A few recent reads:
The Centurions - Jean Larteguy
Larteguy was a decorated soldier turned journalist who wrote novels about the conflicts he covered. This starts with the French defeat in Indochina and follows a group of Les Paras as they learn how to become revolutionary soldiers in Viet Minh prison camps, their return to an apathetic France, a sojourn to Suez where they are let down by the politicians and battles in Algeria where they have the chance to put their revolutionary ideas to the test. Their harsh methods work - but the government are appalled and chicken out, setting the stage for the soldiers to try and take over the government too. Inbetween there are memorable portrayals of life at the time, solid French advice on how to deal with women, and ruminations on history, culture and philosophy.
The Sound of Waves - Mishima
Buggy recommended this on Twitter and it's very good. It's the story of two young Japanese who fall in love in the 1950s as modernity begins to creep into the traditional life of the remote island they live on. It's a story of love against the odds but the writing is so fine that it feels fresh and raises your sensibilities.
Zone of the Interior - Clancy Sigal
Sigal was the child of Jewish immigrant (daddy abandoned them, mommy was a militant labour organiser), who moved to Britain in the 1960s, had an affair with Doris Lessing, became pals with R.D. Laing, took a lot of drugs and joined the anti-psychiatry experiments at Kingsley Hall. This novel is a such a thinly described of these events and people that nobody would publish it at the time due to fear of libel. Which is pretty reasonable considering that it depicts the whole movement as little better than a cult run by sociopaths and preying on the gullible with psychobabble and cod-revolutionary slogans. The narrator (Sigal) also has so many Jewish issues that you could play Bingo with them, which makes it highly amusing to read. A good entry in the disillusioned 1960s genre.
Winter Quarters - Alfred Duggan
A Gallic noble kills the bear that killed his girl, only to discover it was sacred - so he and his pal leave to join Julius Caesar's army and get away from the wrath of "The Goddess". From there they travel to Rome, visit Athens and join Crassus's army on its invasion of Parthia. In contrast to all those sub-Conan books full of honest barbarians disgusted by the splendour of the city, in this the sophisticated nobles are horrified to discover the Romans speak plainly and dress uniformly (also that Greek boys like buggery). Duggan was a contemporary of Waugh and it has the same dry wit allied to a formidable historical knowledge.