Each year Anna and Serena of War Through The Generations host a reading challenged focused on a particular war. In 2012 the focus was World War I, which has been of great interest to me over the last few years. I had signed up at the Wade Level, which was to read 4-10 books. I ended up reading 4.

Although I technically completed this reading challenge, I feel like I failed it in spirit. I’d wanted to read closer to ten books rather than four. I had visions of finally reading Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy and then during the year I won Charles Todd’s Bess Crawford series from Criminal Element which I thought was a no-brainer of a sign that I was meant to read this series for the challenge, but, alas, I didn’t read a book from either author during 2012.

But the four WWI books I did read were all excellent. They are:

1. One Man’s Initiation (1920) by John Dos Passos (review)
2. One of Ours by Willa Cather (1922) (here and here)
3. A Rose for the ANZAC Boys (2008) by Jackie French (review)
4. The Absolutist by John Boyne (2011) (review)

To see a complete list of books read by all the participants of this challenge, click here.

The American Revolutionary War is the theme for 2013. Click here for information and to sign up!