Anyone have recommendations on great books to read?

You might try Alas, Babylon and The Last Ship.

Lilith's Brood is a fantastic post-nuclear series by Octavia Butler, compiled into one book. (Xenogenesis series: Dawn, Adulthood Rites, and Imago)
It's got an apocalypse (nukes) and alien double whammy, and is really a very fascinating set.

Very highly recommended- definitely one of my all-time favorites.

There was a short story that I read in HS, I have been wondering about it for some time now. Tonight I finally found it it is called "By The Waters of Babylon." It is really short, you could probably read the whole thing in less than 30 min. I don't know why, but it has always stayed in my mind. It is definitely worth the read even if it is a little dated.It was written in like 1937 by Stephen Vincent Benét. Set in a future following the destruction of industrial civilization, the story is narrated by a young man named John who is the son of a priest. The priests of John’s people are inquisitive "scientists" associated with the divine. They are the only ones who can handle metal collected from the homes (called the "Dead Places") of long-dead people whom they believe to be gods. The plot follows John’s self-assigned mission to get to the Place of the Gods. Wikisource has the entire text:Here

A Canticle for Leibovitz,

I forgot the name of the author, written in the early 60's.

It takes place approx 600 years after a nuclear war. Basically how civilization is barely kept alive in a series of "monestaries" much like in our own "middle ages" after the fall of the Roman Empire. The book then jumps forward a few hundred years at a time and we see the progession out of the ruins.

I greatly enjoyed it.

Alas Babylon is still a good read.

Its a bit dated, especially when they mention there are only 49 states on the flag. So we know its 1958 .........Hawaii has just become state, but Alaska is still a territory.

I imagine this book must have been pretty hard hitting when it came out. My only complaint is that it seem a bit too optomistic about life after the bomb.
These were the days when they used to have "duck and cover" drills in schools, and the only thing you needed to survive was a good family fallout shelter.

'A Canticle for Leibovitz' sounds like an interesting read I'll have to see if I can get a hold of it sometime.

I also read "By the Waters of Babylon" in school. I didnt remember it was by Stephen Vincent Benet. But yes, it was one of those stories that sort of haunted me.

I finally found it again in a book of Sci-fi anthology.

I remember another short story from high school called "Eastward Ho"
It takes place after a nuclear devestation and "civilization" is slowly and inevitably retreating as the resurgent native
American tribes are taking over the remains of the United States.
I remember the "white" survivors are always trying to appease chief Three Hydrogen Bombs from taking their lands, it takes their technicians 6 months to repair a typewriter so they could give it as a gift to the chief.
Basically its the story of European development in reverse or Rome trying to survive among the "barbarians"

I just read "War of the Worlds" for the first time. I don't know what took me so long to read it, as it's awesome. That Tom Cruise must have turned me off.

Something interesting I read a while back was Into the Forest by Jean Hegland. It's different from a lot of other post-apocalyptic books I've read. Society's downfall is slow and realistic: we run out of fuel, etc. It's about how two teenage sisters who live in the woods survive where there is no longer a way to get to town, and eventually no town worth going to. It's sort of a gentle book. No nukes, no aliens, no battles. Don't get me wrong - I love that stuff too :).

It ended up being a three-star book for me, but I find myself thinking of it often, so I think it's worth a read.

Glad to hear someone mention Into the Forest -- it *is* a slower-paced apocalypse book (sounds almost like an oxymoron, doesn't it? Then again I think it took Rome a couple of centuries to fall LOL!). I've read it three times now and every time I like it more. It's also almost claustrophobic in that it focuses totally on just two people in one location. But for both those reasons I'd recommend it, because it is so different from the typical "Big Calamity" apocalypse books. Thumbs up from me :)

Blythe -- have you listened to the original radio broadcast from 1938? Very cool!

Do you happen to know the author of "Eastward Ho"?

It sounds fascinating and I've been googling it, but haven't had much luck finding it...

Thanks in advance.

I will see if I can remember the author of "Eastward Ho"

it was a short story among an antholgy of Sci-Fi short stories.

