Any Fans of Post Apocalypse Novels?
 

Huge fan of this genre. I've read:

The Stand - Super Flu
Swan Song - Nuclear War
Dark Advent - Virus
The Road - ????
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Nuclear War
On the Beach - Nuclear War
The Wool/Shift/Dust series - Nuclear War
Earth Abides - Disease
One Second After - EMT
I Am Legend - Virus
World War Z - Virus
Lucifer's Hammer - Comet
The Forge of God - Alien Invasion
Footfall - *currently reading*

My disaster preparedness (I live in an earthquake zone) supplies have doubled as of late!

Most of the books I've read have been pre-apocalyptic.

I've read a few hundred of those myself.

Not so much post-apocalypse, but dystopia is a genre I've been getting into lately.

Two I've read recently were The Windup Girl and Blindness. Both pretty bad ass.

I liked "The Passage" and "The Twelve" by Justin Cronin.

I have to admit I found Blindness so disturbing that I couldn't finish it.

Then definitely do not see the movie!

Quick question, what is the normal scenario in these books that sets up an apocalyptic scenario. Is it World War and natural disasters etc or something more creative?

The Stand - Super Flu
Swan Song - Nuclear War
Dark Advent - Virus
The Road - ????
A Canticle for Leibowitz - Nuclear War
On the Beach - Nuclear War
The Wool/Shift/Dust series - Nuclear War
Earth Abides - Virus
One Second After - EMP

Out of the books you've listed I've only read The Road, which was amazing. While the film is good too, it really doesn't do the book justice. I definitely shed a few tears after reading it. Really makes you realize how much we take things like waterfalls and cans of coke for granted hah.

Also, I like how vague McCarthy is about how the world came to be so, uh, post apocalyptic-y. Could be a combination of the other scenarios you just listed there.

At one point in the story he talks about a building with melted windows so I figured nuclear war.

I also shed a few tears at the end. On the Beach had me just about bawling. That book destroyed me.

Dude, I know. You know it's coming, it's going to happen, but just can't bring yourself to accept it.

Cheers have noted this list and will probably start with the Stand.

Mondo, I have Lucifer's Hammer on the way from Amazon. Ever read "The Legacy of Heorot" by those same authors? Killer SciFi. It's the only novel I've read all the way through 3 times.

Huge fan here.
have you guys read any of the Metro books ? There are like 40+ out, by various authors. I read .. 9 I think, all that came out in Poland. Have they published any of that in the "west" ? Or are you missing out ? Because you are!
Yac.

This?

http://www.amazon.com/Metro-2033-Eng...rds=metro+2033

Not sure if it counts but World War Z by Max Brooks might be my favourite post-apocalypse novel, although considering society doesn't fully crumble it's hard to say if it counts. Then again the word apocalypse was originally used to describe some massive revelation or change so I guess it does.

OH there's also Jam by Yahtzee Croshaw, it's a post-apocalypse novel about jam that devours organic matter. It's pretty funny, it's basically the unnatural spunk baby produced by a mutual masturbation session involving Grant Naylor, Douglas Adams, and Terry Pratchett.

I tried reading Canticle for Leibowitz a while back, but the heavy religious themes just turned me off. I don't mind religious themes up to a point, but I felt like the author was trying to convert me. And I notice nobody's mentioned I Am Legend. Another great book. Really makes you feel isolated.

I've added both of these to the OP. I've read them both and they are great. The ending of I Am Legend was nuts when he finally comes to the realization.

And ya, Canticle was a really tough read. I forced my way through a lot of sections.

I haven't read nearly enough post-apocalyptic books, considering my favorite video game of all time is Fallout 3. I read The Road, and even though it ate away part of my soul and I will never get that back, it was perfect. Loved World War Z with a passion. Just recently sat down to watch the movie with my brother, was somewhat disappointed. I knew they would never, ever be able to recreate the book (the jumping narratives and dozens of interviewees makes that borderline impossible), but I was at LEAST expecting more than big-budget copy of 28 Days Later.

Anyway. Point is, I need to read more in the genre.

Wait. I'm reading The Diary of a Young Girl right now. Does that count?

That's one of them, though by far not the best one. What I find great is that this became sort of an open world for anyone to write in - Glukhovsky gives his blessing and off you go. Of the 9 Metro books I read only 2 were written by the original creator of this world. One of them was for example set in post apocalyptic .. Rome (and Vatican), which was a very unique setting. One I'm just finishing is set in Postapo Poland - though unfortunately it's the weakest one of them all imo, so far at least. I can't wait what for example Scandinavian authors come up with.
Yac.

I'm a big fan of Atwood's MadAddam trilogy and would The Time Machine count? Wasn't that big of a fan of The Stand's ending or the first two books of the Left Behind series. The Road is good but I think it's overrated.

While I guess technically fitting the "post apocalyptic" bill, Left Behind hardly stacks up against... well, almost anything, really. Evangelical fear-mongering does not good art make.

Agreed. Read them when I was nine I think.

Ohhh man, did you ever read the series they hacked up for teens and "youth?" It's the worst smelling bull**** ever turned into paper.

Man, really long lead up so far. Can't wait for the crap to hit the fan already.

Updated.

I'm not sure "The Doomed City" by the Strugatski Brothers counts, but I'll put it here anyway. It all happens in some weird place where people from different places and periods in time are part of some kind of experiment. Societys are being formed and destroyed and outside the city lie the ruins of places where it seems past experiments have taken place. Or perhaps parts of the current experiment. So there is definitely a postapocalyptic vibe there, but it's most certainly not the usual kind of such a story and it's more Kafka than straight out Sci-Fi.
And the Strugatski's "Roadside Picnic" is also somewhat postapocaliptic, people might know it as the inspiration for the movie Stalker and the unrelated game.

Station 11.

Excellent new spin on the total collapse and then fragile re-building of society after a super-flu.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...station-eleven

The Death of Grass ,1956.No blade of Grass is a movie adaptation of that book.

I didn't see any John Wyndham novels on your list, Chula. His novels feel a little dated by today's standards, but in a good way, I think. They are short and polite to the reader: they tell a story from start to finish and don't load the text up with flashbacks or complex mythologies that have to be worked out. Many of his books were post-apocalyptic, or apocalypse-as-it-happens, which I hope is equally appealing. Although they are usually found in the science fiction category, the focus is always on the humanity of the characters, not the technology.

The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos (= the film, Village of the Damned), The Chrysalids and The Kraken Wakes are his best, and for your convenience, I have put them in order of bestness, at least imo.