Rainy Day Reads

Like many of Remarque’s books this one is about war. More specifically this is about the experiences of a group of prisoners in a concentration camp in Germany during the last few months of World War II.   It is mostly told from the point of view of a prisoner called 509. But we also hear from other prisoners and some of the Nazi men running the camp. They tell us a story of human resistance, cruelty and finding the good in one self even under the worst of circumstances.  The story is about a small group of prisoners called the Veterans. These men have been in the camp for years and years and most of them seem just about to give up, when news start spreading about the Allied invasion. In the camp there is a resistance movement, and the Veterans start working together with these men, and soon hope spreads that a different ending to this story is possible.  509 is the main character, and having read many a Remarque novel, I knew that chances were slim that he w...

Remarque is the author of one of my absolute favorite novels; “All Quiet on the Western Front”. I have read some of his other books too, and liked quite a few of them very well. This wasn’t in the cards when I first read Remarque though. It was in high school and an excerpt of the very book that would since be my favorite was part of an essay assignment. We could choose between 6 different topics and the excerpt was one of them. I actually think I picked that one, as the least sucky of the 6, wrote my paper and never thought of it again. I can’t actually remember how I got around to reading the full novel, but once I did I was in love. Since then I have read a few more of his books and always bring “All Quiet on the Western Front” with me when I travel, as it can stand a re-read (or several).   Below is a list of all his works (from Wikipedia ). The first date is the publishing date and the second date is the publishing date for the English translation. I have read quite a few...