postapocalypse

Sadako at the End of the World | Koma Natsumi

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My husband found this manga at a used bookstore, so of course it joined our collection. It's a dark, humorous, and adorable short in Sadako's afterlife (long after The Ring) imagining what would happen if she was summoned in a post-apocalyptic landscape. #manga #apocalypse #horror

Kenyazero Used for #OwlHouseReadathon Flapjack: finding a connection with someone for the first time in a while; and #GottaCatchEmAll Mr. Rime: recommended by friends or family. @PuddleJumper (edited) 1mo

16 likes1 comment

Jari-chan

Girls' Last Tour, Vol. 1 | Tsukumizu

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After watching the anime, and enjoying one after many, many years without really getting back into anime, I also wanted to read the manga. And it felt so nice being on tour with the girls again. The anime and the manga are about 1 to 1 the same, what a great adaption! The drawing style is special, and just as the anime, there are hidden depths to be found in this mostly very cute series.

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kwmg40

Earth Abides | George Rippey Stewart

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This novel felt different from many other post-apocalyptic novels I've read, where survival is not necessarily characterized by suffering, heroic actions or unwavering optimism. Instead, the protagonist Ish is dismayed with the complacent, relaxed attitudes of his fellow survivors and descendants. Yet, they do survive and Earth abides, as the title suggests.

#ClassicLSFBC @RamsFan1963 @Ruthiella

Ruthiella Glad you finally got to finish it! It was well worth reading, I thought. 2mo

40 likes1 comment

Bookwomble

Earth Abides | George R. Stewart

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#ClassicLSFBC
It was good to read a post-apocalyptic novel that didn't dwell on violence & murder (though it acknowledged those things), but rather told of how people went about surviving, preserving family and building community.
The study of the slow decomposition of the body of modern culture was interesting.
Stewart's presentation of xenophobia arising from a hygienic fear of disease & cultural contamination was plausible & sadly relevant. ⬇️

Bookwomble I expected there to be outdated attitudes to race and women, which were there but ameliorated to some degree by the interracial marriage of Ish and Em, and the strength of will and cohesive force shown by Em, and even if this was presented in a stereotypical “Earth Mother“ non-intellectual way, the community would have failed without her.
The outdated attitudes I found most disturbing were ableism and eugenic “purity“, the consequences of which ⬇️ (edited) 2mo

Bookwomble ... might perhaps have been more apparent to Stewart at the time of writing, in the immediate aftermath of the nazi “Final Solution“, though the resurgence of both xenophobia & attempted state control of reproductive rights shows that these abhorrent ideas are tenacious.
Getting off my soap box, this was a slow-paced, thoughtful book that took me a while to get into, but which I found rewarding. The last section about the Last American was an ⬇️ (edited) 2mo

Bookwomble ... especially poignant picture of old age and end of life.
Finally, I'm possibly unduly influenced by having recently read the Elder Edda, but rather than the cliché Adam and Eve, the names of Ish and Em were suggestive to me of Ask and Embla, “Ash and Elm“, the first man and woman of Norse myth, roots of the family tree, the Father and Mother of Nations. I've no idea if this was intended, but I do like the idea. 4.5⭐ (edited) 2mo

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TrishB Great review. 2mo

Bookwomble @TrishB Thank you 😊 2mo

quietlycuriouskate Picture looks like Gloucester after a bank holiday has wreaked havoc with the bins collection schedule. 2mo

Bookwomble @quietlycuriouskate Ha, ha! 😆 It's supposed to be post-apocalypse suburban San Francisco, but if Gloucester fits... 2mo

Lesliereadsalot Just read this will be on MGM+ in December. #Classiclsfbc 2mo

Bookwomble @Lesliereadsalot It'll be interesting to see how close they stick to Stewart's quiet, philosophical approach, or where they'll add in more peril and conflict. Hmm 🤔 almost definitely the second option. 2mo

