Reading Update...

Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried (1990)

Sample quote:

"In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. If you believe it, be skeptical. It’s a question of credibility. Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness.

In other cases you can’t even tell a true war story. Sometimes, it’s just beyond telling."

Reading Update...

Mike and Harriet McManus's Living Together: Myths, Risks & Answers (2008)

Sample quote: "Cohabitation is the worst possible preparation for a healthy marriage. It increases the odds of divorce by 50 percent."

Reading Update...

Evelio Rosero's The Armies (2007) [Translated by Anne McLean]

Sample quote:

‘Profesor, he said into my ear, ‘they didn’t kill you while you slept?’
‘Of course not,” I managed to say once I had recovered from the question. And I tried to laugh: ‘Do you not see that I am here with you?’
And, nevertheless, we stood looking at each other for a few seconds, as if we could not believe it.
‘And who was going to kill me?’ I asked. ‘And why?’
‘That’s what I was told,’ he replied.

Reading Update...

Tim O'Brien's The Nuclear Age (1985)

Sample quote: "Is it uncouth to speak plainly? Nuclear war—am I out of key with my times? An object of pity? Am I comic? Here, now, digging, my wife and daughter locked away, the hole egging me on, am I crazy to extrapolate doom from the evidence all around me. Minuteman and Backfire, a world stockpiled with 60,000 warheads? Are the numbers too bald, too clumsy? Am I indiscreet to say it? Nuclear war."