Which books have you read/are you reading? Reviews here.

"Dying to Live" by Kim Paffenroth
Grade: D-

Ok. I'm reading "Dying to Live: a novel of life among the undead" by Kim Paffenroth, who has a degree in bible studies and a Ph.D. in Theology, which I thought would be interesting because of the whole apocalypse notion and being raised religious myself. This book was billed as the intellectual's zombie novel. I guess I see that in the style in a really cursory, shallow sense as being true. However, this is a huge disappointment in that it's poorly written. I expect better quality, especially from someone with that much education. There are not just parallels but blatant rip offs of Romero zombie story situations which wouldn't be bad if the author chose to elucidate and flesh the situation out in a more in-depth and satisfying way to which the medium of the novel lends itself well. However here, in "Dying to Live", I'm dying to do some major editing of the whole book. It seems like it was published from the wrong stack of paper-- as though we're being forced to read the 10th draft instead of the 20th. It lacks any sort of character depth, any justification or believable explanation of how or why anyone behaves the way (s)he does.

The best parts are the action sequences and the descriptions of the zombies, but even those become extremely unbelievable (a small boy being strong enough to shove nails with his bare hands through the skull of a zombie to kill it, and doing this repeatedly), and the descriptions themselves are very brief, artless, flat and repetitive. How many times do we need to hear that a particular zombie's head lolls or it's throat is torn out or it has a dried blood stain down the length of its body? Some variety would be nice. The bare bones descriptions are just the opposite of what is needed to make effective horror.

Altogether, I give this one a D- and I'm only about half way through it. If this is truly the best that zombie novels have to offer, I'll stop right here knowing at least that way I won't be continually disappointed. After all, there are plenty of other apocalyptic scenarios being written about, some with far superior craft and well worth reading.

Feel free to add your own reviews here, but try not to give away plot.

Dies the Fire:

After reading the recommendations I bought this book, keeping many people's comments on 'lucky coincidences' in the back of my head.

Whoo....lucky coincidences abound!
The book is well written with easily likeable characters and a clear distinction between good and bad. It is the type of survival story that I loved to read as a youngster.
The plot and development move too fast though.
Especially with concepts and ideas that would take people years to figure out, these chappies manage it in two to four months.

He also tends to use the same term/words in following chapters, again and again.

Otherwise it was an entertaining book, and I did enjoy reading it. Still can't believe how many people in the greater Portland area know how to fight with bows and swords though...

Seems I am the lone survivor on this page. Much like a post-apocalyptic plot...hmmmm

Canticle for Leibowitz:

Damn.
I think this has to be one of the best novels I have read in the last year. In fact it has to be one of the best books I have read ever.
I'm a content over form reader, but Walter M. Miller Jr. provided both in ample supply.

Basic thread is about humanity and the mistakes we make. A lot of hard hitting commentry on our deficiencies and how we can't take responsibility for our own actions.

I would recommend this book to anyone.
It has a dark, somber undertone with very dry, witty humour that lessens the feeling of hopelessness somewhat. The book is eloquently written and as I mentioned the form is as good as any I think you'll read.

Give it a go. It takes a bit of time to get into it, but def worth it.

You might do better by posting these as reviews on the book page in your library. They then will appear to everyone who has that book in their library.

You can still post the title and author here to update people that yet another post-apoc story has been reviewed by you.

I have started the reviewing process.

Also finished Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank.
Loved it.

Have added:
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell
Idlewild by Nick Sagan
On the beach by Nevil Shute
Spin by Robert Charles Wilson
The City of Ember by Jeanne Duprau
The Road by Cormac McCarthy

to my wishlist and will start reading them all as soon as I am humanly able.
I have discovered a love of this genre that astounds me.

Have just finished reading There Falls No Shadow by David E Crossley. This is the first book in a trilogy (awaiting publication of books 2 & 3).

There Falls No Shadow is an excellent read along similar lines of Terry Nation but with yet more twists, turns, and detail.

I'm so sad that this group appears not to be active! I'm recently on a major post-apocalyptic fiction kick, and would LOVE to discuss.

Earlier this year I read Charlie Huston's Sleepless, which I didn't know going in was post-apocalyptic. A very interesting crime novel take on the genre.

A couple of months ago I realized I didn't own a copy of Swan Song, and after picking up a copy at a library sale reread it. I haven't yet reviewed it, because I'm still sorting out how I feel about it. I adored it when it came out, and it's haunted my memory ever since. It lost a little something for me over the years, but was still great.

I had my copy of The Passage arrive on the day it came out, and gobble it right up. I thought it lived up to the hype, and then some.

Next, I went to my shelves and pulled down my copy of Alas, Babylon. Brilliant! Far less naive (I felt) than other reviewers had led me to believe it would be (although perhaps it glossed a little over the yucky stuff).