38 likes9 comments

Bookwomble

Earth Abides | George R. Stewart

"He had always tried to impress the children with an almost mystical value of books. Still he kept the symbol of the burning of books as one of the worst things that men could do."
??? #UniteAgainstBookBans #ClassicLSFBC

AmyG Make Americans ignorant, fearful and hateful and you will believe anything. 2mo

TheBookHippie @AmyG 🎯 2mo

BarbaraBB @AmyG so true 2mo

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dabbe @AmyG Agree 💯. 2mo

GingerAntics 🧡🧡🧡 yes! 2mo

The_Book_Ninja MAGAs: “Must ban books! Must have freedom of speech!…does not compute! Does not compute” 2mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja This example of cognitive dissonance would suggest that rabid MAGAs actually have any form of critical functioning happening! 2mo

Bookwomble @bibliothecarivs I borrowed your Book Ban hashtag, which I hope is ok. I thought it it more as homage than theft! 😁 2mo

bibliothecarivs It's from UniteAgainstBookBans.org so feel free to use and share! 2mo

CatLass007 Yikes! That is one scary picture and we‘re all too close to it actually happening. 2mo

Bookwomble @bibliothecarivs Then it's a shared resource 😁👍 2mo

Bookwomble @CatLass007 Warnings from history! Hopefully this is not our future! 2mo

CatLass007 @Bookwomble Some days I feel more hopeful than others. 2mo

Bookwomble @CatLass007 We shall overcome ✊♥️ 2mo

36 likes14 comments

swynn

Earth Abides | George R. Stewart

pick

(1949) This was a first read for me, though it's been on my TBR list forever. I'm content to have waited so long because I'm pretty sure its lack of plot and character development and its long expository pages would not have appealed to Younger Me. But Now Me dug it, less as a novel than as an extended meditation on relationships among individuals, civilization, and the planet. Very dated in spots but for what it is it's also surprisingly engaging

Aimeesue Ish! 3mo

34 likes1 comment

Bookwomble

Earth Abides | George R. Stewart

Halfway through the August #ClassicLSFBC book, so unlikely to finish before tomorrow, but I'm settling in with a Perry's Puffin-label Somerset cider, classic cheese balls snack, and a bit of John Coltrane to try and make some headway. It's possible I will be too chilled to actually read, but it's a risk I'm prepared to take 🫡

CoffeeNBooks This looks perfect! Coltrane is great! 🎶 3mo

Bookwomble @CoffeeNBooks He was a good choice for my mood 😊😎🎷 3mo

The_Book_Ninja No to cheesy balls✋🏼🛑 3mo

Bookwomble @The_Book_Ninja You strike me as a person with a healthy diet, so I wouldn't be surprised to find you noshing on the Man from Del Monte's plums 🍑 (with apologies to Julian Clarey for blatant joke theft! 😄) 3mo

The_Book_Ninja @Bookwomble 🤣🤣🤣🤣 3mo

41 likes5 comments

Ruthiella

Earth Abides | George Rippey Stewart

A few questions if anyone wants to discuss this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC 🦠 pick.

Question 3: I think for any Litten, the loss of literature would have been devastating…could the parents have at least read picture books to their children to keep stories alive? Or would this have been too strange, given that the world depicted in many of the story books would not make sense to the children given their extremely limited society?

BookmarkTavern, wanderinglynn, Readergrrl, Johanna414, KathyWheeler, Lizpixie, BookBelle84, Larkken, julesG, Deblovestoread, majkia, LeticiaToraci, sebrittainclark, kwmg40, rwmg, CatLass007, BookwormAHN, CSeydel, RamsFan1963, TheSpineView, bnp, swynn, PaperbackPirate, Bookwomble, Klou, Roary47, MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm, AuthorCjwhitcomb , Lesliereadsalot, PageShifter, tokorowilliamwallace, MerlinTheSlightlyAwkward

MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm Honestly this grated on me SO much. Stories are so inherently part of being human that we‘ve been telling them around campfires pretty much since we came into existence. I cannot fathom just giving up on keeping literature alive and accessible. If Ish had really cared so much, I think he absolutely could have made more of an effort of getting the younger generation interested. 3mo

