If you like to trade books, try BookMooch.
cfk has bookflurries on Weds. nights.
pico has literature for kossacks on Tues. nights, but it's on hiatus.
sarahnity has books by kossacks, now its own series, on Tuesday nights.
plf515 is off this week and so I graciously offered to guest host this week when he asked for someone to take over. Translated, that means I couldn't write a reply fast enough leaping at the chance to do this when I saw his request. Maybe it's the doldrums of summer, but I decided to focus on books with a post-apocalyptic theme.
The way I look at it, post-apocalypse doesn't necessary mean the end of the world. You don't have to have some event so horrible that there is nothing left except for a few people left making do until everything fades away. It can mean simply a severe breakdown in what currently passes as civilization. Humanity can most decidedly continue to go on, just in a radically different manner. To my mind, there is a vicarious thrill in reading such scenarios. We all like our Starbucks and Internet and all the other conveniences of society in the 21st century. Even with all that, there is small part that wonders what it would be like of all that is frivolous and shallow were stripped away and we were forced to live with much more stripped-down circumstances. How would we survive and move on if something cataclysmic happened? Would we rise to the occasion and help build a new society or would we crumble from the pressure?
There are plenty of titles with these themes and I look forward to hearing of favorites from you. I've listed a few of my favorites below; if you've never read them, here are some good opportunities:
The Road, Cormac McCarthy: Okay, this definitely fits the stereoptype of post-apocalyptic splendor. Something (nuclear war?, it's never explained) destroys the world. Most everything is burned to a cinder, and whatever people still remain are just making time until the end. And yet, among all the hopelessness stand a father and son still press on, looking for some sign of hope where they can survive. Of course, it helps that this is all laid down in McCarthy's distinctive prose.
The Stand, Stephen King: In terms of wiping out the planet, the granddaddy of them all. Superflu wipes out 99.3% of the human race and the survivors (at least in America) split up into two camps -- Mother Abigail's good group and Randall Flagg's evil group. The infrastructure is still standing, for the most part, but there is still all the corpses moldering as well as the lack of services we take for granted. I love the harrowing sequence when one of Stu Redmond's group comes down with appendicitis and how they try to fix it without convenient medical care. Also, try Swan Song by Robert McCammon -- similar plot but with a nuclear war instead of plauge.
Dies the Fire, S. M. Stirling: The first in a series of what would happen if all of our toys were taken away. An electrical event happens off the coast of Nantucket and suddenly nothing remotely resembling technology works. Even gunpowder and explosives are rendered impotent. Stirling has some great battle sequences and characters, and most fascinating is how modern day citizens manage to reconstitute themselves when faced with Medieval-era circumstances. The later books are even more interesting -- taking place nearly a decade after "The Change," we get to see how societies all over the world have adjusted to the new circumstances.
World War Z, Max Brooks: Okay, it's about zombies. It is also a great story with very solid social and political overtones. What would governments do if faced with an enemy that mindlessly wants to overrun its citizenry? How would these same governments cope with feeding a populace when supply lines to other countries are cut, seemingly permanently? What would be an effective justice system? I've read this book several times since it came out and never get tired of it.
Souls in the Great Machine, Sean McMullen: Slightly stretches the definition, but shows how society needs to be radically reworked to cope with a devastating and persistent effect. Two thousand years in the future, society is still dealing with "The Call," an effect that causes people to stop what they are doing and wander off mindlessly all in the same direction. Steam power is considered blasphemy, librarians are the most revered members of society (and fight duels), and the only way to prevent another Ice Age is to somehow gain access to still-working technology on the moon.
Here is what I've currently been reading:
Across the Face of the World, by Russell Kirkpatrick: First in a fantasy trilogy with a group of travelers from a small village on a quest to stop an invading army. Kind of standard, but I definitely want to see where it goes.
Watchmen, by Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons: Read it on vacation last week, and it really impressed me. Loved how he structured everything, particulary with the foreshadowing in the "prose" sections at the end of each chapter.
Given Day, by Dennis Lehane: Known for his mysteries, Lehane did a terrific job writing this historical novel. It takes place in Boston right after WWI and the themes of unionization and terrorism are still relevant today. This actually won't be out until the middle of September (I got an advance copy).
Okay, that's enough about me. What books are you reading?