All Quite on the Western Front - Erich Maria Remarque

"This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped the shells, were destroyed by the war."

And so opens Erich Maria Remarque's superb war novel. Based in the early twentieth century, during the first World War, Remarque challenges us to experience war in the front, where life is lived day by day. A man you may have spoken to just a day prior may be shot down the next. Hunger constantly cripples you, for meals are few and far between. This is war.

Throughout the story, we trail Paul Bäumer and his trials and tribulations. He and his fellow classmates all volunteered for the army at the urging of their teacher, Kemerich. As good friends tend to do, they stuck together as much as they could. Leer, Kropp, Müller, and Paul together at the front fighting a battle for which the purpose is unknown and for which they left school to join. Their other friends at the front are Tjaden, Detering, Katzinsky, and Haie. How many will be left by the time peace comes?

Remarque reveals in this book the subtle details of war. His masterful ability to bend the English language to his will allows the reader to feel almost as if he were actually there. While nothing can truly give you the feeling of battle, Remarque gets very close.

Each battle tears at Pauls ability to continue. Each death gives him more reason to quit. Each shot attacks his morality until finally he must confront it in the form of a French soldier, the enemy.

They ask themselves "why?", but they get no answer. World War I German soldiers' lives were hinged in this war, but they didn't know why they fought. What was the prize at the end of all the strife?

Erich Maria Remarque was a magician with words. He slowly brings you in, then he drags you forcibly into the story. Feelings of sorrow, loneliness, and fear surround you and take hold of you. You can't shy from it; it is too awesome and powerful for that.

A spectacular read that leaves you with a truly inspired feeling.


Quote From Book

    Kat looks around and whispers: "Shouldn't we just take a revolver and put an end to it?"
    The youngster will hardly survive the carrying, and at the most he will only last a few days. What he has gone through so far is nothing to what he's in for till he dies. Now he is numb and feels nothing. In an hour he will become one screaming bundle of intolerable pain. Every day that he can live will be a howling torture. And to whom does it matter whether he has them or not—
    I nod. "Yes, Kat, we ought to put him out of his misery."
    He stands still a moment. He has made up his mind. We look round—but we are no longer alone. A little group is gathering, from the shell-holes and trenches appear heads.
    We get a stretcher.
    Kat shakes his head. "Such a kid—" He repeats it. "Young innocents—"

What People Say

"Those that read All Quiet on the Western Front will see warfare stripped of its flag waving, parades, and John Wayne glory. War is death, with the glory going to the few who survive. Remarque makes a brilliant contribution to world literature with this riveting novel." - Jeffrey Leach

"It really is the greatest war novel of all time[.]" - anonymous

"This book needs to be read by everyone. As the French critic Le Monde stated: 'It should be distributed by the millions and read in every school.' As a student myself, I completely and wholeheartedly agree." - Nicole

"The world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. he is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure." - The New York Times

Google search for Erich Maria Remarque

Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini

Hosseini's novel novel is one of the most touching betrayal stories I've ever read. Based in Kabul, Afghanistan, but also taking place in California, United States, the story begins with a premonition of a sort. Amir, the main character, receives a call from his past; the past which he tried to bury; the past which, no matter what, would come back to haunt him.

When Amir was just a child his one true friend was the son of the family servant, Ali. His name was Hassan. The two were inseparable; they spent every spare moment together. Hassan would wake up early to finish the chores and prepare Amir's breakfast. He would then wait for Amir. While Amir ate, Hassan would iron his clothing. This all seemed normal to them. Amir never mentioned the master-to-servant relationship and Hassan never complained. Whenever they could, Amir would go with Hassan up the hill to sit beneath the pomegranate tree. Amir would read to the illiterate Hassan from all sorts of books and tease him about words he didn't understand.