Lesliereadsalot I never understood why all the members of the tribe didn‘t go to the library every day! What a waste of a resource that undoubtedly could have helped in so many ways. I enjoyed this book even though I would have liked to see all the characters “Do something!” Was nobody else thinking about the future?? #LSFBC (edited) 3mo

Ruthiella @Lesliereadsalot @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm I knew I‘d find kindred spirits here! My first thought about getting the children interested in reading and writing was to read to them and encourage them to tell and write their own stories. 3mo

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Bookwomble I'm late to the discussion, but for what it's worth... books would have been available everywhere the post-disaster people were scavenging, and given Ish's love of books it seems inconceivable that he would have relegated all of them to the 'sacred' space of the university library. A love of reading is passed from parent to child, so this would have happened. I can conceive it dying out, perhaps, over time, but not in the first generation. ⬇️ 2mo

Bookwomble A narrative device, then, to represent the loss/shift in culture. 2mo

Ruthiella @Bookwomble It‘s never too late! I‘m glad I wasn‘t the only one who found the lack of literature odd. You might be right about it being a narrative device to speed up the development. 2mo

kwmg40 This aspect was, to me, the least plausible part of the novel. I\'d expect that the survivors would have sought out books, for entertainment if not for instruction. Maybe it just feels that way to us Littens who, faced with a scary unknown situation, would immediately want to read up on it! 2mo

Ruthiella @kwmg40 Right? It‘s maybe doubly hard for us to understand how this pleasure in life could have been overlooked. I would like to assume there‘s other communities elsewhere that kept literature alive. 2mo

40 likes8 comments

Ruthiella

Earth Abides | George R. Stewart

A few questions if anyone wants to discuss this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC 🦠 pick. If you want to be tagged next month or untagged from the distribution list let me know.

Question 2: What about little Joey? Had he survived, do you think he could have influenced the trajectory of the tribe where Ish was unsuccessful?

BookmarkTavern, Readergrrl, Johanna414, KathyWheeler, Lizpixie, BookBelle84, Larkken, julesG, Deblovestoread, majkia, LeticiaToraci, sebrittainclark, kwmg40, rwmg, Wandering, CatLass007, BookwormAHN, CSeydel, RamsFan1963, TheSpineView, bnp, swynn, PaperbackPirate, Bookwomble, Klou, Roary47, MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm, AuthorCjwhitcomb , Lesliereadsalot, PageShifter, tokorowilliamwallace, MerlinTheSlightlyAwkward, Books_et_al

MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm I think Ish focusing so much on one child‘s strengths was detrimental to Joey and the society as a whole. If things had continued the way Ish had been, all I think he would have accomplished would be cloning his unhappiness at the inadequacies of The Tribe into Joey. The boy would have grown up miserable, isolated, and possibly become a sort of danger himself. Ish‘s self-importance imposed upon Joey could have concluded with a tyrant or zealot. 3mo

Lesliereadsalot All the children must have had one strength or another as all children do. I felt like there could‘ve been lots of things for Ish to develop in the children, besides bows and arrows. To think Joey would have been the tribe leader was wishful thinking on Ish‘s part based solely on what he saw in Joey, ignoring what the other children night have had to offer. #LSCFBC 3mo

swynn Ish's idea that there should be some visionary leader who could preserve the pre-apocalypse's knowledge was never realistic: the Tribe did not share his vision so it wasn't going to happen whether it should have done or not. At best Ish was setting Joey up to be a Cassandra, at worst a scapegoat. 3mo

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Ruthiella @swynn @Lesliereadsalot @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm The more I think about it, the more I think that it‘s circumstances that make leaders who rise to the challenge and not mantle passing from parent to child (look at heredity dynasties ) As Leslie points out, every child has their talents and some of the others had what was needed collectively at that moment. As Steve and Meagon indicate, Ish was setting Joey up for probable failure. 3mo

