18 books like Slaughterhouse-Five

What to read after Slaughterhouse-Five — books similar to it, matched on shared themes.

Nineteen Eighty-Four George Orwell · 1949 · ★ 4.2 · 244p · ≈ 8h · Challenging Nineteen Eighty-Four: A Novel, often referred to as 1984, is a dystopian social science fiction novel by the English novelist George Orwell (the pen name of Eric Arthur Blair). It was published on 8 June 1949 by Secker & Warburg as Orwell's ninth and final book completed in his lifetime. Thematically, Nineteen Eighty-Four centres on the consequences of totalitarianism, mass surveillance, and… Shares: Drama, Science Fiction

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald · 1920 · ★ 3.9 · 431p · ≈ 14h · Challenging Here is a novel, glamorous, ironical, compassionate – a marvelous fusion into unity of the curious incongruities of the life of the period – which reveals a hero like no other – one who could live at no other time and in no other place. But he will live as a character, we surmise, as long as the memory of any reader lasts. "There was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to… Shares: Drama

Handler's Break Ingrid Moon · 2011 · 293p · ≈ 9h · Moderate Elyon has a habit of running off. Every time she defies Boone’s orders, he’s ready to shoot her himself. But he is grudgingly obligated to safeguard the Overlord’s “weapon” - a feisty, impetuous teen-aged girl - until the Overlord can use two rare crystals to control her. As Elyon’s talents grow, Boone realizes that such a weapon should not be in the hands of a madman. He devises a risky plan… Shares: Military Fiction, Science Fiction

Honourbound Rachel Harrison · 2019 · 359p · ≈ 11h · Moderate Commissar Severina Raine and the 11th Antari Rifles fight to subdue the spreading threat of Chaos burning across the Bale Stars. Little does Raine realise the key to victory lies in her own past, and in the ghosts that she carries with her. ------ Uncompromising and fierce, Commissar Severina Raine has always served the Imperium with the utmost distinction. Attached to the 11th Antari Rifles, she… Shares: Military Fiction, War, Science Fiction

War and remembrance Herman Wouk · 1978 · ★ 4.4 From the Middle East, to Moscow, to Hitler's death camps, the members of the Henry family face grave danger as they fight in the Second World War. Shares: War stories, World War II, War, Historical Fiction

Armageddon in Retrospect Kurt Vonnegut · 1998 · ★ 3.9 · 240p · ≈ 8h · Moderate To be published on the first anniversary of Kurt Vonnegut's death, Armageddon in Retrospect is a collection of twelve new and unpublished writings on war and peace. Imbued with Vonnegut's trademark rueful humor, the pieces range from a visceral nonfiction recollection of the destruction of Dresden during World War II—an essay that is as timely today as it was then—to a painfully funny short story… Shares: War stories, World War II, War

Three Men in a Boat (to say nothing of the dog) Jerome Klapka Jérôme · 1889 · ★ 3.8 · 250p · ≈ 8h · Challenging Three feckless young men take a rowing holiday on the Thames river in 1888. Referenced by [Robert A. Heinlein][1] in [Have Spacesuit Will Travel][2] as Kip's father's favorite book. Inspired [To Say Nothing of the Dog][3] by [Connie Willis][4]. [1]: https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL28641A/Robert_A._Heinlein [2]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL59727W/Have_Space_Suit_Will_Travel [3]:… Shares: Boats and boating, Drama

The Winds of War Herman Wouk · 1971 · ★ 4.6 · 890p · ≈ 29h · Moderate Follows the various members of the Henry family as they become involved in the events preceeding America's involvement in World War II. Like no other masterpiece of historical fiction, Herman Wouk's sweeping epic of World War II is the great novel of America's Greatest Generation. Wouk's spellbinding narrative captures the tide of global events, as well as all the drama, romance, heroism, and… Shares: War stories, World War II, Historical Fiction

The Red Badge of Courage Stephen Crane · 1855 · ★ 3.3 · 184p · ≈ 6h · Challenging The Red Badge of Courage is a war novel by American author Stephen Crane (1871–1900). Taking place during the American Civil War, the story is about a young private of the Union Army, Henry Fleming, who flees from the field of battle. Overcome with shame, he longs for a wound, a "red badge of courage," to counteract his cowardice. When his regiment once again faces the enemy, Henry acts as… Shares: Literature and the War, Historical Fiction

