Erich Maria Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front, Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell To Arms, Jonathan Coe, Middle England

Some sombre reading while on a Scout trip to Ypres to commemorate the centenary of the armistice. Really should have had some light relief between the horrors of warfare and the senseless loss of life of WWI. AQOTWF isn’t on the list of 100 essential novels, the nearest equivalent is the Red Badge of Courage - I guess that reflects the American experience, and the Civil War is their touchstone of pointless slaughter and mechanised murder.'Middle England' is Jonathan Coe's Brexit novel, using his characters from The Rotters' Club. i enjoyed it and it was very good on the resentment and left-behindness of the Leave voters, and how we became 2 nations living in each other's midsts without realising it - and the shock that came to the liberal establishment when truths it took to be self-evident were rejected.