Baba, Amir's father, was a huge man with an equally huge heart. He spent massive amounts of his time and money on building an orphanage for the children of Kabul. Despite that, he was always hard on Amir. Amir craved affection from his father. He would do anything to be loved like the son he was, rather than loved equally with Hassan, for Baba loved them both.

There was an annual kite flying competition, where Amir always tried to gain Baba's affection. The object of the battle was to cut everyone else's lines and be the last kite flying. It was an immense honor to be the lone kite, but it was an equally great honor to "run" the last cut kite. Hassan was the greatest kite runner, and he ran that year's final cut kite for Amir.

Unconditional love, betrayal, bravery, cowardice, honesty, deception. This story entails all of this and more, making for a spectacular novel. An undeniably good plot riddled with subplots keeps the pages turning. Hours of sleep will be lost to the amazing and touching story of Amir and Hassan, the Sultans of Kabul.

Quote From Book

A young woman sat across from us. She was dressed in an olive green dress with a black shawl wrapped tightly around her face against the night chill. She burst into prayer every time the truck jerked or stumbled into a pothole, her 'Bismillah!' peaking with each of the truck's shudders and jolts. Her husband, a burly man in baggy pants and sky blue turban, cradled an infant in one arm and thumbed prayer beads with his free hand. His lips moved in sient prayer. ...

Where to Buy

• Amazon


• Barnes and Noble


• Books-a-Million

"Temple of the Winds", by Terry Goodkind

Through it all--torturous she-devils, power-mad worshippers of the keeper, Darken Rahl--Richard Rahl has fought brave and fought well. His sword, the Sword of Truth, cut through all enemies, his mind broke through any barrier standing in his way; but now he faces an enemy that can't be cut with a sword...the plague.

Richard Rahl, Kahlan Amnell, and all of their leather-clad bodyguards don't stand a chance against an enemy they can't see, or even understand, but something must be done. After an attempted assassination on Richards life, the rogue wizard/Emperor Jagang inhabitee escapes from the pit in which he was held. Before this, though, he manages to make a Mord-Sith scream in pain and before their eyes etch a prophesy into the wall. A double-bind prophesy, already in play, forces Lord Rahl to make a choice. Both options lead to different results, but one equivocal fact remains: Lord Rahl will die.

On this perilous and betrayal-ridden journey, Richard learns many lessons and becomes a better man because of them. Despite their greatest efforts, though, many will die.

More will live.

Terry Goodkind, writer of all of the Sword of Truth novels, has crafted a world so full of detail it's hard not to enjoy his books. In each one, the detail grows, the subplots thicken, and the adventure continues. Temple of the Winds is a spectacular work of fiction that shakes the world of Adventure Fantasy. The series is a rival to the Wheel of Time.


Quote From Book

     It was an afferent feast that was only just beginning.
     He glanced the length of the hall again, checking. He heard no sounds of lust coming from any of the other rooms. It was late, even for an establishment like this. The fat, potbellied man was probably the last of them, except for himself.
     He liked to be last. The evidence of the events before he arrived, and the lingering smells, gave him a rush of sensation. His senses were always heightened in his aroused state, and he valued all the details.

Where to Buy

Google Books - links to sellers, book preview, book information, etc.

About the Author

Wikipedia

Author Website

Anthem, by Ayn Rand

     There are few stories out there that can compare with the likes of George Orwell's Animal Farm, or Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, but Anthem seems to have achieved this status. Or, if you want to be technical, it set the bar back in 1938, before the other two were even conceived!

     Ayn Rand, the world-famous author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, created, or rather, envisaged, a future that was very grim indeed. Based many centuries in the future of mankind, Anthem starts you off with "[i]t is a sin to write this. It is a sin to think words no other think and to put them down upon a paper no others are to see. It is base and evil. It is as if we were speaking alone to no ears but our own. And we know well that there is no transgression blacker than to do or think alone." These powerful statements transport you to a time when after so many years of "as a whole" thinking, society is no longer free and joyful. There is no joy in this world.

