100 Books Like A Light Beyond the Trenches

I love this book because it is a war novel without a single battlefield or battle, except the one for Siegfried Sassoon’s sanity. I became fascinated by WWI as a teenager. I can’t say why this war caught my imagination, but it did, and that fascination has continued for my whole life.

I gobbled up books, movies, and history about the war, and I especially loved the poetry of Siegfried Sassoon, a noted poet and war hero who publicly refused to continue fighting in 1917. When I re-read his poetry fifty years later, I found a kinship with that refusal and the boys around me who were conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War.

I was a dreamy, romantic teenager, which is why Sassoon’s words pierced my heart: “Soldiers are dreamers; when the guns begin they think of firelit homes, clean beds, and wives.” Oh! How I cried over his poems… show more.

As a writer, I found so much to admire in The Daughters of Mars by Thomas Keneally. Simply put, it’s epic. I was blown away by Kenneally’s Tolstoian precision of narrative and by the drama of two sisters who leave their confined lives in Australia and serve as nurses in WWI, first on a hospital ship in the Mediterranean and then on the Western Front. Keneally recreates a full sense of the times, showing how individuals can become enmeshed and shaped by huge historical events. The sisters confront not only the terrible effects of war but also a secret that haunts them. This is a stunning, multi-layered novel by a master, The Daughters of Mars has earned numerous accolades—and no wonder. It’s beautifully written and deeply affecting.  

Mason is a beautiful writer. It felt like each sentence was deliberated over before its final form was inscribed. But I think I connected with the book because, like the main character, I was a physician. I never had to confront whether what I learned in the lecture hall and anatomy lab was useless or meaningless, and therefore, I never had to question everything.

That’s what Lucius must do, and it gave me the opportunity to approach such questions within my own life. Are my medical gods real, worthy, or false because they can only exist in the most advantageous circumstances? What can we believe in when circumstances like war strip it down to the core?

Terri Arthur, a retired registered nurse, obviously wrote Fatal Decision: Edith Cavell, World War I Nurse, as an homage to a British nurse whose heroism not only saved hundreds of Allied lives when the penalty for doing so was death by execution but also inspired thousands to join the Allied war effort. I appreciated the numerous historical photographs throughout this prize-winning biographical novel. The narrative and incorporated historical context beautifully dramatize the courageous actions and inner life of a great WWI hero. In an Author’s Note, Terri Arthur states that her intention in telling the story of Edith Cavell in fictional form was so that readers could fully experience Cavell’s “amazing journey.” For me, Arthur achieved her objective. This is history richly conveyed,  

This romance combines a look into the world of working guide dogs with a story of how two people grow to love each other and cherish the very different places from which they came. The characters—canine as well as human—are well-developed. The bond between human and canine, essential to the story, poignantly reminded me of a very special German Shepherd with whom I shared my life for all too few years.

Much like everyday communication, the dialogue flows, stutters, and gets sidetracked. I appreciated how the issues presented throughout the book are resolved realistically, whether between humans or dogs. As the characters grow and change, an unforgettable picture of how love can change the destiny of people and dogs is painted.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to read a romance with depth and heart.

There are many books about the love between dog and man – but this classic is surely one of the richest, warmest, and yet most clear-eyed. The author, Joe Ackerley, was a gay man in London in the mid-twentieth century at a time when his predilections could get him arrested and imprisoned. It is perhaps because he couldn’t easily be open about the love he felt for other people that he is so well able to capture and express the love that exists between man and dog. “Unable to love each other, the English turn naturally to dogs,” he wrote.

There is always something more behind the image of the celebrities we love to watch on the screen, and it’s even truer when the star is a dog. Susan Orlean writes in her signature propulsive style of the life and times of the German shepherd who became an American icon. Of the puppy who was discovered in France by an American soldier in World War I, Orlean says, "He was born in 1918 and he never died." Rin Tin Tin was in many ways a symbol—the aspirational vessel for a nation’s striving—even as he was himself, a loyal friend to the man who saved him, receptive to any amount of psychic weight humans asked him to bear. This book is a beautiful portrait of how a dog can rise to the highest occasion. 

This book had a huge impact on my life into exploring so many different healing modalities filled with love and compassion for animals we share our lives with. He eloquently explores the healing power of the human-animal bond with deeply personal stories. He changed my life and will impact your connection to the animals that you share your days with. 

Burton has the finely tuned skill of pulling the reader into the story. I could practically taste, feel, see, smell, and hear the surroundings.

I love dogs and know them well. The author does too. In this installment, Jerry McNeal’s K9 companion, Gunter, a German Shepherd, enjoys a Halloween exploit. But it’s not all fun and games. From humor to white-knuckle tension, Burton weaves in authentic German Shepherd traits—loyalty, confidence, courage, dependability, intelligence, and agility—that kept me turning the pages to discover what came next.

For anyone who loves dogs, the paranormal, and a good mystery, this book’s for you.

This book appealed to me on several different levels. First, I’m a sucker for a deep dark secret and the story begins with the indication that the character is hiding something huge. Secondly, it is a steamy romance with love scenes so hot the pages sizzle. Thirdly, the plot is so intricately woven that I couldn’t stop reading. The story takes the reader inside a religious cult and exposes practices that are shocking and frightening. I learned what makes people fall for the artful deception of the leader, and the dangers of escaping. I rooted for the characters all through the book, although at times, I wanted to shake both of them and get them to be honest with each other. If you love a sizzling romance with tons of suspenseful action, you’ll devour this well-written story!