And now, keeping it in the same era--year, in fact, of publication--I'm reading A Canticle For Leibowitz. Fantastic!

Anybody care to revive this group? Pretty please?

edited to fix typo

I'm relatively new to Library Thing and just discovered this group. Post-apocalyptic books used to be one of my favorite genres - don't know why I haven't read many for a while now. I joined this group a few days ago looking for title suggestions. Have a good list for my upcoming trip to the library now.

I'm interested in reviving this group. Count me in.
srt

Cool! Did you want to try to get up a group read of a particular title, or maybe kind of feel around and see what we might have read in common, or?...

Let me know, I'm very open to how we work this. As I say in my previous entry, I'm currently reading A Canticle for Leibowitz, which I can highly recommend. And I just ordered a copy of Level 7, based on a list published in the thread containing such lists. (It will complete my tour of 1959, I think, following Alas, Babylon and Canticle.

At any rate--I'm excited, geek that I am. Let's do it!!

Becky

A few of my favorites:
Earth Abides by George Stewart, I read it before I started collecting books - now, I can barely part with a book that I only rate 2 stars!
The Stand by Stephen King, it has that good against evil thing going for it too.
The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood which I liked a little more than Oyrx and Crake
Pesthouse by Jim Crace - don't hear much about this book but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I read The Road by Cormac McCarthy and it was one of the bleakest books I have ever made myself finish. There was absolutely no hope for the world! I prefer books where at least the other species have a fighting chance.

Looks like I must pick up Alas, Babylon from all the good reviews I've seen on LT and I need to reread A Canticle for Leibowitz

Good to see there is life in this group!

I'm reading On The Beach by Nevil Shute. The idea is excellent, the war is over and radiation is spreading down from the Northern Hemisphere, inhabitants of South Australia are yet to be affected but it's on its way. The dialogue and the behaviour of the characters is dated (no mass raping and pillaging) but that adds to its charm.

Recently had a go at reading Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky. Again a great idea, but I found the story repetitive and applied my half way rule. As I hadn't got into it by then I put it down. If anyone has finished it let me know whether I should persevere.

My personal favourite post apocalypse novels are flu epidemics etc because the survivors have a much easier time of it! I enjoyed Earth Abides characters attempt at creating a future community. Not much chance of that happening in The Road!

Any recommendations for other post apocalypse survivalist novels?

You should definitely pick up The Passage. Although the apocalypse does come in the form of medical experiments gone wrong, it's not a flu...it's much more pervasive, repulsive, and, uh, long-lasting. The survivalist aspect of it is great, with awesome detail about how people have to adjust as they rebuild in the light of this crazy threat. It's the first of a trilogy; number two's due out in '12, as I understand it.

I just finished A Canticle for Liebowitz--published in 1959, just 2 years after On the Beach. It was outrageously gorgeous. Set in the far future, there are three parts. Part one takes place 600 years after the nuclear holocaust (because in 1959 what else is it going to be but nuclear?), part two 600 years after that, and the third part yet another 600 years in the future. It is, interestingly enough, both funnier and grimmer than Alas, Babylon. I will probably be posting a review today or tomorrow.

Everybody's talking about Earth Abides, so I think I'm going to need to pick that one up soon. Next up in the genre, though, is Level 7 which should, I think, round out my tour of the future a la 1959.

Post-apocalyptic fiction I've read in the last year or so:

*****
A Canticle for Liebowitz by Walter M. Miller

****½
The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier

****
The Day of the Triffids by John Wyndham
The Night of the Triffids by Simon Clark
Genesis by Bernard Beckett
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham

***
A Strong and Sudden Thaw by R. W. Day
The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham
On the Beach by Nevil Shute

I recently picked up a copy of Alas, Babylon and expect to read it fairly soon.

I just got Six Great Short Science Fiction Novels : The Blast; Coventry; The Other World; Barrier; Surface Tension; Maturity in the mail a couple of days ago. My grandparents had a copy when I was a kid and I used to read it every Christmas and summer when I'd go up to their farm in northern Arkansas.

A collection of six novellas published in 1954, all deal with post-apocalyptic/dystopian futures. In particular, I like "The Blast" by Stuart Cloete as it's one of the first stories that seems to be a well-thought out depiction of the effects of a nuclear war from the point of view of a lone survivor in New York.

Some of the writing is a bit dated and a "pulp-ish" but overall after 55+ years it holds up better than you might think it would.

I read it a while ago, but I was impressed with How I Live Now, a YA novel of the ash-cloud type of apocalypse.

Okay, you guys are embarrassing me. I was a bookseller for nearly 16 years; I've been on, um, sabbatical, for the last six months. I've seen and shelves so many of the books people are mentioning--for example, How I Live Now, and didn't even realize they fell into this category. And I read so much...

More for the list.

