Memorial Day Reads

Our selection of Memorial Day Reads highlights the voices of writers with experience serving in the military or living through conflict. Exploring the concepts of war and peace, these selections expound on the nature of conflict and its impacts on the people affected by it.

Publication year 1999

Genre Novel, Fiction

Tags Historical Fiction, Irish Literature, Education, Education, Military & War, World History

Irish novelist and screenwriter Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. His work is renowned both for its treatment of Irish working-class life and its deployment of Dublin dialect. His 1993 masterpiece, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, won the Booker Prize.A Star Called Henry (1999) is the first in The Last Round Up trilogy, which follows the life of Henry, a working-class Dublin boy born at the turn of the 20th century. Henry’s life... Read A Star Called Henry Summary

Publication year 2007

Genre Novel, Fiction

Tags Middle Eastern Literature, Military & War, World History, Dramatic Literature, Historical Fiction, Classic Fiction

A Thousand Splendid Suns is a 2007 novel by Afghan-born Khaled Hosseini, who was granted asylum in the US as a child during the Soviet-Afghan War in 1980. It is the story of Mariam and Laila, two women married to the same man, Rasheed, while the Taliban comes to power. The novel was chosen as one of the American Library Associations’ Best Books for Young Adults in 2008, was number one on the New York... Read A Thousand Splendid Suns Summary

Publication year 2001

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Sexual Identity, Truth & Lies, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, Romance, World War II, British Literature, Military & War, Modern Classic Fiction, World History, Classic Fiction

Atonement (2001) is an award-winning novel by British author Ian McEwan that spans the last two-thirds of the 20th century. The novel was a New York Times Bestseller for seven straight weeks and shortlisted for the Booker Prize for fiction in 2001. The 2007 film adaptation won an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and a BAFTA Award. McEwan is critically acclaimed with over a dozen novels and other works of fiction to his name, as... Read Atonement Summary

Publication year 1936

Genre Novella, Fiction

Themes Fear, Space, Order & Chaos

Tags Horror & Suspense, Action & Adventure, Anthropology, Military & War, Science & Nature, American Literature, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Classic Fiction

At the Mountains of Madness is a science-fiction novella written by H. P. Lovecraft (The Call of Cthulhu, The Dunwich Horror) in 1931 and published in Astounding Stories in 1936. Like much of Lovecraft’s work, it also helped establish the genre of cosmic horror, or what Lovecraft called “weird fiction”: horror that relies on existential anxieties about humanity’s place in the universe to achieve its effects. The story involves a research team discovering an ancient... Read At the Mountains of Madness Summary

Publication year 2001

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Memory, The Past

Tags Historical Fiction, World War II, Holocaust, Trauma & Abuse, Military & War, World History, Classic Fiction

Austerlitz is a historical novel by W. G. Sebald first published in 2001. Sebald was a German writer and academic who wrote mainly about the loss of memory and the Holocaust. Austerlitz, Sebald’s final novel, centers on an architectural historian, Jacques Austerlitz, who is tormented by his repressed past as a Jewish child evacuated from Czechoslovakia in 1939. The book was an international bestseller and won the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction... Read Austerlitz Summary

Publication year 1953

Genre Autobiography / Memoir, Nonfiction

Tags European History, World War II, Military & War, World History, Biography

A Woman in Berlin is a memoir first published in 1954. The memoir documents the experiences of a German woman as the Russian Army invades Berlin at the end of the Second World War. The book remained unpublished in German until 1959; until 2003, the identity of the author remained a mystery. Originally, the book was published as the work of an anonymous woman, but the author was eventually revealed to be journalist Marta Hillers... Read A Woman in Berlin Summary

Publication year 2019

Genre Biography, Nonfiction

Themes Justice, War, Gender Identity

Tags World History, US History, World War II, Holocaust, Women`s Studies, Horror & Suspense, Military & War, Biography

A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of Virginia Hall, WWII’s Most Dangerous Spy is a 2019 biography by Sonia Purnell. It tells the story of Virginia Hall, a US spy whose efforts were critical to France’s success in World War II. Despite its larger-than-life nature and importance to the Allies’ success, Hall’s story has remained largely unknown until now. In recounting Virginia Hall’s life, Purnell examines themes like the importance of Serving a... Read A Woman of No Importance Summary

Publication year 2017

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes Order & Chaos, Politics & Government, Globalization

Tags Politics & Government, World History, Education, Education, Military & War, American Literature, Business & Economics

A World in Disarray: American Foreign Policy and the Crisis of the Old Order is a nonfiction book by Richard Haass, published in 2017, that deals with foreign relations from an American perspective. Haass is a longtime diplomat who served several administrations from the 1980s to the 2000s. He was a special assistant to President George H. W. Bush, and as an official in the State Department, he was a close advisor to Colin Powell... Read A World In Disarray Summary

