100 Books Like The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

This book was perhaps the strangest book I have ever read. It’s long and beautifully written with descriptive scenes that turn the cinema of the mind on full blast in sound and color, sometimes even evoking touch and smell. It’s bizarre and, honestly, made no sense to me at times with its churning of characters and unfathomable plot jumps, but it taught me that fiction doesn’t always have to make sense to make a lasting impact. Sometimes, it’s about how it feels, not how it reads.

This book is a fast read, but to tell the truth, I’ve never read it once without rereading it at least three times back to back. It’s moody and rhythmic, eerie enough to make the hairs on my neck stand up, and it rings of a desperate hope I know to be doomed.

Yet, it’s so beautiful and atmospheric that I want to be in the grand house anyway, with all the charming but creepy characters stitching away so the story can go on forever.

This is another favorite short read I’ve read at least a hundred times. If Hughes had made The Deadfall any longer, it would have spoiled the vivid, hypnotic, poetic way he sucks me into the life of a boy camping with his brother.

He has me feeling the warmth of the fire on my face before casting me into the dreary countryside where my feet are cold and the wind nips my nose. The intense atmosphere of nature keeps me going back to this one. The absolute beauty of what happens when the ghost of a fox calls out to a sleeping boy suspends me in disbelief. I never want to let go. 

This book is nonfiction. At times, it took me so far out of my comfort zone that I had to put it down.

But when I set aside my own belief system and read the interviews with the mindset of believing what the people were saying, a pattern emerged that made me question everything I thought to be true… in a good way. 

In the nineteenth century, no class culture was more prominent than the one by German Social Democracy. The German Social Democratic Party topped one million individual members before the outbreak of the First World War and about one-third of the electorate in Imperial Germany vote for its programme of revolution and democratization. This book is about the mental world of the party’s rank and file, their fears, wishes and desires, their dreams, and their beliefs. It talks powerfully about leadership cults, the tensions between nationalism and internationalism, working-class reading habits, and the ideals of republicanism. It is a powerful recreation of a constructed class identity with huge repercussions on politics in Germany.

I’ve included Ana, Jan, and María’s book on my list not because it is entirely about neutrality and war (although that theme plays a major part in the book) but because it pushed me to appreciate the effects of the First World War at a more global level. 

The modern name of the war, of course, includes the word ‘world’ in it, but the fighting was primarily European-focused. This book shows, however, that the war had a much wider reach–influencing China, Japan, South America, Mexico, and Africa, amongst other places. For example, the book shows that there was a clash of Empires in Africa–between neutral Portugal and belligerent Germany; and in neutral Argentina, Mexico, and Spain, societies were split down the middle between the rival camps supporting the Allies and the Germans.

I found the book to be a really important demonstration that we need to think differently about wars–the… show more.

This is the first novel I read about grieving families who commissioned photographers to search for the place where their loved one died, in order that a photo could be taken for them to have as a keepsake.

I love learning something new when I read a book and I discovered so much about the after-effects of losing someone without having knowledge of their last moments and a place to pay one’s respects. 

This is about Edie, a widow wanting answers about her husband who she believes might still be alive, despite being classed as ‘missing, presumed dead’ in 1917. She commissions her late husband’s brother to search for him and photograph his final resting place, if indeed there is one.

A wonderful, haunting story of enduring love and loss.

Do I judge a book by its cover? Why yes, yes I do! And the moment I saw this gorgeous cover I put it right into my shopping cart, paid full price, and never looked back.

Luckily for me, Women in Intelligence happens to be an excellent book where the content more than matched the expectations I had from the fabulous artwork. Although there are a few familiar faces that appear, most of the women were completely new to me. Not the femme fatales of popular culture; these were patriotic women who often went unseen in the background.

I love that Fry truly delves into uncovering the unsung heroines of WWI and WWII, giving these quiet, determined women a chance to be recognized and to shine.

This is a book I have read over and over. Jünger, a German infantryman, paints a picture of trench warfare that does nothing to glamorize combat, but I found the ideas of duty, bravery, leadership, and even ethics in its pages.

I appreciate that this memoir began as Jünger’s journal and was re-written and edited over a number of years, which allowed for the level of reflection that I feel is necessary for a memoir. 

Like so many marvelous novels, this one has traveled through the underground of the fiction world too little known, despite catching many awards and the intense praise of people such as Stephen Fry.

It is set in France during the final bloody months of World War I and features an unexpected love affair between two ordinary young soldiers, Australian and American. What is amazing is that the author is such a vivid, meticulous historian, such a fine military researcher, and yet can write so intimately.

I became so involved with Tommy and David. Will they survive the last months of the war and go on together hiding their relationship from condemning neighbors, or will the war cancel their great love?