I would highly recommend Alas, Babylon. But I can't recommend A Canticle for Leibowitz. I just finished both this week. Canticle is a difficult read with a simple message. But it is highly regarded by many, many people both for content and its literary prowess. I just really didn't enjoy it. Made me think of Faulkner, as it is considered a classic, but just isn't worth the work.

I remember way back in the early 90s reading the novel version of Asimov's short story "Nightfall"

I think Asimov and a cowriter also wrote the book version, but Im not sure of the title.

Its an expanded version of the story about a planet and society much like Earth except that they never experience night because this planet orbits a binary star system and is itself orbited by several small suns.

The story is told through the eyes of archealogists who discover evidence of several great civilizations in the past; all of them suddenly destroyed.

Eventually the archealogist and his scientific friends realize their suns will all be aligned in a way that will produce nightfall/eclipse for a few hours every few thousand years.

The book describes what happens to a modern society experiencing NIGHT for the first time. I found the whole concept rather interesting...makes you think about their architecture, sleeping patterns, and how their society would be shaped if they never experienced our concept of night. Even their vehicles would be different because there would be no need for headlights.

That sounds interesting Manuel. How does it end? Presumably the fall of night has some cataclysmic effect on the society? I'd like to read that.

Its different than the usual nuclear/biological/enviromental scenarios of doom



Also:
DO NOT waste your time by seeing the movie versions of this story.
Ive seen two version on DVD all of them were dreadfull and didnt follow the storyline very well.

Swan Song by Robert McCammon is a good read. It's been compared to The Stand by numerous people. Good post-apocalyptic reading.

"World War Z" by Max Brooks is a good choice for something fairly new. I liked how it was written like non-fiction.

I liked both "Alas, Babylon" and "A Canticle for Leibowitz". I think "Earth Abides" might be better than either though. It was written in the Cold War era too.

I just finished the third in David Moody's Autumn series. It's a great post-apocalyptic zombie series and it definitely strays from the beaten zombie outbreak path in a number of ways.

"Eastward Ho" is by William Tenn. It's available in Beyond Armageddon, which, interestingly, is edited by Walter M. Miller, Jr., who wrote A Canticle for Leibowitz.

I have to agree about Swan Song. It is one of my favorites. Its such a great read, I have read three times, about once every two years, and I love it even more each time.

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart is one of my favorites.

I just finished On the Beach by Nevil Shute. It's a fairly straightforward little book about the last people on Earth waiting for the fallout from a nuclear war to kill them, but for some reason it really hit me, emotionally.

I read "On the Beach" last fall.
Still a powerful little book, nearly 50 years after it was written.

The movie version with Ava Gardner and Gregory Peck is well worth viewing too.

Before I read this book, I used to wonder what it would be like to be on the sidelines during a major world conflict. Nevil Shute did a great job trying to portray the anguish of waiting for your world to slowly come to an end.

Just finished Swan Song - thought it was pretty good.

New anthology out, Wastelands Stories of the Apocalypse, all short stories on our favorite topic :)

Wastelands anthology is very fun.
Some great little stories in there.
Especially the last one, called Episode seven.

Just read "Wastelands"

Very enjoyable, all the stories have a definitive post 9-11 quality to them, that make them not so sci-fi, and almost too contemperary.

Well worth reading.

Golden Days by Carolyn See. An often-overlooked post-apocalyptic novel that I loved.

I just finished A Canticle for Leibowitz and I have to disagree with Gary. I found it a fairly straightforward and easy read. A good adventure and a worthwhile post-nuclear warning. It does span a few thousand years, but the progress is easy to follow.

Glad you liked Canticle for Leibowitz, Hank,
I was begining to think I was the only one.

I loved "Canticle for Leibowitz". I liked how it came full circle and how it left the reader with mysteries and questions.

I also loved it, did anyone read the sequel?

I LOVED Canticle. The sequel is nowhere near as interesting. It focuses solely on the renaissance period and the reemergence of the church. I've been trying to get through it for almost a year now, but I always seem to abandon it.

Im afraid the sequel was no where near as interesting or engaging as the first book.

I just finished the collections Wastelands, which a wonderful collection of post-apocalyptic stories. I enjoyed all of the stories, and strongly recommend it.

heh, that was my least favorite story, but I still enjoyed it. My fav was When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth.

