A Memorial Day Booklist

Maya Lin, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Photo: Wikipedia (public domain image)

We don’t really post a lot of book lists around here, per se, but since I don’t have a review ready to put up today, I thought I’d celebrate Memorial Day in one of the best ways I can think of to honor those who have given their lives in military service. Whether or not you agree with any given war, whether or not you personally would ever serve in the military, has nothing to do with whether we appreciate the service of those who do make the choice to take such a role, or whether we respect and honor those who died in that role.

What I’m trying to say, I guess, is that whether your patriotism is rabid or mild, Memorial Day is more than just big department store sales or barbecues or even putting a flag outside your house. To me, remembering and reading the stories of those who served, those who died, is one of the best ways of continuing to honor them, and it’s a direct way of connecting with history. And you don’t need the excuse of a calendar holiday to do it.

On that note, here are some personal favorites along the theme of war and military service, some adult, some YA; some fiction, some non–please note that this is not a complete list, but simply a list of books  I’ve read and enjoyed.

Operation YES, Sara Lewis Holmes (MG fiction)
The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien (adult fiction/memoir)
Pride of Baghdad, Brian K. Vaughan (graphic novel)
Bombers and Mash, Raynes Minns (nonfiction about British women’s lives in WWII)
Sunrise Over Fallujah, Walter Dean Myers (YA fiction)
The Green Glass Sea, Ellen Klages (MG fiction)
Mare’s War, Tanita Davis (YA fiction)
Flygirl, Sherri L. Smith (YA fiction)
Code Name Verity, Elizabeth Wein (YA fiction)
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut (adult fiction)

Feel free to leave a comment with any of your personal favorites that I might have missed and you think are worth a read. And, regardless of your plans for this particular day, go forth, read, and remember.