DystopiaPress, I love sci fi from that Golden Age. I may need to look up those novellas you mention.

And I have one to add, which I don't believe I've noted on any of the lists so far. The Gone-Away World, which came out in '08, if I recall correctly. Very, very clever but not just clever, if you know what I mean. A terrific conceit but with lots of heart (and soul). Kind of timely, too, for us in 2010 with BP's oil spill eating up the Gulf; the world in Harkaway's novel is gone away because of an industrial technique gone awry.

Haven't noticed John Brunner's name mentioned hereabouts. His novel The Sheep Look Up has been pretty prophetic describing an earth decimated by industrial caused environmental disasters.

A lesser novel (a lot lesser), by an alleged alien abductee, Whitley Streiber, Nature's End: The Consequences of the Twentieth Century employs similar documentary techniques employed by Brunner in TSLU, fusing fact w/fiction depicting a Logan's Run type world so ruined by overpopulation that some guru-wacko w/a podium and lots of power insists that one-third of the globe's population should commit voluntary suicide to save the planet. Any volunteers? Do I see some hands? Anybody?

I totally agree about John Brunner. I just ordered a used copy of Stand on Zanzibar from Amazon--it's been years since I read it plus it's kind of hard to find a reasonably priced copy--but he's always struck me as a kind of like the UK Philip K. Dick.

Thanks BeckyJg, I'll put the passage on my TBR. Earth Abides is a must read of the genre. It is far from perfect and in some ways dated (somewhat sexist and inadvertently racist) but it ticks a lot of the boxes to be a good post apocalyptic yarn. It gets some criticism because the protagonist isn't that pro-active. I think that's unfair as it is the story the author wanted to write and also faced with this situation in real life how many would take it upon themselves to start a new civilisation.

Along with the whole survivalist thing I also enjoy it when the characters get to explore deserted cities and houses. Just like Robert Neville in I Am Legend and in the film versions The Omega Man and er... I Am Legend.

Perhaps an idea for another thread, what makes the perfect Post Apocalyptic novel and what novels have come close to achieving it.

Don't forget the first movie version of I Am Legend: The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price from the '60s. Saw the tail end of it on TV as a kid and it scared me for years afterward. Certainly, of the three movies it's the closest in spirit/plot to Matheson's novel.

Based on the mentions here, I just bought The Passage on amazon. I look forward to it and hope it is as good as it seems. I too am an avid PA reader and just picked up a copy of Days of Grass which was an obscure (to me) PA title. I recently read Emergence which was quite a bit of fun in the obscure/old PA category. Let me know how Level 7 is as I liked Alas Babylon and am reading A Canticle for Liebowitz as well.

Speaking of A Canticle for Liebowitz, BeckyJG just wrote a great review of it here.

20> Will John Brunner's stuff ever come back into print? Your Phillip K. Dick comparison is spot on. I've had my eyes out for Stand on Zanzibar secondhand forever, and never come across it.

Thanks for the review pimping, EF!

Okay, now you guys have me hot for John Brunner. Just another author I'm going to have to seek out. Will it never end? It's actually gotten worse for me since I left the bookstore. Sheesh.

I have to geek out about The Omega Man. I know it's not that true to the original material, but my god--Heston as the last man on earth (essentially)? An interracial romance? It's got everything the early 70s was about, and more. Haven't seen the Vincent Price I Am Legend; I'll have to add that to my Netflix queue (if they have it : ).

25> Will it never end?

No.

Heston! Does Planet of the Apes qualify as post-apocalyptic?

For an intense and tasty treat of a planet (not Earth) nearing apocalypse due to absurd levels of claustrophobic overcrowding and lack of resources (turns out the reasons for the overcrowding are the results of a ruthless longitudinal experiment being conducted by merciless earthlings) check out The Dosadi Experiment by Frank Herbert.

Books that I have read this year that have already been discussed are:
Earth Abides
On The Beach
Canticle for Leibowitz
Alas Babylon

Books I read, not already discussed are:
One Second After by William Forstchen - very quick read about an EMP blast with survivors living in the mountains of NC. This was my first post-apocalyptic read for the year
The Last Ship by William Brinkley - was a very nice companion book to On The Beach. Over 600 pages, it could have been told in 300-400 pages. Despite the length, I really enjoyed the detail about Navy life and the last 10 or so pages will have you saying 'WTF'
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven - great book. Warning: first 100 pages is serious character development but definitely a page turner after that to the end.

Books on my TBR list are:
The Postman by David Brin
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Chrysalids by John Wyndham
I may add Atwood; depends how the rest of my reading and the year goes

>26 absurdeist: I think Planet of the Apes would definitely qualify as post-apocalyptic. I mean, there is a nuclear cataclysm of some sort, eh? And really cool mutants.