Bookwomble @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @Lesliereadsalot @swynn @Ruthiella Although not mentioned in the text, I had the impression Ish was aiming for something like Plato's Atlantean governmental system of Philosopher Kings. 2mo

kwmg40 I was of two minds regarding Joey\'s potential, as I\'m not sure myself whether great advances in civilization are made by individuals or circumstances. I expect that it\'s often some combination of the two. I don\'t think Ish had the answer either but had the same thoughts swirling through his mind. 2mo

Ruthiella @kwmg40 I think you are right, this is the same question that Ish was considering- are leaders born or made or a combination thereof… 2mo

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Ruthiella

Earth Abides | George Rippey Stewart

A few questions if anyone wants to discuss this month‘s #ClassicLSFBC 🦠 pick. If you want to be tagged next month or untagged from the distribution list let me know.

Question 1: Earth Abides is speculative fiction - a thought experiment exploring how humans might change and adapt to an End of Days scenario. Did you find Stewart‘s depiction plausible? What did he get right and/or wrong?

Bookwomble I'm still reading it - 49% through. So far I'm enjoying it but I'm not gripped, hence the rather slow going. I'll try to maintain focus and get it done! 3mo

MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm I think he got people‘s complacency right, as much as it irked me through the whole thing. I like to think people would be more proactive about survival, but I honestly don‘t know. Scavenging premade things seems easier than investing in long term solutions, so why do anything? I found the lack of conflict within The Tribe unrealistic. It seemed a little too quaint and perfect, even for “solid, good people”. 3mo

Lesliereadsalot I was surprised at how little effort the tribe made to hook up with other tribes. It took so many years to even find one other tribe! And I also found the lack of conflict infuriating. Everybody seems to have this happy-go-lucky attitude that isn‘t realistic. #LSFBC (edited) 3mo

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swynn @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm This was the thing that most surprised me, and was most insightful. In my imagination 1949 is full of self-sufficient post-WWII "can-do"ers who could meet the end of the world with grim competence. But after forty years of mostly-ignored climate change warnings and COVID's lesson that the expression "avoid it like the plague" has no source in actual human behavior, I think Stewart gets it right 3mo

Ruthiella @swynn @Lesliereadsalot @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm He indicated however that other communities were more proactive (in the south and southwest). I do think that some humans would have been less willing to rely only on scavenged resources. Just not those Ish hooks up with. 3mo

swynn @Ruthiella Fair point. And the rapid development of very distinct cultures is an interesting prediction, that I think depends on the level of group isolation, which, as @Lesliereadsalot points out, is extreme in Ish's group. 3mo

kwmg40 I started reading this book and was enjoying it but only got about halfway before having to return it to the library. So I'm on the waiting list again and will return to these questions when I finish it! 3mo

Bookwomble @MegaWhoppingCosmicBookwyrm @Lesliereadsalot @swynn @Ruthiella I did find it generally plausible, given the premise that most people died, leaving the survivors in an environment of scavenger abundance. The introduction of Charlie illustrated the potential for a more stereotypical "Mad Max" dystopian post-apocalypse. I think in this scenario, there just weren't enough people to warrant resource hoarding, other than considering people as resources. 2mo

Ruthiella @Bookwomble I think too he‘s demonstrating (intentionally or not) how poor humans are at long term planning. We have trouble seeing more than a generation beyond our own and the sacrifices we should make to ensure they abide. 2mo

Bookwomble @Ruthiella Agreed 👍🏻 It does seem an intentional pussy of the narrative, given Ish's often stated and then unrealised plans. 2mo

kwmg40 I finally got this book back from the library after a lengthy wait and finished it, so I\'ll chime in, even if it\'s very late. I found Stewart\'s depiction very interesting, as it;s so different from other post-apocalyptic books in which survival is often tied in with optimism and heroic deeds, rather than the complacency of Ish\'s tribe. 2mo

Ruthiella @kwmg40 it‘s never too late to chime in! I agree, the author‘s approach was different from anything I have read so far in this sub genre. 2mo

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