The Tartar Steppe

Dino Buzzati's critique of military life and a meditation on the human thirst for glory.

Favorite quotes from the book:

“What a terrible mistake, thought Drogo, perhaps everything is like that — we think there are beings like ourselves around us and instead there is nothing but ice and stones speaking a strange language; we are on the point of greeting a friend but our arm falls inert, the smile dies away because we are completely alone.”