Publication year 2010

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Friendship, Education, Justice, Loyalty & Betrayal, Good & Evil, Truth & Lies, Trust & Doubt, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Conflict, Hope, Coming of Age

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Military & War, Asian Literature, Trauma & Abuse, Social Class, Children`s Literature, Realistic Fiction, World History, Action & Adventure, Arts & Culture

Bamboo People by Mitali Perkins is a young adult, coming-of-age, historical fiction novel about two boys—one Burmese, the other Karenni—growing up during an intense period of violence between the Burmese military and the Karenni people. The book was named an “ALA APALA Honor Book, Indies Choice Honor Book of the Year for Young Adults, ALA Top Ten Book in Best Fiction for Young Adults, [and] International Reading Association Notable Book for a Global Society [and... Read Bamboo People Summary

Publication year 1992

Genre Book, Nonfiction

Themes War

Tags Military & War, World War II, US History, World History, Biography

Band of Brothers is a nonfiction history of one World War II company of paratroopers, Easy Company of the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne. Through a combination of narrative, interviews, maps, and excerpts from letters, Stephen E. Ambrose follows the lives of this group of soldiers from their training in 1942, their deployments in Europe, and their lives after the war. By focusing on the lives of members of one particular company, Ambrose reveals the reality... Read Band of Brothers Summary

Publication year 1988

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Femininity, Fathers, Safety & Danger

Tags Historical Fiction, Life-Inspired Fiction, Military & War, US History, Gender & Feminism, Social Justice, American Civil War, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, World History

Behind Rebel Lines: The Incredible Story of Emma Edmonds, Civil War Spy by Seymour Reit is a work of historical fiction and children’s literature based on the true story of a young woman who pretends to be a man so that she can join the Union army during the US Civil War. The book’s target audience is ages 10-14, and it uses a simple style to appeal to a young audience. It is categorized as... Read Behind Rebel Lines Summary

Publication year 1996

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Equality, Good & Evil, Justice, Conflict, Emotions/Behavior: Courage, Perseverance, Fear, Guilt, Hate & Anger, Hope, Trust & Doubt, Truth & Lies, Safety & Danger, Race, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Historical Fiction, World War II, Holocaust, Coming of Age, European History, World History, Children`s Literature, Military & War

Behind the Bedroom Wall is a 1996 Young Adult historical fiction novel by Korean American author Laura E. Williams. The novel won the 1997 Jane Addams’ Children’s Book Award. Williams has written several other novels, including The Mystic Lighthouse series, Up a Creek, The Ghost Stallion, The Executioner’s Daughter, The Can Man, and Unexpected.Set in 1942 Germany, Behind the Bedroom Wall follows a 13-year-old Aryan German girl named Korinna Rehme, who is an active member... Read Behind the Bedroom Wall Summary

Publication year 2017

Genre Novel, Fiction

Tags Historical Fiction, European History, World War II, Military & War, Italian Literature, World History

Beneath a Scarlet Sky (2017) is a coming-of-age historical fiction novel by Mark Sullivan. It follows Pino Lella, a 17-year-old Milanese boy, as he navigates the dangers of Nazi-occupied Italy during World War II. The novel is largely based on the real-life account of Pino Lella, who was an old man by the time he decided to share his story. While writing, Sullivan drew upon Pino’s memories, research from war archives, and interviews with Holocaust... Read Beneath a Scarlet Sky Summary

Publication year 2011

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Good & Evil

Tags Russian Literature, World War II, Military & War, World History, Historical Fiction, Romance

Between Shades of Gray is a fictionalized account of what happened to many Lithuanians—and others from Estonia and Latvia—after the Soviet Union annexed and occupied the Baltic States in 1940. Thousands of citizens of these countries were deported and imprisoned, and many of them ended up in Siberian forced labor camps like the ones Lina Vilkas and her mother and brother are sent to in the book. The novel is told from the first-person perspective of a... Read Between Shades of Gray Summary

Publication year 1946

Genre Short Story, Fiction

Themes War, Fear, Truth & Lies, Loyalty & Betrayal

Tags Classic Fiction, Military & War, Historical Fiction, World War II, Action & Adventure, Children`s Literature, Education, Education, Fantasy

Publication year 2023

Genre Novel, Fiction

Themes Family, Love, Truth & Lies, Conflict, Nostalgia, Self Discovery, Mothers, Daughters & Sons, Siblings, Friendship, Memory, Childhood & Youth, Coming of Age, Hope

Tags Historical Fiction, Coming of Age, Romance, World War II, Social Class, Education, Finance, Love & Sexuality, Relationships, Military & War, Grief & Death, World History, Parenting