Nothing of Importance


Lu par Lee Smalley

(4.7 stars; 11 reviews)

Fighting in France during the Great War, Bernard Adams, an officer with a Welsh battalion, was moved to chronicle what he saw and experienced: the living conditions and duties of officers and “Tommies” (enlisted men) in their dank, rat-infested trenches and behind the lines; the maiming and deaths; and the quiet periods described in official reports as “nothing of importance”. Adams relates his wounding in June, 1916 and its aftermath. The concluding chapter, which he wrote during his convalescence in “Blighty” (soldiers’ slang for England), is an impassioned reflection on war. Following several months of recuperation Adams returned to the front where, on February 26, 1917 he was wounded again. The following day he died. (Lee Smalley) (7 hr 58 min)

Chapitres

In Memoriam and Preface 12:56 Lu par Lee Smalley
First Impressions 28:32 Lu par Lee Smalley
Cuinchy and Givenchy 35:38 Lu par Lee Smalley
Working-Parties 34:53 Lu par Lee Smalley
Rest 37:13 Lu par Lee Smalley
On the March 14:12 Lu par Lee Smalley
The Bois Français Trenches 26:08 Lu par Lee Smalley
More First Impressions 24:51 Lu par Lee Smalley
Sniping 31:19 Lu par Lee Smalley
On Patrol 13:19 Lu par Lee Smalley
'Whom the Gods Love' 24:30 Lu par Lee Smalley
'Whom the Gods Love'—(continued). 20:33 Lu par Lee Smalley
Officers’ Servants 25:51 Lu par Lee Smalley
Mines 24:11 Lu par Lee Smalley
Billets 43:13 Lu par Lee Smalley
'A certain Man Drew a Bow at a Venture' 18:33 Lu par Lee Smalley
Wounded 38:45 Lu par Lee Smalley
Conclusion 24:14 Lu par Lee Smalley

Critiques

"Nothing of Importance" - a World War I memoir


(5 stars)

I have finished listening to Lee Smalley's Librivox recording of John Bernard Pye Adams' memoir "Nothing of Importance". The reading is excellent and the book is fascinating. It is the memoir of a an introspective English officer serving the Flanders trenches in a Welsh battalion in WWI. In the preface we learn that the officer was killed in action shortly after the diary ends (in mid-1916). The book offers insights into all facets of the war, including the joys, the horrors and the boredom. The book deserves to be much more well known. Hopefully, this recording will contribute to that.