Last night's book was A Rumor of War by Philip Caputo. This is a memoir of the Vietnam War, written by a graduate student who joined the Marines before the days of the draft. At first I thought this book must have been the source of the film Platoon, but then I found out that was based on the director Oliver Stone's own experiences. The similarities of themes and incidents must simply be due to the two men having similar backgrounds and to the now-archetypal motifs of that particular war. Caputo is a skilled writer (he later became a prizewinning journalist) and what comes across is his essential humanity even as he maintains that he is becoming de-humanized by the war.
I didn't leave myself enough time to read this however, so will have to catch up on it over the next few days, particularly as I came back from lunch with my friend Jo clutching a pile of Agatha Raisin books by M C Beaton. More on those later!
5 hours ago
Hi Anne,
ReplyDeleteIts funny we just bought an Agtha Raisin mystery book from a second hand book store in Howarth two weeks ago, though I cannot remember the title of it. One more to had to my ever increasing reading pile. I only came to know about these books because recently some have been dramatised on Radio 4.
It was only 50 pence so I thought it was a bargin.
Ally x
Most excellent bargain Ally! You will love reading these. I wish I had heard them on radio ... maybe they will be repeated another time.
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