Post apocolyptic reads

I just couldn't do the language in Riddley Walker,but I enjoyed The Road,Death of Grass etc.

I can recommend some good zombie reads if you like that sort of thing.....

Its Last Light,I think (the other Alex Scarrow book).Both thoroughly recommended.

The Road. It's scary though. I give my copy away after I had read it because I was too scared to have it in the house!

'Girlfriend In A Coma' deffo not teenage. Pretty good although it does get rather silly towards the end - but you can play 'Spot the The Smiths' lyrics as you read.'

The Road by Cormac Mcarthy

I read girlfriend in a coma by Douglas Coupland years ago which would go along with your theme, I hope its not just a teen book as it's my first recommendation please be easy with me.

I love apocalyptic fiction and have read a fair few noted here. That book of short stories is great!!

Can I add Margaret Atwood's the year of the flood? I love her writing so much, oryx and crake was brilliant and there is going to be a third.I can't wait.

Mara and Dann by Doris Lessing. Set in next Ice age.

Riddley Walker is amazing.

Earth Abides by George Stewart is interesting but a bit creepy esp. on race.

Recently read The Death of Grass and really enjoyed it. I also liked The Road a lot. The Ice People by Maggie Gee is interesting. Love feminist/post-apo cross over, like The Carhullen Army by Sarah Hall, and Woman On The Edge of Time by Marge Piercy (altho that is perhaps more utopian/dystopian).

I'm Just reading my first ever. It was a kindle freebie and my experience with those is dreadful. It's called The Killing Moon by Rob Glenn and I'm just over half way. I was thoroughly enjoying it but it has turned rather violent so my final judgement is reserved.
Have made a list of these recommendations as it's great to find a new genre I like,

I would third Riddley Walker - it's a great, great book.

It helps to navigate and place what's going on if you can read it with a map of Kent, preferably an old one, as all the roads have been updated and their names/numbers changed since Hoban wrote.

Also

I who have never known men-Jacqueline Harpman
A Gift Upon the Shore-Wren

The first one is more sci-fi (and astonishingly good imo), second post-apoc.

I'm currently reading Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukovsky.

Other ones that I liked included:

Nevil Shute - On The Beach
Stephen King - The Stand
George R Stewart -Earth Abides
Richard Matheson - I am Legend (the ending was changed in the recent film version with Will Smith)
S.M. Stirling - Dies The Fire
Caragh O'Brien - Birthmarked
Kate Wilhelm - Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang
Adam Roberts - The Snow
Adam Roberts - On
Veronica Roth - Divergent

I just finished reading the first two books in a trilogy by the creator of Pans Labyrinth, called The Strain and then The Fall. The third one's called The Night Eternal or something along those lines. They're not quite post-apocalyptic, but then again they are.

In The Strain, an airplane loses contact with the radio tower shortly after being told it's okay for them to land at JFK. 6 minutes after landing, someone is sent out to see what's happening, as the plane is at a standstill as if it'd been in a hangar for a day, all the blinds are pulled down and no radio contact is possible.
insert lots of spoilers here
A vampiric-virus is set lose that devours New York within a few weeks and threatens to take over the world.
The books follow Ephiram Goodweather, who works at the CDC, a Holocaust survivor, a Mexican Gang member and an exterminator as they deal with what's happening and try to figure out what the hell they're going to do so they don't become infected themselves.

I wont explain anything about The Fall, but it's also very good, and they follow on from each other like Lord of the Rings rather than being a book and two sequels.

These books are some of the best books I've read in a long while and although the first one is better than the second (which is almost always the case) the second one is still amazing enough to have you just as hooked as the first. I bought both books on a Sunday evening, and by the following Wednesday I'd read both! they're pretty cheap on Amazon too, or at least they were last time I checked.

I enjoyed Oryx and Crake by Atwood. ACnd at's Cradle by Kurt Vonnegurt. All of JG Ballard seems pretty post apocalyptic to me (and he's one of my favourite writers) but The Drowned World is probably the purest example.

Yes! I love post apocalyptic books.

Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban is brilliant, even better second time round. Country of Last Things (I think) by Paul Auster. I've heard The Road by Cormac McCarthy is good - I bought it for my DH but haven't read it meself. Oh and Children of Men is interesting...

Sorry, not much new there!

The Passage - by Justin Cronin

Metro 2033 by dmitri glukovski (spelling?)

Awesome book set in the Moscow metro system after a nuclear war.

"Riddley Walker' didn't do it for me - I liked the challenge but not the plot/themes.

'The Stand' is the masterpiece of this genre imho. "Cell' is similar but nowehere near as good (like eating plastic instead of parmesan).

'On The Beach' and 'The Handmaid's Tale' both well worth reading. Agree re Margaret Atwood and crap endings though.

Yes to Patrick Ness - if you don't mind teen fiction try the Mortal Engines series by Philip Reeve too.

Mira Grant's two zombie books are trash - but fun trash!

'The Road' v v pale imitation of 'The Stand' imho.

Riddley Walker - but be prepared, its written in its own 'post apocalyptic' language. However stick with it for a bit & it is really worth the effort.

My absolute no. 1 post apocalyptic read is actually a short story - Solitude - from the collection The Birthday of the World, by Ursula le Guin. (The rest of the stories are also excellent, but not post apocalyptic!)

Should you be inclined to try it, The Book of Dave by Will Self is absolute bollox, IMVHO.

There's a sequel to Afterlight but I forgot what it's called (or maybe Afterlight is the sequel and it's a prequel even)
There's Into the Forest, that's good, and A Gift Upon the Shore - both have female protagonists.
Plague 99 and the two sequels by Jean Ure are good, they're more aimed at teens but still good. Brother in the Land is another teen one that's good, it's by Robert Swindells - most of his stuff is good, but some are for children rather than teens.
HM Hoover is another good author for teen dytopian stuff if you can find them.
The only one of John Christopher's I didn't like was The Pendulum Swings, all his others are great.
The Road is ok, I didn't think it lived up to the hype it got, but it wasn't the worst thing I've ever read

I got reminded the other day of 2 of my favourite books as a child, both post-apocalyptic. Children of the Dust, which is set immediately after a nuclear war, and Empty World, which is set during and after a disease wipes out most of the world. Possibly a bit childish - haven't read them for years - but I loved them (weird child emoticon)