Guest Johnsonm Posted 19 November , 2003 Share Posted 19 November , 2003 One of my favourite books is ' Of Those We Loved ' by I L Read described by the author as A Narrative 1914-1918 . He Joined the army - Leicester Regiment and he describes his experiences , good and bad through his service in 1915 the battles of the Somme and the Second Battle of the Marne . He was commissioned to the Royal Sussex Regiment , went to Egypt , returning to France in June 1918 , relating his experiences until the Armistice and beyond . It is full of drawings of people , places , events and also contains some little hand drawn maps and photographs . The author has a wonderful eye for detail and events , evoking the every day life of the Brtish soldier . Would highly recommend all 517 pages . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul guthrie Posted 19 November , 2003 Share Posted 19 November , 2003 Superb book, among the best. The terrific drawings are his. This wsa in print a few years ago, it's in the Her Privates WE league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Reed Posted 19 November , 2003 Share Posted 19 November , 2003 An excellent book; and one of the few published first-hand accounts of the Second Battle of the Marne. I also like very much the introduction, where an old guardsman in the 60s notices the name of IL Read's house (Berles) and remarks upon it. The Liddle Archive have all Read's papers - and published in colour a selection of the drawings, which in their true light are quite remarkable; even more so than the b/w versions in this book. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gem22 Posted 24 November , 2003 Share Posted 24 November , 2003 I couldn't agree more. It is definitely one of my favourite personal accounts. I found his story very moving and those wonderful drawings added an extra dimension. Glad to say that it is readily available still Garth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mark taylor Posted 24 March , 2004 Share Posted 24 March , 2004 I've recently picked up a copy of this in the local library. Mr Read is no Graves or Sassoon but his account appears to provide the thoughts of a real Tommy. Are there any other accounts worth reading? Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 24 March , 2004 Share Posted 24 March , 2004 Without doubt this is one of the great reads - though I think it is tempered by the fact that it was variously revised by the author through the years- I certaunly regard it as on the of more under-rated and less well known gems that have been published. As for other accounts - perusing the Book Reviews section should turn up views on numerous others. Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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