Captain Corelli's Mandolin by Louis De Bernieres

I actually read this novel when I was a teenager but didn't remember it very well. I've also seen the film which is amazing just like the book. It weaves a story of the 2nd World War and its effects in both Italy and Greece, and paticularly on the Greek island of Cellaphonia during its Italian occupation and then after Italy and Nazi Germany split after Mussolini was overthrown. It contains blissfully humourous rants and raves which really make you question the dictator's sanity or even humanity. The book starts off with a young woman, Pelagia and her father Dr Iannis who treats the island's various ills. It takes you through the war experiences of Mandras, a love interest who finds out the true valor that lies in being a soldier. It also gloriously features one of the most loveable characters, a gay soldier named Carlo.

The story takes a twist when Captain Corelli is stationed at Cellaphonia and is living in Dr Iannis' house. A love story begins to unfold with the complexities of loyalty to Greece torn with the occupation by Italy. All the characters suffer as the war takes more of a hold and all are portrayed in different ways. The mandolin played by Captain Corelli is seen as a beautiful thing among all the ugliness which is also helped by a choir of Italian and German soldiers. One of the more interesting characters was a German soldier, eventually forced to betray his Italian friends in the name of his country. There is such a readiness these days to label all Nazi soldiers as evil but the German soldier's uncertainties and complexities are also shown especially towards the end of the book.

The bit that annoyed me was the end, all very romantic and everything but so idealistic which I suppose is an element of the time the book was written for. However, the language throughout the book, the new characters introduced and the historical accuracy are things that makes this book such a stellar read. A must-read if you haven't already, a true classic.

Jailbird by Kurt Vonnegut

I read this quite a few days ago now, so with some Amazon references I will write what I can.
I always enjoy reading Kurt Vonnegut, there is something about the combination of satire, politics, and the war which he combines magically and he writes like no one else in the world quite can. Well, no one I have read anyway.
Jailbird details the story of Walter F. Starbuck, a former advisor (on Youth Affairs) to Richard Nixon who has just gotten out of jail for his involvement (or not) in the Watergate conspiracy. It reminded me in a lot of ways of other Vonnegut books, such as the continual repetition of 'and on and on' and the re-entry of everyone's favourite random guy Kilgore Trout, who Starbuck meets in jail.
As usual, this book also starts as a seemingly normal sort of epic story about a guy who has been through a lot and been shoved back into a world he no longer understands. However, as with Cat's Cradle another Vonnegut book, it suddenly becomes at the same time a political satire and a very unbelievable but magical story. Most everyone Starbuck meets in this story works at the RAMJAC Corporation, a metaphor for the increasingly capitalist and monopolistic world of the time at which the book was written, it also shows the increasing power large corporations have on the state because of their incredible wealth. The main character's surname (Starbuck) also seems to contribute to this metaphor, especially as Starbucks Coffee was moving to all corners of the world in 1999 when the book was published.
Starbuck continues to meet people he knows in some way or another all throughout the book, and all the characters are brought together within Vonnegut's beautiful prose at the end of the book in a way that is difficult to imagine.
That's one thing you can always rely on with Vonnegut, he's never predictable.