Book Apocalypse!

OK, not really.  However, I do want to plug our Science Fiction Book Discussion group here at HPL.  We have been meeting every other month since the start of the year reading, for our first year, books with an apocalyptic theme in honor of the supposed end of the world/meso-american long-count calendar.

I hope though, that there is a future for this discussion group.  Our next book is the classic Earth Abides by George R. Stewart.  If you would like to join us, please contact me via email: gwamsley@hutchpl.org

From the cover:

"An instant classic upon its original publication in 1949 and winner of the first International Fantasy Award, Earth Abides ranks with On the Beach and Riddley Walker as one of our most provocative and finely wrought post-apocalyptic works of literature.  Its impact is still fresh, its lessons timeless.

When a plague of unprecedented virulence sweeps the globe, the human race is all but wiped out.  In the aftermath, as the great machine of civilization slowly, inexorably, breaks down, only a few shattered survivors remain to struggle against the slide to barbarism...or extinction.

This is the story of one such survivor, Isherwood "Ish" Williams, an intellectual loner who embraces the grim duty of bearing witness to what may be humanity's final days.  But then he finds Em, a wise and courageous woman who coaxes his stunned heart back to life and teaches him to hope again.  Together, they will face unimaginable challenges as they sow the seeds of a new beginning."

It is interesting to note that this novel was panned by Kirkus Reviews when it came out in 1949 - you can read the review here.  Despite a rocky start, it has gone on to become widely considered as among the best of all post-apocalyptic novels.