Joined: Sept 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 202 Karma: 9
71 PA reads « Thread Started on Jun 18, 2012, 10:06am »
This list landed in my inbox over the weekend. It was obviously copied from another source, possibly SurvivalBlog? In any event, I thought I'd share it here. I'm familiar with the vast majority of them but there were a few I'd not heard of before. All descriptions below are from the original poster.
01 A Canticle for Leibowitz following a cloister of monks in their Utah abbey over six or seven hundred years, it tackles the sociological and religious implications of nuclear annihilation
02 After London Or, Wild England after some sudden and unspecified catastrophe has depopulated England, the countryside reverts to nature, and the few survivors to a quasi-medieval way of life
03 A Gift Upon the Shore set in the near future, traces the first generations to survive nuclear war and ensuing plagues.
04 Alas, Babylon classic apocalyptic novel.
05 American Apocalypse: The Collapse Begins set in America at the beginning of a socioeconomic collapse.
06 Atlas Shrugged the story of a man who said he would stop the motor of the world and did.
07 But Not for Long three housemates find themselves in the midst of an eerily plausible energy crisis.
08 Cell a pulse sent through cell phones turns people using them into zombie-like killing machines.
09 Children of the Dust grade 6-9 reading, nuclear war scenario in which a new generation is born, "homo superior, the children of the dust."
10 Dark Tower Series the quest for the Dark Tower takes readers on a wild ride through parallel worlds and across time.
11 Death of Grass society descends into barbarism as a virus wipes out grass and crops.
12 Deep Winter a normal American life turns into a survival situation as one family struggles to adapt
13 Down to A Sunless Sea the U.S. collapses economically from a lack of oil.
14 Earth Abides a disease of destructive force has spread across the globe killing all but one man, who makes an astonishing discovery.
15 Farnham's Freehold a man builds a shelter under his house and finds a strange world after the bomb explodes.
16 Final Blackout set in a ravaged world a charismatic leader rises in England.
17 Footfall aliens are descending on the American heartland, demanding servile surrender.
18 Hiero's Journey 5,000 years after The Death, an evil "Brotherhood of the Unclean" is waging a war against the few human survivors.
19 Holding Their Own 2015 in post-apocalypse Texas, a couple bugs out.
20 I Am Legend a plague has destroyed the world and the few survivors must fight the blood hungry creatures of the night
21 Ice Quake when the world climate changes overnight and civil order collapses, the survivors at a remote Antarctic icecap know they won't get rescued.
22 Into the Forest two sisters must learn to live in the forest when electricity goes out, their parents die and civilization grinds to a halt.
23 King Rat an American corporal survives the brutality of prison camp life in Japanese-occupied, World War II Malaya through insight into human frailties.
24 Last Light oil supplies have been severed and things unravel at a horrifying pace.
25 Last of the Breed set in Siberia, a down American pilot must rely on ancestral skills to survive the deadly cold and elude his Soviet pursuers.
26 Left Behind a novel of Earth's Last Days, first of a series
27 Life as We Knew It grade 6-8 reading level, a sophomore girl experiences life in Pennsylvania after a meteor hits
28 Light's Out follows the story of a man after the lights go out over most of the world as he tries to unit his family and friends if they are to survive reality of everyday life after civil order is stripped away.
29 Lucifer's Hammer a comet hit earth, causing earthquakes and tsunamis. For those that survived, it's the dawn of a struggle for survival.
30 Malevil survivors escape the big event in an old French castle, but struggle to survive as society collapses
31 Memoirs of a Survivor in a destroyed, lawless city, a woman is given a twelve-year girl and told she must raise her
32 Nature's End 21st-century Earth with a devastated environment and overpopulation. The comfortable elite coexist with the pitiful rest, "the victim generation."
33 No Blade of Grass a massive crop disease wreaks havoc and society breaks down.
34 On the Beach a bestseller for decades, it's an unforgettable vision of a post-apocalyptic world.
35 One survivor Richard Jane crosses a burned and battered country in search of his son.
36 One Second After an EMP disables almost every electrical device in the U.S. and the world, societal breakdown ensues.
37 Parable of the Sower global warming, massive unemployment and gang warfare combine to break down society, set in southern California
38 Patriots: Surviving the Coming Collapse America faces a full-scale socioeconomic collapse as the characters use survival techniques to endure
39 Plague Year set in post-apocalyptic California above the 10,000 ft high-water mark, a group struggles to survive.
40 Pulling Through a story of survival after nuclear war
41 Solar Flare a major solar flare hits and changes life dramatically for an electronic-dependent society
42 Some Will Not Die a plague wipes out 90% of Earth's population and those left struggle to survive
43 Summer of the Apocalypse a virus destroys the world's population as a 15-year-old travels across Colorado to find his father
44 Survivors a virus wipes out 95% of the population and those left must revert to primitive skills to survive
45 Swan Song a NYC bag lady and a boy that survived in a now destroyed compound travel together
46 The Aftermath an asteroid destroys most life; a cruise ship of people and a village in South Africa struggle to survive
47 The Ashes in a search for his family in post-apocalyptic America, a man meets rebels and joins a revolution
48 The Far North a survivor in a post-apocalyptic world is sold into slavery and escapes
49 The Folk of the Fringe an ecological consciousness has been born in post-WW III America as Mormons set to rebuild society
50 The Forge of God two types of aliens invade the Earth, the first profess to be altruistic, but the second warn humanity that the first will destroy the world
51 The Hunger Games grade 7+, the U.S. has collapsed and divided; each year each district sends to young people by lottery to "The Hunger Games"
