D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War Two", "Band Of Brothers", "The Victors."
posted by caryatid at 5:39 PM on May 18, 2012


The Information Officer by Mark Mills--a mystery novel set in Malta during WWII. It's a nicely paced thriller, with important plot points tied to military strategy. It's not salacious--which was a problem my grandmother (this gentleman's contemporary) had with a lot of modern novels--and it isn't very long.
posted by crush-onastick at 5:42 PM on May 18, 2012


Try Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II. I heard about it on NPR and bought it for my step-dad, who is a WWII history buff, and he really enjoyed it.
posted by Lulu's Pink Converse at 5:43 PM on May 18, 2012


They aren't war books but my dad always liked to read James Michenor books.
posted by dawkins_7 at 7:46 PM on May 18, 2012


Warhorse Nice and short at 192 pages. But about WWI.
posted by MadMadam at 8:00 PM on May 18, 2012


Along the lines of 'Did you know MASH was a book?', did you know the Guns of Navarone is a book? I believe a good number of Alistair MacLean's books are about the Second World War. Cornelius Ryan wrote a couple of books that got turned into war movies as well. I think a staggering number of the 60s and 70s war films were based on books (at least the British ones), so reading him some of his favourite movies might be an option.

On a totally different tack, there's always Cryptonomicon. It's really long, though, and I think starts off with about 8 distinct plots (some during the war and some in the present day), which slowly converge. It may require more processing power than he has to keep track of. (It's not confusing (other than a massive (intentional) inconsistency), but it might be hard for him to remember what was happening in plot X when it last featured if that was when you read to him a week ago.)
posted by hoyland at 8:05 PM on May 18, 2012


Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall

(and, I second the recommendation of Alistair MacLean)
posted by pompomtom at 10:10 PM on May 18, 2012


I have a serious problem with accumulating and reading over and over books about WWII in general, the Holocaust specifically. It stems from my research of my seemingly phantom German family that no one knows anything about and I assume that knowing everything about the Holocaust and not yet once encountering a family member, I can assuage some of that guilt I unexplicably feel about what part my family I never knew might have played. Anyway, personal tangent aside...

Some of the books sitting next to me might work. I'm purposely ignoring those ONLY about the Holocaust.

War Letters
The Last Ridge
Agent Zigzag
To Hell and Back
The War of the World
Ghost Soldiers

Seconding all the books by Stephen Ambrose too. He's excellent and engaging. Tom Brokaw's books, The Greatest Generation, The Greatest Generation Speaks, and When You Come Home, might work, as well.
posted by youandiandaflame at 5:35 AM on May 19, 2012


Response by poster: Thank you, this is an amazing list!
posted by nanook at 12:12 PM on May 19, 2012


The title sounds a bit dry, but the book itself is definitely not: Thunder Below by Eugene Fluckey.
posted by gudrun at 12:24 PM on May 19, 2012


Seconding Turkel's The Good War.

It's a collection of oral histories, so it doesn't require your listener to maintain the thread of the narrative between readings.
posted by Sallyfur at 6:18 PM on May 20, 2012


A lot of these are pretty heavy, especially for a guy with dementia. I mean, the bulk of Unbroken is really bad news, day after day.

How about Spike Milligan's wartime memoirs? I have heard them praised a lot, and I have the ebooks in my queue:
http://www.goodreads.com/series/55567-war-memoirs

(On preview, pompomtom mentioned these -- but my point about considering a lighter story still stands.)
posted by wenestvedt at 12:54 PM on May 22, 2012


Wings of Morning is by far my favorite WWII book. It is about the Army Air Corps in Europe, and it is fascinating and touching.
posted by bigd at 10:47 AM on May 30, 2012


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