Tell me, before I seek out the Frank Herbert (and excuse the absolutely judgmental nature of this question): is it as tiresome as the Dune books? 'Cause Becky don't play that...

Since I've purchased enough books on a whim lately, I went ahead and ordered Earth Abides from the library this morning.

>27 goddesspt2: The Brin is FAR FAR FAR better than the fiasco of a movie made from it.

Just getting used to 'the thing', and I've always been a fan of post-apocalyptic stuff.

An interesting read was Life As We Knew It by Susan Pfeffer; a YA book, but an interesting take on disaster. Made me feel like that old film 'Threads' they made us watch in school in the mid to late 80s.

I'll add these two pre-apocalyptic, as opposed to post-apocalyptic, novels. Both 4 stars:

The End of Science Fiction by Sam Smith
Everything Matters! by Ron Currie Jr.

Does anyone else who has read The Passage feel like they were reading a book that is going to become a classic of the genre? I did until I found out that it is going to be a trilogy. This makes me happy as a reader, but I feel that it may weaken it as a classic. If he had finished in one book, I think it would have been tight enough to qualify. What did others think?

I had never even considered that its publication as a trilogy might weaken its potential classic status. I'm not sure exactly why it would; after all, that Tolkien extravaganza that everyone loves so much is considered a classic of its genre, and it's a trilogy. Right?

On the other hand, I agree for sure that post-apocalyptic classic status would be cemented with just the one volume, in this case...it was that good.

Do you have specifics that make you feel a trilogy will weaken it? I'm really interested!

The Passage is sounding better by the moment. It's #2 presently, I noticed, in the L.A. Times. It's probably hot everywhere I'd imagine.

30> you mentioned "pre-apocalyptic" and that reminded me of an obscure play by E.L. Doctorow I read last week, Drinks Before Dinner, that is definitely, and unexpectedly, "pre-apocalyptic". There's no plagues or pestilence or over-population or nuclear holocaust to overcome and survive, but it's grim and doom-ridden and the impending apocalypse hovers palpably in the air of the Manhattan high rise apartment.

32> forgive my possible pedantry, but I believe (don't quote me just yet on it - I think I remember reading this somewhere as a teen) that Tolkien wrote LOTR intending it to be a single tome, but his publisher balked at the idea of releasing something so lengthy by an unknown (or perhaps they foresaw a franchise and more sales), and so, against Tolkien's wishes, divided the book into three installments. And what does this info have to do w/post-apocalyptic lit.?... Absolutely nothing. Again, pardon my digression.

#32 - I worried that expansion into a trilogy would weaken The Passage in terms of classic status because I feel that the publishing industry is focused almost exclusively on franchises and serials at the moment and that many things become multi-volume epics that don't have the weight or complexity to be epics. I also read that the publisher asked for a trilogy based on the first third of The Passage rather than Cronin first conceiving the book as multi-volume. These are the reasons I feel it might weaken in volumes two and three, though I hope not. Also, I felt the ending was simultaneously both a cliffhanger and a fizzle. This also worried me as each book should finish and the cliffhanger habit is really starting to annoy me. If the next volumes weaken or slow, than the brilliance of The Passage may be overlooked in later years as well, especially as we didn't get a stand-alone ending.

All of that said, I loved The Passage and want it to retain its classic status in the next volumes. It is clear to me that Cronin loves the genre and has read widely in it as I thought that he borrowed structurally from A Canticle for Liebowitz and Handmaid's Tale and thematically from I am Legend, Earth Abides, The Stand and Swan Song.

#33 - you are right about The Lord of the rings; it was conceived and planned as a single novel and was split by the publisher into three parts. I had a moment of hope thinking of LotR until I remembered that it wasn't a trilogy in the mind of the author.

Ok, so what are other people thinking of The Passage? Likes? Loves? Quibbles?

With the Passage being so popular, it should hit the used book or library cart shelves really soon. I was able to pick up the new Stieg Larsson within a week of it being released. Can't wait.

>34 Anastasia169: Anastasia169, thanks for the clarification. Makes perfect sense. I have a somewhat different take on the ending of The Passage, for although I certainly find it to be a cliffhanger, it didn't fizzle for me. I'm hoping that since the book was planned as a trilogy from the outset that its power won't be diluted. And the cliffhanger, in that instance, just really can be seen as the ending of one section...it's just that the next section begins when the next book begins. Shit, that made sense in my head...

>33 absurdeist: EF, your pedantry is always appreciated. I much prefer it to Tolkien's own longwinded description, neverending battles, and ridiculous made up languages. Oh, can you tell I'm not a fan? Hey--I love The Hobbit.

>goddesspt2, I hope you get your copy soon. It rocks! (It's so seldom that a book lives up to its hype.)

