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I need recommendations! Fiction about apocalyptic times, being stranded, etc.

post #1 of 23
12/12/11 at 10:38am
Thread Starter 
I posted a thread about this a long time ago (like, years ago) and got some great suggestions, but now I'm on the hunt for some more. I'm looking for fiction books about people living in the world after the apocalypse/collapse of civilization OR being stranded/shipwrecked/snowbound, etc. Anything involving people having to build a community, live off the land, etc. Even things about Amish communities would be great. (I guess those wouldn't have to necessarily be fiction.) Thanks for any suggestions!
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post #2 of 23
12/13/11 at 7:17am

 

The most inspiring non-fiction book about being stranded that I can think of is Albert Lansing's Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. There are other books about Shackleton, but this is the classic. Shackleton and his crew were making an attempt to cross the Antarctic in 1914 when their ship became caught and then crushed in the pack ice. They escaped in 2 lifeboats and had to cross almost 1000 miles of the stormiest seas in the world to reach help. 

 

 

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post #3 of 23
12/13/11 at 11:30am
Thread Starter 
That sounds awesome! I'm downloading it for my next read. I just started reading SK's extended version of "The Stand," though, and I feel like I've read forever and am only 8% done. lol.
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post #4 of 23
12/14/11 at 11:11am

The World Made by Hand and it's sequel The Witch of Hebron by James Howard Kunstler are my favorite modern post apocalyptic reads-well, besides The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

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post #5 of 23
12/14/11 at 2:09pm

I love Hatchet by Gary Paulsen, The Passage by ?, The Host by Stephanie Meyer, The Giver by Lois Lowry, The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell.  The Stand is THE BEST.

Looks at GoodReads.com to find ranked books in this genre.

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post #6 of 23
12/14/11 at 4:12pm
After the day....

Alas, Babylon Pat Frank

Emergence David R Palmer

Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang Kate Wilhelm

Life as We Knew It Susan Pfeffer

After the change.....

Dies the Fire S.M Stirling

Ariel Steven Boyett
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post #7 of 23
12/16/11 at 11:02am
The Road
The Dead and the Gone (part of a series...the first book is mentioned above called Life As We Knew It)
This World We Live In (third book in this series)
Oryx and Crake
The Year of the Flood
The Cay

I've read all of the above and really enjoyed them. Here is also a link to a list of 70+ books in the same genre.

http://www.shtfblog.com/list-of-seventy-fictional-survival-doomsday-teotwawki-and-apocalypse-books/
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post #8 of 23
1/22/12 at 1:25pm

I just finished reading The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch it's a young adult book but I enjoyed it.  I'll try and remember some more titles I love this subject.

 

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post #9 of 23
1/22/12 at 1:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mistymorning View Post

The World Made by Hand and it's sequel The Witch of Hebron by James Howard Kunstler are my favorite modern post apocalyptic reads-well, besides The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

I loved World Made by Hand and agree it's one of the best in this genre. I didn't enjoy the sequel quite as much, but it was still good.

Into the Forest by Jean Hegland is great. From Amazon:
Quote:
Jean Hegland's prose in Into the Forest is as breathtaking as one of the musty, ancient redwoods that share the woodland with Nell and Eva, two sisters who must learn to live in harmony with the northern California forest when the electricity shuts off, the phones go out, their parents die, and all civilization beyond them seems to grind to a halt. At first, the girls rely on stores of food left in their parents' pantry, but when those supplies begin to dwindle, their only option is to turn to each other and the forest's plants and animals for friendship, courage, and sustenance. Into the Forest, an apocalyptic coming-of-age story, will fill readers (both teens and adults) with a profound sense of the human spirit's strength and beauty.

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler is really powerful, too.
Quote:
Parable of the Sower is a hopeful tale set in a dystopian future United States of walled cities, disease, fires, and madness. Lauren Olamina is an 18-year-old woman with hyperempathy syndrome--if she sees another in pain, she feels their pain as acutely as if it were real. When her relatively safe neighborhood enclave is inevitably destroyed, along with her family and dreams for the future, Lauren grabs a backpack full of supplies and begins a journey north. Along the way, she recruits fellow refugees to her embryonic faith, Earthseed, the prime tenet of which is that "God is change." This is a great book--simple and elegant, with enough message to make you think, but not so much that you feel preached to.
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post #10 of 23
1/22/12 at 1:44pm

Here are a few more...

 

1. Dies the Fire (1st book in the series) by Stirling

 

2. In a Perfect World by Kasischke

 

 

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post #11 of 23
1/23/12 at 12:36pm

Not quite what you asked for, but you mentioned apocalypse: any interest in a barely avoided apocalypse?

If so, I strongly recommend Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman/Terry Prachart.  It's armegeddon, with comedy.

 

If you're taking the genre seriously, I also recommend The Stand. And while you're reading Stephen King, pick up the Dark Tower series. It's a 7 book masterpiece, with themes of life after civilization's fall, among other things.

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post #12 of 23
1/24/12 at 4:22am

The Road filled me with such a sense of despair. 
I guess you know you've read a good book if the emotion lingers for the next week. 

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post #13 of 23
1/28/12 at 7:07pm
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle.
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post #14 of 23
2/1/12 at 2:53pm

Oooh, post-apocalyptic is my fav genre!

 

I agree with PPs that the Dies the Fire books by SM Stirling are AMAZING!
 

I also love Octavia Butler, especially Lilith's Brood.

 


A few more. Some of them are true post-apocalyptic, and some are just crazy-screwed-up-future:

 

The Fifth Sacred Thing, by Starhawk

Uglies Trilogy, by Scott Westerfield

Woman on the Edge of Time, by Marge Piercy

The Isis Books, by Jean Stewart

The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood

Brown Girl in the Ring, by Nalo Hopkinson

Ecotopia, by Ernest Callenbach

Galapagos, by Kurt Vonnegut

Beggars in Spain, by Nancy Kress

Shade's Children, by Garth Nix

Survival, by Julie Czerneda

 

 


 

 

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post #15 of 23
2/1/12 at 3:17pm

Another goodie is "on the beach" by Neville shutte (sp?) about people in Australia which is the last place left on earth after nuclear war and they are waiting for fallout to reach them. 

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post #16 of 23
2/6/12 at 10:34pm

Swan Song by Robert McCammon is one of my all time favorites.

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post #17 of 23
2/7/12 at 7:58am

I really liked One Second After by William R. Forstchen

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post #18 of 23
2/10/12 at 4:18pm

Ashes by Ilsa Bick, YA but very good.

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post #19 of 23
2/14/12 at 1:38pm

The Passage was pretty good too.

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post #20 of 23
3/7/12 at 10:42am

No one has said "Z for Zachariah"?  I loved that book as a young adult.

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