     The majority of the story takes place in a city, presumably like all of the cities on their world, and revolves around our protagonist, Equality 7-2521. We go through how he came to be where he is: his terrible childhood, filled with whippings and nights in the cellar for doing no more than understanding the teacher; his unfortunate placement as a street sweeper; his discovery of something from the unmentionable times; and so on. What's most important, though, is not what Equality 7-2521 is doing, but rather, the events taking place around him and because of him.

     For example, when Equality 7-2521 is able to understand the lessons and remember them later, he is punished for being greater than the other students. When the City Council comes to decide all of the students' future careers, they give him street sweeper as a punishment for being better. This is not to say that they had careers in the literal sense, but rather they had jobs to do for all men. No one must think for themselves or about themselves.

     All of this (and so much more) packed into ~105 beautifully written pages leads us up to one final analogy, one final and instant meaning for the entire creation. Ego.

Quote From Book

     The Teachers were just, for they had been appointed by the Councils, and the Councils are the voice of all justice, for they are the voice of all men. And if sometimes, in the secret darkness of our heart, we regret that which befell us on our fifteenth birthday, we know that it was through our own guilt. We had broken a law, for we had not paid heed to the words of our Teachers. The Teachers had said to us all:

     "Dare not choose in your minds the work you would like to do when you leave the Home of the Students. You shall do that which the Council of Vocations shall prescribe for you. For the Council of vocations knows in its great wisdom where you are needed by your brother men, better than you can know it in your unworthy little minds. And if you are not needed by your brother men, there is no reason for you to burden the earth with your bodies."

An essay on the conflict in Anthem can be found here.

Where to Buy

1. Amazon.....various prices


2. Barnes and Noble.....$7.99


3. Books-a-Million.....$7.99

Other Books by Ayn Rand

• The Fountainhead


• Atlas Shrugged


• The Romantic Manifesto

Further information on Anthem can be found at wikipedia.org.

The Religion War -- Scott Adams

General Cruz gets what he wants. Always. But in this thought experiment continued, this is put to the ultimate test. Scott Adams has created in God's Debris and it's sequel The Religion War something that he dubbed a "thought experiment". It dives into the controversial and deeply wound ideas of religion and belief.

Although nonreligious at heart, The Religion War makes it a large part of the story; basing many ideas on the theory of God.

Based in the forties--2040's that is--it places you in the lives of General Horatio Cruz, a Christian Infidel in command of the entire Christian world (making him more powerful than any president); al-Zee, the leader of the Muslim world; and the Avatar, an all-knowing former package delivery man (read "God's Debris"). A terrible war was brewing between the two leaders' territories.

Al-Zee, who in 2007 came to power, was now waging small scale war with the Christian World: bombing no one of major importance, or anything irreplaceable. But when Cruz became the leader of the Christian Alliance, he could not allow this to continue. He was planning something no one was expecting, something horrible, something only a pervicacious mad-man would consider: extermination.

The Avatar, being all-knowing and able to recognize deep patterns where others saw none, is trying to do his duty: stopping the largest scale war in history. But first he must find the one person who can influence the necessary changes: the Prime Influencer.

The Religion War is a magnificent work by a cartoonist, although there isn't any of Dilbert here.

Quote From Book

"'Before I turn your guts into jam, how about you tell me everything I need to know. It's a little courtesy I like to extend to my guests. No one has ever taken me up on the offer, but I feel it's only fair to put it out there. Let's say that you figure out what questions I need to ask and then you just answer them. If you make me ask the obvious questions over and over, I'm going to get tired. And that makes me cranky. You don't want that.'

"'Very well,' replied the Avatar. 'And again, I am truly sorry.'"

• Author Biography


• Other Books




• The Dilbert Principle


• Dogbert's Top Secret Management Handbook


• The Dilbert Future


• The Joy of Work


• God's Debris


• Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel

Information Links

Google Books--preview of book and links to sellers.