I should be seeing my copy of Level 7 in the mail soon, and Earth Abides hitting my branch of the library for me. Can't wait! Taking a break while I wait for them with some Harry Potter ; ) , mysteries, and now The Dead Fathers Club, which looks to be Hamlet revisited. Fun!

BeckyJG, I was in Barnes & Noble at lunch and actually picked it up (it's very heavy - lol). Even though it would be 40% off w/ my discount, I'm resisting. I even looked at the Nook (they now have a manned display - like a huge lemonade stand).

I can never remember the titles of books that have vague general words like How I Live Now and Life as We Knew It (and I loved both those books).

I'm in the mood for some just-post apocalypse of the environmental variety. Does anyone have suggestions for books that would have a lot of survivalism descriptions? I want to read about the DIY angle.

I've added The Dosadi Experiment to my TBR list.

Make Room! Make Room! by Harry Harrison is a good novel about a future society in severe environmental trouble. (The movie version in the early-mid '70s was Soylent Green starring Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson in his last screen role.)

On another note, here's a link to some info about free audiobooks being given away by Sync in July & August that include Suzanne Colllins' The Hunger Games: http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2010/07/01/free-ya-audiobooks-from-sync/

Sonya, you probably already know this, but the S.M. Stirling series that starts with Dies the Fire is pretty DIY. Of course, I couldn't even get through that first installment, finding it rather, ah, tiresome.

I always loved Harry Harrison's titles. I'll need to read Make Room! Make Room!.

And oh, the bounty! My copy of Level 7 arrived in the mail today--a lovely 1959 cloth edition--book club edition, but that's okay. AND the copy of Earth Abides I ordered from the library got in, too. So many books...

I've finished Earth Abides, reviewed here. I was impressed, but my feelings about it are somewhat mixed. I'd love to know what others think, particularly as regards the utter passivity of the survivors. Do you think it's a particular post-war attitude that George Stewart was alarmed by? Did he feel that forgetting our civilization's achievements and starting fresh was the only way to build a new society? Please, let me know what you think.

Good review BeckJG. I agree with your comments that the actions of the characters are sometimes frustrating. For example they happily use the mains water never considering where it comes from, how to maintain it or to have a contingency plan. However in some ways I found this refreshing, other SF novels have explored the whole new civilisation from the ashes scenario in many ways. This was not what George R Stewart was trying to achieve, even Ish gets frustrated at the next generations lack of purpose. Whether there is a grand philosophical message about the human condition within the book is doubtful, if there was I missed it. I enjoyed it for what it was, the tale of a lazy survivalist!

I wonder if there are any old interviews etc with G.R.S about the book which may shed more light.

On the subject of survivalist PA books, my next purchases will be Far North and One by Conrad Williams. As I live in the UK especially looking forward to One. Along with The Passage that's my summer holiday reading sorted (I'll have to spend some time with the kids!)

I can't believe I missed Far North. It's on my list as of this moment. One (I wonder why it doesn't come up with touchstones?) sounds pretty intriguing, too.

I'm taking a brief PA break, then on to Level 7 and Ron Currie's Everything Matters!.

Another one that looks like it fits the bill is A gift upon the shore So many books, so little time!

Speaking of older books, Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold comes to mind. World blown up - live in underground bunker. Totally sexist, but once you accept that......... And Life as We Knew It has 2 sequels - The Dead and the Gone and......... oops, I forget the other title. My daughter and I are both into end of world books.

I'm heading off to the library to pick up my copy of Make Room! Make Room!. Woo hoo! I truly can't wait to read it--thanks, Mark, for making me aware of it.

>45 sherrystein: I've just come to terms with the fact that any fiction--but, it seems, especially genre fiction (or maybe that's just because I read so much more of it than mainstream fiction)--pre-1972 or so is going to be rife with casual sexism and racism. I don't like it, but I try not to be distracted by it, because what can you do...it's already writ, right?

Thanks for the suggestions!

>45 sherrystein: Sequels?! I didn't know! I'm so glad you mentioned that.

I have a hard time getting pleasure reading in, between the books I read for author interviews, and having an infant.

Speaking of, if there are any great PA novels coming out, let me know -- I can probably schedule the author for an interview for LibraryThing.

I just finished The Postman was happy to find a few female characters who actually did something!

Reread Earth Abides - it's been over 30 years since the first time I read it. I loved it then and remembered parts of it perfectly but came away with a different appreciation of it this time.

Next up I Am Legend and Children of Men.

Even though I'm sick of zombies and vampires, I'm hearing such good things about The Passage I'm going to pick that one up too.

The Long Loud Silence popped up as a recommendation, Amazon reviews look good so I've invested £1.44 in a second hand copy! Anyone read it?

Grabbed Aftermath by Charles Sheffield. Relatively low rating in LT (low three point something) but it's a PA with, I think, an original source of PA: not plague, not comets, not nuclear holocaust, but Alpha Centauri, closest star to Earth, going supernova!

