War Reporting for Cowards by Chris Ayres - Book #5 for 2012
I found myself really engrossed by this true story by Times reporter Chris Ayres, about how he ended up reporting (for nine days) from the Iraq conflict. The book is written in a style similar to that of Bill Bryson, with frequent use of humour, which may seem strange considering the subject matter, but it actually seems quite fitting, especially since a good sense of humour is probably only the good way to be able to stay sane in a war situation; in this case, there is a lot of very dark, gallows humour (he comments at one point that he’s not bothered about spending too much on a hotel room because he’ll probably be dead by the time they find out).
The portrayal of the real-life actions of the US Marines in Iraq, including the way that they entertain themselves while not fighting, is incredibly vivid, and the realities of war are shown in their entire, unflinching, glory. Also, in the midst of all this, there is a harrowing first-hand account of the events of 9/11.
I was gripped right from the start to the end, and Ayres constantly cites a lot of his influences; Peter Cook gets an acknowledgement, and the famous novel, Bravo Two Zero is referred to several times (probably not surprisingly). This is a book that I strongly recommend.