“One-off” Book Discussion: Writings on the Vietnam War

Have you ever gotten to the end of a book and wanted – perhaps needed – to talk about it with someone else who has read it? Norman Williams Public Library holds occasional “one-off” discussions as books that fit this category come to our attention.

Following another group’s lively discussion of a novel about the Vietnam War, we will expand our reading list to five titles and continue the conversation.

The Women by Kristin Hannah
An intimate portrait of coming of age in a dangerous time and an epic tale of a nation divided. A young nursing student follows her brother to serve in Vietnam. But war is just the beginning for Frankie and her veteran friends. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam.

The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien
A ground-breaking meditation on war, memory, imagination, and the redemptive power of storytelling. This novel depicts the men of Alpha Company including the character Tim O’Brien, who has survived his tour in Vietnam to become a father and writer at the age of forty-three.  

You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War by Elizabeth Becker
The long buried story of three extraordinary female journalists who permanently shattered the official and cultural barriers to women covering war.

The Mark: A War Correspondent’s Memoir of Vietnam and Cambodia by Jacques Leslie
Chronicles the experiences of a brash young journalist who landed a job as a war correspondent for the Los Angeles Times and became an award-winning reporter after two years in Indochina. The author now lives in Woodstock and plans to join the discussion.

Absolution: A Novel by Alice McDermott
In Saigon in 1963, two women form a wary alliance as they balance the era’s mandate to be “helpmeets” to their ambitious husbands with their own inchoate impulse to “do good” for the people of Vietnam. Sixty years later, they look back at how their lives have been shaped by their experiences.

Everyone is invited to read one or more (or none!) of these books; reading various perspectives will help deepen the conversation. Most of these titles are available in several formats: large print, ebook, and audiobook – to stream from the website or on CD.

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Though all of the book groups at NWPL welcome readers to attend one or many meetings, these “one-off” gatherings will be book-initiated. Fiction, biography, history, or current events, we are open to all genres and topics. Please let us know if you have a suggestion!

Like our other book discussion groups, this will be held in person and via zoom. Please email programs@normanwilliams.org for the link to join.