Will get to it eventually.

>50 absurdeist: Charles Sheffield's one of those guys I've never read but have kind of had my eye on (having shelved his books so many times...) You must let us know how it is.

>49 redroc: I've never even heard of The Long Loud Silence, but that cover is to die for!

I finished Make Room! Make Room! this morning, and reviewed it here. Definitely a bit dated, as some other reviewers have noted, but a superior work still. Chilling and far, far better than the movie (except no Heston, of course).

I'm thinking of branching out (or turning back, since I used to read a lot of SF) and picking up his Stainless Steel Rat stuff. Another series I used to shelve all the time, and always got such a kick out of. You know the man is like 110 and is just about to publish another Stainless Steel Rat book? Heavens.

Just finished The Passage. It was good, not great. Long, held my attention for the most part. But it lacked some extra spark that would have elevated it for me. Interesting premise: medical experiments gone wrong turn people into viral beasts; humanity almost destroyed; becomes post-apocalyptic tale; a few vivid characters. Competent writing.

A classic of the genre? Not IMHO.

The Dead and Gone, by Susan Beth Pfeffer, sequel to Life as We Knew It, although it's actually a parallel story. The moon is whacked into closer orbit, which affects tides, volcanoes, temperature, etc. The setting is New York City, so there are the upsides and downsides of living in a post-apocalyptic urban center. More organization to provide food and electricity, but also more people who depend on it.

The main characters are Catholic Puerto Rican teens, which for me showed a different perspective for the decisions that needed to be made. That their faith is tried is touched on, but it's not the main focus of the book. It's urban survival, trading scavenged items from the dead on the streets for canned food.

The parallel story part was handled marvelously, not going over the same PA events in the same way so those who read the first book aren't bored. The pacing was a bit different, so I didn't feel like I was reading the same story over again.

We've had pretty much constant rain over here in England for weeks now, so today I thought it appropriate to buy Year of the Flood and The Drowned World. In the hope that we eventually get some nice weather I've also bought The Drought. I'm looking forward to reading all three, I enjoyed The Handmaids Tail and Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and Crash by J.G.B so hopefully my weather based buys will be of a similar standard.

I enjoyed both of those recent acquisitions. Year of the Flood puts a new spin on O and C, and The Drowned World was both timely and a bit dated, but worthwhile.

The oft-recommended The Sheep Look Up has finally arrived from Alibris. Can't wait to start it.

Well, it's more dystopia than post-apocalypse, but here's my review of Jennifer Government. A fun read!

Finished The Reapers Are the Angels last night. Absolutely gorgeous. Fifteen year old girl--unlettered, with the heart of a warrior and the soul of a poet--making her own way through the zombie-ridden post-apocalyptic landscape. Soaring prose, really nasty gore and guts, good guys with issues and bad guys with a conscience...this one has it all.

Edited to fix typo.

The Black Corridor by Michael Moorcock.

Let's call it extremely lonely post-apocalyptic literature.

That takes me back to the earliest books I purchased from the Science Fiction Book Club.

I'm reading The Pesthouse, so far it's a joy to read, especially after reading The Passage which I found to be unnecessarily long.

The Pesthouse has a bleak, dank, medieval feel to it, so far it's a simple story with only a handful of characters, in a strange way I'm finding it refreshing!

The Black Corridor will go on my TBR, for the moment the less characters the better, I never quite worked out who was who in The Passage!

Just found this unique twist of a title today, The War After Armageddon bu Ralph Peters. It's post-postapocalyptic fiction. Anybody read it?

Novels not mentioned so far and tagged with 'global disaster' in my collection are:

The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Flood by Stephen Baxter
Ark by Stephen Baxter
Drek Yarman by Keith Roberts
Julian Comstock : a story of 22nd-century America by Robert Charles Wilson

I also have a lot of short fiction tagged 'global disaster'. I have reviewed them all.

>62 absurdeist: War After Armageddon looks very interesting and I'm going to try to get a copy. Thanks for mentioning it!

>63 AlanPoulter: and The Windup Girl, too!

The Windup Girl is by my bedside.

I just got back from my local B&N (looking unsuccessfully for Maureen Johnson's The Bermudez Triangle, which is of course in no way post-apoc), and in passing by the YA shelves I saw Cameron Stracher's The Water Wars. I'd never heard of it, and now that I look at its LT page I see that it hasn't gotten the most impressive reception, but the subject of corporate control of water resources is something that interests me so I'll be getting around to it soon.

I'll be interested in everyone’s opinion of The Windup Girl. I got through about 20% of it (read it on my Kindle!) but got a bit bored with it. It's not the book, it's me. I found it too Sci-Fi ish for my tastes, there were way too much made up words & objects etc. I prefer PA novels which are more survivalist. If the book is deemed worthy enough I'll give it another stab.

