The Regeneration Trilogy - Pat Barker

 

What an absolute work of art! And to think that Pat Barker studied history (what I teach...) at the university where I work, and I actually had to discover her because my auntie told my mom about her. In my defence, she did graduate a few decades before my arrival at least...

The Regeneration Trilogy is possibly the best WWI book(s) I have ever read. Barker has a truly unique way of describing, through her characters, the ugly beauty of war, how it plays with the minds of soldiers who can never leave war behind and are often attracted to it for various reasons even when given a chance to leave. 

Her ability to weave real history and fiction together in an inextricable mix is also remarkable, and the last few chapters of The Ghost Road are an agony to read, as the reader clearly knows how things are going to end for Billy Prior, the beautifully troubled and scarred main fictional character of the trilogy. 

The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat - Oliver Sacks

I must admit I had heard of the book, and assumed it was a semi-humorous novel (in my defence, I suspect I wasn't the only one) and not a series of case-studies, narrated with remarkable tact, covering the stories of a number of psychiatric patients. 

This book ended up being a very "informative" read, if one can label it as such, despite really not being what I had initially envisaged. The loss - of control, of inhibitions, and often of self - of the people described in the chapters is absolutely terrifying and has remained with me for quite some time. 

Yet, like a lot of other people, I suspect. This book (un)covers aspects of human life and illnesses that I find so disturbing that I would almost prefer not to think about them (not something that I am proud of, but something that I still need to acknowledge).