Yes! The Sysadmins one was good, and more thought-provoking than one would guess from the summary of it. A bit like The Postman in the sense of a few lone people trying to preserve some form of order/structure.

I did NOT enjoy the ones that were a) just plain weird or b) not really about the end of the world. I don't mind if the world, er, "comes back" at the end of the story but there were one or two that just didn't seem to fit the theme of the collection (sorry, it escapes me which ones, I will have to look them up...)

Anyone read Ende A Diary of the Third World War ? In a similar vein to On the Beach, very disturbing because so plausible. And what about This is the way the world ends ?

Manuel wrote: "Its different than the usual nuclear/biological/enviromental scenarios of doom



Also:
DO NOT waste your time by seeing the movie versions of this story.
Ive seen two version on DVD all of t..."

I remember walking out of "Nightfall" in the movie theater when I was young because it was so bad.

Chris wrote: "I just finished the collections Wastelands, which a wonderful collection of post-apocalyptic stories. I enjoyed all of the stories, and strongly recommend it. "

I also really liked Wastelands. You may be interested in Beyond Armageddon, which I thought was another well done post-apocalypse anthology. Just be aware that it contains a lot of stories from the Cold War era.

Do any of you want suggestion for newer post-apocalypse stories that are more for young adults? I am a K-12 librarian with a fondness for a good p-a story. I don't see many mentions of ya books or newer ones. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins was excellent and I am eagerly waiting for its sequel, Catching Fire. The Uglies series by Scott Westerfield have a great story and message to tell. The Giver by Lois Lowry is well known, but Gathering Blue and The Messenger, the sequels by her are good also. I do enjoy reading the ya books just as much, if not more, because the messages they send to young people are ones that are we may have some control over. Using The Uglies series as an example, beauty and society's emphasis on beauty are embedded in the main idea.

I look forward to reading some of your suggestions.

Dawn wrote: "Do any of you want suggestion for newer post-apocalypse stories that are more for young adults? I am a K-12 librarian with a fondness for a good p-a story. I don't see many mentions of ya books o..."

Dawn, what is your definition of YA?

I think there are quite a few YA books listed with this discussion group, "Children of the Dust", "Z for Zachariah", "Hunger Games", "Uglies", "On the Beach", "Alas, Babyon", etc.

If you have any others feel free to add them to the "to read" list.

Check out the Fire-us trilogy. These books, written by Jennifer Armstrong, are awesome apocalypse tales in the young adult genre. A group of children become a family in a world where a virus (fire-us) killed all the grown-ups and almost everyone else in a few days. It's the ultimate apocalyptic fantasy for a preteen.

Dawn wrote: "Do any of you want suggestion for newer post-apocalypse stories that are more for young adults?"

Do you consider zombies to be post-apocalyptic?

Summer of the Apocalypse by James Van Pelt would fit, I think. It's from 2006.

Cell by Stephen King

Enclave series starting with Bloodring by Faith Hunter (it's 100 years post Armageddon and has some interesting interpretations of Christian mythology)

If Zombies are fair game then certainly World War Z by Max Brooks.

I also like As the World Dies:the First Days by Rhionnan Frater

Wastelands edited by John Joseph Adams (but for some reason called Stephen King's Wastelands) is one of the better post-apocalyptic anthologies I've read.

Michele wrote: "Check out the Fire-us trilogy.

I heartily agree. The middle school kids in our town went crazy over this series a few years back. We had to purchase extra copies at the public library to keep up with the demand. After I read the first one I was just as hooked. Much for adults to ponder as well.

For YA readers I also recommend Memory Boy by Will Weaver about a boy & his family trying to survive after a major volcanic eruption causes ash-fall devastation across the country.

If you like humorous views on the end times, one of the best apocolyptic novels is Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, WitchbyTerry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman.

Ashley wrote: "If you like humorous views on the end times, one of the best apocolyptic novels is Good Omens The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, WitchbyTerry Pratchett an..."

I so second that!

Do any of you want suggestion for newer post-apocalypse stories that are more for young adults?

Highly recommend Unicorns in the Rain -- hard to find but excellent.