Currently reading Boneshaker it is touted as a steampunk novel, but in essence it is PA. The PA being the micro environment of Seattle after a disaster.

My TBR for 2011 includes the following PA's:

Summer of the Apocalypse
The Reapers Are the Angels
I Spied a Pale Horse
Feed
A Gift Upon the Shore
The Stand (again!)
The Year of the Flood
Far North
Into the Forest
Stand on Zanzibar
The Death of Grass
Lucifers Hammer
Alas Babylon
The Sirens of Titan
World War Z

Most of these I have discovered via this Group, so they should be good!

I like your list, redroc. I loved The Reapers Are the Angels and Alas, Babylon, both of which I read last year. World War Z is another good one--a nice alternative take to Reapers. And The Stand, of course.

I think I need to reread The Sirens of Titan, not having read it since I was a slip of a girl (and consequently, probably not having understood most of its implications).

BeckyJG, you liked Earth Abides didn't you? If so have you read Summer of the Apocalypse? They are very similar books in that it's one mans journey through life following an apocalypse. What makes SOTA stand out is the time line, each chapter alternates between the protagonist at the age of 15 and 75. We are only in January but I think it will be a contender for my favourite read of 2011.

This year I'm going to stick to my TBR, some of the books have been on there for years!

What's on your (& everyone else's) PA TBR for 2011? Or have you exhausted the genre?!

Or have you exhausted the genre?!
Never! I still haven't read The Stand, for one!

I completely agree, Sonya--never! I've stepped away from the genre, but am feeling the pull back to it.

Thanks for the recommend of Summer of the Apocalypse. It looks good; I'll have to look at it. I have a couple that I picked up last year in my frenzy and then never read--The Sheep Look Up and Level 7 being chief among those. P'haps after I finish the book I'm reading now...

Of newer releases, I obtained a copy of the YA release from last month, Across the Universe, which has been well-received by readers, if not, necessarily by reviewers. But the first 20 pages or so struck me as clunky and awkward, so I cast it aside. (PA, or dystopia, on a long-distance space flight).

Touchstones being tetchy. Again.

My review was not particularly eloquent, but since no-one has mentioned The Slynx, I thought it was well worth a mention. If you like books about books or Russian history and literature, so much the better!

A newish 'soft' post-apocalypse novel is Lightborn by Tricia Sullivan. It has more than a few plot holes but its heart is in the right place.

Wow im glad i discovered this topic. I have alot of catching up to do.

About 10 or 15 years ago, I read a book called Mother of Storms or something like that. It takes place in the near future & it's one of the best books in the genre I ever read. I've searched, but can't find it so that might not be quite the title, but it did involve global warming run amok.

Mother of Storms by John Barnes

Really? A trilogy? That would explain the abrupt ending which frustrated me just a few days ago!

So, having just finished a perfectly acceptable (for what it is) but ultimately mediocre dystopian novel (young adult)--Divergent, a The Hunger Games wannabe written by a college student--I felt the need to start a real dystopian. Picked up The Sheep Look Up last year (on recommendations from a number of people in this group) and started it this afternoon. Ahhhhh.....

Two oldies I've read recently:

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart **** - Classic and timeless
The Long Tomorrow by Leigh Brackett *** - Classic and boring

Classic and boring...great description. I may have to check it out just to see if I agree.

I have just finished Soft apocalypse which is a recent novel, grown from a short story in
Interzone #200. On balance I think the story was better as the novel doesn't really add much more.

Interesting how authors seem to be convinced sometimes to expand a story to book length. Sometimes it works nicely--Karen Russell's Swamplandia! is a good example. Other times, apparently not. I'm not sure what the lesson here is, though. Just making an inane observation, I guess.

And then there's the unstoppable process of expanding books into trilogies and quadrilogies and dodecadrilogies. I know I'm old fashioned, but I long for the days when an author could comfortable say what had to be said in a single novel!

Robopocalypse! No, really, it's brilliant.

Just finished Ashes of the Earth by Eliot Pattison. It was less about the apocalypse (nuclear and chemical warfare) and more about the society that emerged and the problems that arise. Overall an interesting and engaging read.

>85 tjm568:. Have you read his Tibetan mystery series? I had a brief encounter with Ashes of the Earth and it seemed very familiar with it's setup (barring the apocalyptic theme, of course), and I've been wondering how they compare.

86

No, this was my first encounter with Pattison.

I've just received A Chemical Fire by Brian Martinez from a giveaway; it's a recent post-apocalyptic release that I'm looking forward to reading soon.

Flashback, Dan Simmons. Although the future he writes reads like an ultra-conservative I-told-you-so wet dream, still, it's sooooo goooood. My review.