52 The Last Centurion a mini-ice age and plague have set as an American Army office struggles to rebuild the world
53 The Last Ship nuclear war has struck as a destroyer short on food and fuel searches for uncontaminated mainland
54 The Passage a virus leads vampiric revenants to wipe out civilization except survivors on a FEMA-established island
55 The Postman the lead characters survived the Doomwar and finds work crossing the post-apocalypse United States
56 The Rift an earthquake hits the southeastern U.S. as 9 people try to survive
57 The Road post-apocalyptic blight of gray skies that drizzle ash, the story of a man and his son.
58 The Stand a virus is accidentally released and wipes out most of humanity and sets the stage for a battle between good and evil
59 The Walk a TV network executive in LA after the big earthquake hits, he thinks he's prepared, but he's not
60 The World Ends in Hickory Hollow bombs fell and civilization ended as the people of Hickory Hollow, Texas are faced with renegade thieves and murderers
61 Tomorrow! an apocalyptic technology is superimposed on the future and exposes America's dangerous vulnerability to panic
62 Tooth and Nail a rabies-based plague infects so many they begin to run amok, spreading slaughter and disease
63 Tsunami a battleground in the wake of a monstrous tidal wave
64 Tunnel in the Sky a final exam on an advanced survival class goes wrong and the students are stranded somewhere in the universe, at the other end of a tunnel in the sky.
65 Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse 22 apocalyptic tales all depicting unsettling societal, physical and psychological adaptations their authors postulate as necessary for survival after the end of the world.
66 Watership Down a story about TEOTWAWKI for rabbits, added it because it's an great book
67 What So Proudly We Hailed 80% of the U.S. is without power for 3-4 months as the result of a nuclear strike
68 Without Warning as coalition forces begin their assault on Iraq, a massive energy wave hits North America and is dubbed "the Disappearance."
69 Wolf and Iron the U.S. is devastated by financial collapse, a man travels 2,000 miles to his brother's Montana ranch
70 World Made by Hand oil wells run dry and the economy collapses, society must be rebuilt out of squabbling factions and cult-like communities.
71 World War Z an oral history of the zombie war.
May the road gangs never meet you. May the wind be fallout-free. May the sun shine through the ashes, hot rain not fall on thee. And until we meet again, may no one hold your flesh in the palm of their hand.
Joined: Jul 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 395 Location: London Karma: 18
Re: 71 PA reads « Reply #4 on Jun 18, 2012, 1:10pm »
Just had a more detailed look at that list.
No Day of the Triffids ? (the greatest post-apoc novel in my opinion)
And things like King Rat (novel about a prisoner of war camp) and Watership Down (the only rabbits that matter in any post-apoc senario are the ones you eat) make me doubt this list now.
Joined: Sept 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 202 Karma: 9
Re: 71 PA reads « Reply #5 on Jun 18, 2012, 2:23pm »
Well, like any list of this sort, it is going to have faults. I figured though there might be at least a title or two folks may not have heard of and might be interested in.
There's no greater feeling in the world than to watch as your creations grow and become mature. Anything from art, to vegetables, to children, it's the greatest feeling in the world to just stand back and have confidence when you say; "I made that."
Well, like any list of this sort, it is going to have faults. I figured though there might be at least a title or two folks may not have heard of and might be interested in.
Just me being me .
I confess to being somewhat of a purist when it comes to post-apoc stuff and with the irony being that I have read both King Rat and Watership Downe and enjoyed both books.
It was more the lack of Day of the Triffids that surprised me because it seems to be generally acknowledged as one of the classic post-apoc texts of all time and should be an automatic choice for a 10 ten list, let alone one of 70 or so.
Joined: Apr 2010 Gender: Male Posts: 2,000 Karma: 44
Re: 71 PA reads « Reply #9 on Jun 20, 2012, 4:55pm »
There really needs to be one centralized opensource/wikified list of PA books that anyone can add to. I had hoped that the Wikipedia list (https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/w/index.php?title=List_of_apocalyptic_and_post-apocalyptic_fiction) would be that source, but even there there's debate over what should be included, and there are notability guidelines to meet.
I have an older version of that list on my wiki at PA.Wikia.com so maybe I'll update that and start thinking about promoting it as a central repository of PA book information.
But even then, a wiki isn't that easy to keep updated, and there are already lots of other great book lists out there (like Jeff's ApocalypseBooks.com). I just wish there was a way to consolidate that information into one place, and have it be updateable by anyone so we're not relying on an administrator to keep it active.
May the road gangs never meet you. May the wind be fallout-free. May the sun shine through the ashes, hot rain not fall on thee. And until we meet again, may no one hold your flesh in the palm of their hand.
Re: 71 PA reads « Reply #10 on Jul 1, 2012, 4:19am »
"45 Swan Song a NYC bag lady and a boy that survived in a now destroyed compound travel together"
Wow, this summary makes me want to go buy this book. Wth, me thinks the person who originally did this list probably didn't bother even reading summaries.
This book is a fantastic book and that summary is crap. Not even accurate. One - It's about a bunch of different characters who are surviving after a nuclear disaster. The main characters are a "bag lady" from NYC, a wrestler, and a young GIRL, and a bunch of other characters (one boy..i suppose is from a destroyed compound, but he most definitely does not travel with the NYC lady). Humph, i have no idea why that bad summary ticked me off so much, but it did.
But even then, a wiki isn't that easy to keep updated, and there are already lots of other great book lists out there (like Jeff's ApocalypseBooks.com). I just wish there was a way to consolidate that information into one place, and have it be updateable by anyone so we're not relying on an administrator to keep it active.
Thanks for mentioning my list and I agree the wiki list is in a pretty bad state.
Maybe one day I will code something that lets people add their own titles but in the mean time I'm good about adding any books people suggest in on my comment pages. http://www.apocalypsebooks.com/contact.php
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