King Rat James Clavell · 1950 · ★ 4.2 · 371p · ≈ 12h · Moderate The time is World War II. The place is a brutal prison camp deep in Japanese-occupied territory. Here, within the seething mass of humanity, one man, an American corporal, seeks dominance over both captives and captors alike. His weapons are human courage, unblinking understanding of human weaknesses, and total willingness to exploit every opportunity to enlarge his power and corrupt or destroy… Shares: War stories, World War II, Historical Fiction

Whirlwind James Clavell · 1986 · ★ 4.3 · 1229p · ≈ 40h · Challenging Tehran, Iran 1979: Simmering religious tensions finally explode, and the Iranian people rise up against the Shah. The country, once secular, is now thrown back into an orthodoxy that threatens to tear it apart. The United States and Russia go on high alert, with warships heading to the Middle East. The region becomes a powder keg, waiting to explode. Caught up in the revolution are a British… Shares: War stories, Historical Fiction

Outriders Jay Posey · 2001 · ★ 3.9 · 510p · ≈ 17h · Moderate Captain Lincoln Suh died on a Wednesday. And things only got harder from there. Snatched out of special operations and thrown headfirst into a secretive new unit, Lincoln finds himself as the team leader for the 519th Applied Intelligence Group, better known as the Outriders. And his first day on the job brings a mission with the highest possible stakes. A dangerously cunning woman who most… Shares: Military Fiction, Science Fiction

Captain Corelli's Mandolin Louis de Bernières · 1994 · ★ 4.0 · 534p · ≈ 17h · Moderate De dochter van een Griekse dokter wordt tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog gescheiden van haar geliefde, een kapitein in het Italiaanse leger. Shares: War stories, World War II, Historical Fiction

The English Patient Michael Ondaatje · 1992 · ★ 3.9 · 308p · ≈ 10h · Moderate With ravishing beauty and unsettling intelligence, Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel traces the intersection of four damaged lives in an Italian villa at the end of World War II. Hana, the exhausted nurse; the maimed thief, Caravaggio; the wary sapper, Kip: each is haunted by the riddle of the English patient, the nameless, burned man who lies in an upstairs room and whose memories of… Shares: War stories, World War II, Historical Fiction

The Nightingale Kristin Hannah · 2000 · ★ 4.6 · 592p · ≈ 19h · Moderate Despite their differences, sisters Vianne and Isabelle have always been close. Younger, bolder Isabelle lives in Paris while Vianne is content with life in the French countryside with her husband Antoine and their daughter. But when the Second World War strikes, Antoine is sent off to fight and Vianne finds herself isolated so Isabelle is sent by their father to help her. As the war progresses,… Shares: War stories, World War II, Historical Fiction

The cloud atlas Liam Callanan · 2004 · ★ 4.0 · 360p · ≈ 12h · Moderate Set against the magnificent backdrop of Alaska in the waning days of World War II, The Cloud Atlas is an enthralling debut novel, a story of adventure and awakening--and of a young soldier who came to Alaska on an extraordinary, top-secret mission...and found a world that would haunt him forever.Drifting through the night, whisper-quiet, they were the most sublime manifestations of a desperate… Shares: War stories, World War II

The dark forest Hugh Walpole · 1916 · 324p · ≈ 10h · Challenging John Durward and John Trenchard are two Englishmen who join a company of Russian doctors, nurses, and orderlies working on the Russian side of the Eastern Front at the height of World War I. Durward, the primary narrator, is a detached and seemingly-objective observer of events; his friend Trenchard is a dreamy, clumsy, and naive man whose fiancee, Marie Ivanova, is serving alongside him as a… Shares: War stories, Historical Fiction

Jackdaws Ken Follett · 2001 · ★ 4.2 · 464p · ≈ 15h · Moderate D-Day is approaching. They don’t know where or when, but the Germans know it’ll be soon, and for Felicity “Flick” Clariet, the stakes have never been higher. A senior agent in the ranks of the Special Operations Executive (SOE) responsible for sabotage, Flick has survived to become one of Britain’s most effective operatives in Northern France. She knows that the Germans’ ability to thwart the… Shares: War stories, World War II, Historical Fiction

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