what are your favorite post-apocalypse books?

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rai

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I like this genre, have to say my favorite is 'The Stand' (I also enjoyed 'Cell' which I call "The Stand-lite".

I am not super well read in this genre, but most that I have read were good, including:

Earth Abides
Canticle For Lebowitz
Lucifers Hammer
Footfall

(I plan to read 'I Am Legend' soon)

What are your favorites?


Sorry should have done a search, I'll have to read the older thread, mod can delete this post if you want.
 
I'm also a fan of Cell (despite being a huge King fan, I can only get halfway through The Stand before running out of steam -- one day I will finish that book!) I thought Cell was an excellent book, mostly because of the antagonists: zombies have been a favourite of mine for quite some time and these guys were zombies with serious attitude!
 
IMHO

'The Stand' is one of the best books.

Maybe not great like 'Moby Dick' but as far as modern (in the past 20 years) great.

I read both versions of 'The Stand' (long and longer) and it is one of the few books I have read multiple times (ie. 'Lord of the Rings' has my record 4x).

I would say 'The Stand' is one of Kings best if not his best (top 3 for sure) and probably much better than 'Cell' (to me).

My problem with Cell may be because I was comparing it to 'The Stand'. It was like OK lets say The Godfather (films) was 'The Stand' then 'Cell' would be an episode of the Sopranos (still good but it's not The Godfather)
 
Wolf in Shadow by David Gemmell for me. A heroic fantasy like PO story but still great.
 
My personal favourite is Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys, but there are lots of recommendations in the other thread, as well as a list (off-site) of books in this category.
 
I really liked J.G.Ballard's Crystal World and Drowned World, particularly the latter. Just something about his writing I really like, it seems very real!
 
A lot of good ones to choose from out there. Most of my personal favorites have already been mentioned, though I think Earth Abides and A Canticle for Leibowitz would be pretty high on the list of any of the best in the type. (Also Ballard's The Drowned World, The Drought, and The Crystal World... or, for that matter, a lot of Ballard's work which deals with these themes in one way or another; not to mention Aldiss' Barefoot in the Head -- certainly one of the most richly textured novels of this type.)

I'll add a couple more than most might not think of in this connection: The Purple Cloud, by M. P. Shiel, and The Night Land, by William Hope Hodgson. Both have their flaws, but both are well worth reading. (And yes, I realize they've been mentioned in one of the other threads on this topic; I just felt they deserved another mention here....:D)

danedane said:
A Boy and His Dog
Click to expand...

The only problem with this one is that it isn't really a book; it's a novella. Even the three stories put together in Vic and Blood, the graphic novel ("Eggsucker", "A Boy and His Dog", and "Run, Spot, Run") are only parts of a larger whole Ellison had long planned, from my understanding. (Whether it will ever be finished is another matter. I'd love to see it, though.)

But other than that minor objection... it's certainly a classic of the genre.....
 
The Stand quite literally, stands head and shoulders above what else I have read in this sub-genre.
 
Earth Abides for me too.
[SIZE=-1]The Pelbar Cycle books by Paul O. Williams should have an honourable mention, as well.[/SIZE]


What, no Battlefield Earth? Should be on everyone's list, if only for comparison purposes.:p
 
A Canticle for Leibowitz stands out in my mind as does Level 7 by Mordecai Roshwald. Both were written in 1959. Sort of gives you a clue about what we were all worrying about at the time.

Jim
 
j. d. worthington said:
Might be time to smack you around a little, grandson....:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Sorry, Grandpa....;)

But seriously, if you don't actually read a grand stinkeroo of a novel sometimes, I think you're missing out on something.
The learning process of what's a good SF novel and what isn't must include bad ones to show you what is actually bad about bad ones, if you see what I mean; and if you read even a few chapters of BE, it will show you just how bad a bad one can be.....:p
 
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