#62 yes, I read The War After Armageddon. Frankly I am a Ralph Peters fan. He is a good military/war/political arena writer. I believe his background is instructor at the War College in PA. I believe he also advises DC circles. Anyway, I mention this because a lot of his books involve great battle scenes as well as the political intracacies involved and I think his background gives a little authenticity to the plot and descriptions. If you like his style, you might want to try his American Civil War novels he writes under the name Owen Perry.

I am reading Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson. I am liking it, but can't help but feel that he is stealing a bit from World War Z. That's okay though, everyone steals from everyone. I had an English teacher in highschool who swore that every modern story was a take off on Shakespeare. And research has shown that Shakes ripped off earlier story tellers. Anyway, about half way through and enjoying it.

Finished Robopocalypse. It was well written and entertaining. I was happy with the ending, and appreciated the possibility of a sequal. I would definitely read another book if Wilson decided to write another.

I am not saying too much about the book because I don't want to be a spoiler.

Is there anyone here to spoil it for?

I just finished Summer of the Apocalypse by James Van Pelt. It was fitting that I read it during a week when we had no power due to Hurricane Irene.

Decent post-apocalyptic fiction, with a significant debt to the classic Earth Abides. I enjoyed it but by no means is it a must-read. Had flaws, but a solid effort. Not much that was new, but good characters, well-intended. Succeeds at around a 3+/5 level. Best was to read it during my own mini-apocalypse.

I am reading the second book in the Guillermo Del Toro trilogy about a vampire apocalypse. So far so good.

I must recommend Ende: A Diary of the Third World War by Anton-Andreas Guha, a book about the nuclear holocaust no-one seems to have heard of: it is superb.
Here's the review I wrote for it:

I should say, before you begin to read this review, that as you begin to read this book you know exactly how it will end. This is a story of when the nuclear bombs fell: we know what that would entail, but to read it, spend time confronting the possibility of it, is shocking, horrific. This is pessimism, and that alone...

Ende is, as the title says, a diary of the Third World War, fought between NATO and the Warsaw Pact nations. Written by a journalist, it charts the events from the outbreak of conflict as the US begins ariel attacks on Cuba in late July, to large scale nuclear exchange in the latter half of August. The narrator lives in the fictional town of Taunusrodt, near Frankfurt-am-Maim, and bears witness to the destruction of Germany, which is sacrificed by superpowers as they attack each other's advancing armies and missile sites, before escalating to full-scale nuclear strikes against population centres. Through his eyes we witness the utter collapse of civilisation: the tremors as bombs fall in the distance, the horizon blazing as firestorms burn the forests, the annhilation of nearby cities... And the destruction of the lives of normal people: the terrified refugees fleeing the cities, neighbours ending their own lives to escape, horrifically burnt soldiers, the efforts of the people of Taunusrodt to hang on, our narrator's fears and dimise...

Ende is not only a story of nuclear holocaust, running throughout are the words of numerous philosophers, politicians, writers, and scientists: Nietzsche, Einstein, Oppenheimer, Thomas Mann, Max Born among others. This is an argument against nuclear weapons, and is the most persuasive I've ever come across. It is the story of what we avoided (and, we pray, eternally so), the story of our doppelganger: "a species which advanced too far technologically to keep pace morally", pre-destined to self-destruction. Tied to this was the seeming fatalism of 'the war machine', the military commands of the superpowers (as they were when Ende was written in the mid-80s); that once the war begins, that first domino's fall near inevitably knocks down all others - the command structure being almost designed so as to make nuclear exchange a certain consequence of hostility.

Personally, I was born the year this was published, and am from the successive era and thus removed from the vain it was written in - this however takes little away, and it was profoundly affecting nonetheless. Ende makes you wonder how we've survived this long, and beyond that it inspires a certain anger and contempt for those in power during the cold-war era, who were so convinced by the threat and 'evil' of those the other side of the iron curtain that they prepared themselves to sacrifice the entire human race to their blind antipathy and suspicions - to which they were but slaves.

If you can find a copy READ THIS BOOK.

The Road Cormac McCarthy
The postman
The dog stars Peter Heller

I don't think anyone has mentioned "Death of grass" by John Christopher. It's a long time since I read it, but recall being very moved as the cause of the apocalypse seemed so possible - a virus has attacked all grasses including wheat and rice.

Some apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic LibraryThing lists.

• Apocalyptic Horror
  
• Apocalyptic Dystopias
  
• Best Post-Apocalyptic Stories
  
• Big Reading Lit of Dystopian and Apocalyptic Literature
  
• Classic Apocalyptic Fiction
  
• Comic Apoclaypse
  
• It's the end of the world as we know it!
  
• Recommended Apocalyptic Novels
  

Just finished Gold Fame Citrus. Gut-wrenchingly beautiful, post-apocalyptic-drought. Chillingly forboding for a California dweller like me.