Just finished Hemingway's first book - "A Farewell to Arms". Hemingway taps into his experience as an ambulance driver to create a story of one on the Italian front. "The Lieutenant" gets hit by a trench mortar and sent to a hospital in the rear wear he meets his girl (Catherine). She is a nurse that takes care of him. They fall in love but he has to go back to the front. Shortly after arriving the Italian army is forced to retreat. During the retreat the Lieutenant gets cut off from the main retreat and is behind enemy lines. Eventually he is able to find his way back to the main body of the retreat but finds out the Italians are shooting all of the officers. The Lieutenant jumps into the river to escape being shot in the head - Farewell to Arms.
The Lieutenant finds his girl (who is with child) back in Milan. He knows he will be reported so he and Catherine row a boat across a great lake to Switzerland where they are politely arrested but allowed to live freely in the country. They spend a winter in romantic wonder awaiting the birth of their child. The story ends with the child being stillborn and Catherine losing her life shortly after the birth - a different Farewell to Arms.
The books is a great read. It gives you a unique insight into the war during that time and is a great romance - guy romance.
My next book is a Hemingway suggestion - "Out of Africa". I will tell you of the hills outside of Mombasa.
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