One of my goals in 2020 is to read more. See other books I've read or listened to here.
It was fun to recommend a few of my favorite books last month and I thought the apocalypse was a an appropriate theme for this month’s round up!
Bunny Modern by David Bowman
In the not too distant future, electricity has been wiped out by the Millennial Blackout. This makes childbearing and much more out of wack. Nanny’s take drugs to do their jobs, shrines to the current are everywhere, and one child actor has psuedo-psychic powers.
I love this book. Just thinking about it makes me want to read it again even though I have probably read it a dozen times before. I don’t know where found this book, but I still have my original beloved copy.
While researching this blog, I was sad to find out that David Bowman passed away in 2012. One novel was released posthumously, so I’ll have to get my hands on that. It made me want to check on some of my other favorite living authors and make sure they are OK.
Cats Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut
Told from isolation after Ice Nine, a deadly compound discovered by the father of the atom bomb, destroys the world, Cat’s Cradle is a unique look at the apocalypse and it’s aftermath.
I have’t read this book in a while and it might be time to reread it. As I recall it has all the compelling writing and irreverence of Vonnegut’s best works with a more forward sci fi nature. I highly recommend this as a jumping off point for those who have never read him, or those who have only read Slaughterhouse Five.
World War Z by Max Brooks
Written as an oral history 20 years after the Zombie War started, we see how the war was started and how people are recovering in different parts of the world.
I’m shocked that during this pandemic more people aren’t talking about zombies in general and about this book in particular. What I really liked about this book was that it was more about how the world would recover from a global eco political pandemic than about monsters. Here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia plot recap: “The United States does little to prepare because of its overconfidence in its ability to suppress any threat, and the desire to not cause a panic during an election year. Although special forces teams contain initial small-scale domestic outbreaks, a widespread effort never starts: the US is deprived of political will by "brushfire wars", and a widely distributed and marketed placebovaccine, Phalanx, creates a false sense of security.” Seems like the perfect time to read this book.
What are your favorite post apocalyptic books?