“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 […]
Russian literature
Life and Fate
“In the end, the only thing that remains is kindness.” Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman is an epic novel set during World War II, primarily focusing on […]
American literature
A Farewell to Arms
“The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places.” Book One The novel opens during World War I, where Frederic Henry, an American ambulance […]
American literature
For Whom the Bell Tolls
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” — John Donne (Epigraph to For Whom […]
American literature
Catch-22
“There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate […]
American literature
Slaughterhouse-Five
“All this happened, more or less. The war parts, anyway, are pretty much true.” Chapter 1 The novel opens with the author’s meta-commentary, explaining his struggle to write […]