Hello - I’ve never posted in this forum and haven’t read all that much here either, so please to forgive if I do any faux pas. I would do my research better, but this is URGENT.
Starting Monday, I’m going on a solo road trip lasting three or maybe four days. It’ll be long driving days, 10 or 11 hours each unless I wimp out. In preparation, I splurged on four audiobooks:
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (by Michael Chabon; read by Peter Riegert) World War Z (abridged) (by Max Brooks; read by a long list of folks) The Stolen Child (by Keith Donohue; read by Andy Paris and Jeff Woodman) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (by Mark Haddon; read by Jeff Woodman)
The first one (Yiddish Policemen’s) I know I want to listen to FIRST (well, I’d actually like to listen to it RIGHT NOW, but I’m delaying that gratification and all). It combines three tropes I’d drop anything to read: alternate universe, NWCoast culture, and a creative approach to peace in Israel. I nearly bought this in hardback, which is severely taboo at my house (costly and those things take up way too much space).
Regarding the other three: which is best? Which should I spin first? Please can I have your opinions on which of the other three I should try first after that? Tips? Raves? Pans? Hereby soliciting all of the above re the books, the authors, or the readers.
Here’s all I know:
World War Z is abridged (gah!) but has a fantastic cast of readers that I just could not resist. Also, it looks extremely silly.
The Stolen Child looks like it might be magical realism or something akin to it, which I dig.
The Curious Incident is one of those books I’ve been meaning to read for years.
Prepare to be disappointed. It is in very few ways silly. It is actually quite serious, but still awesome. Just don’t go in expecting a “campy” kind of zombie book.
The only one from that list i’ve read (and also listened too after a lot of people commented on how good the actors they got for the audio book were) is World War Z and i can’t recommend it enough. Theres nothing “silly” about it like his previous zombie book The Zombie Survival Guide, its a very realistic and interesting take on what/why/how would happen if there really were zombies. Yes, the audio version is abridged and you do miss a few good interviews but the voice acting really made it worth it, you can always read the parts you missed later.
I haven’t read the previous book and actually didn’t realize there was one until the Amazon box arrived. Is this a bad thing? Should I hold on to World War Z until I read/hear the prequel? Is it a prequel?
Glad to hear your encomium for the readers. That’s really why I got it.
Its not a prequel and you won’t miss anything at all from not having read it, its just a book by the same author on the same topic but it has nothing at all to do with World War Z other than being mentioned once in passing. A zombie book can be serious in the same way any other book dealing with a world wide catastrophe can be serious i guess.
The Zombie Survival Guide is more of an extended preface than a prequel. It illustrates how most people can be caught off guard and killed during a worldwide zombie outbreak, while those who have prepared cn survive. It also has many accounts of zombie outbreaks throughout history, ranging from the stone age to the early 21st century. I found it to be a very good read, but I don’t think that it’s necessary to have read before starting World War Z.
One of the ways I found it serious was, unlike zombie movies and such where the characters don’t act very realistic, I guess. But more than once while reading it I started thinking how I could see people I know acting that same way.
The denial, the selfishness, the plain stupidity, it’s all very plausible.
I think I’m rambling. Sorry. But main point: read the book. It’s surprisingly good.
Well one is a book about a world wide zombie apocalypse and one is a book about what to do in case theres a world wide zombie apocalypse. One is serious because its based in a world were zombies are real and the other is silly because its based in a world were zombies don’t exist but it pretends they do.
It can’t be magical realism because the author isn’t Latin American Seriously, though, it’s urban fantasy like War For The Oaks by Emma Bull. It looks promising from what I’ve read about it, and I hope to get around to reading it by the end of the year.
The Curious Incident Of The Dog at Nighttime is okay, but way over-rated. The author never makes it clear if the narrator has autism or something else on the autism continuum, and I at least got the sense that he never named the condition because he himself didn’t know for sure which he was writing about. Should have done more research. Maybe people who never have spent time around kids with autism are more forgiving, though, so ymmv.
Agree 1000%. For an excellent book written from the perspective of a high-functioning austistic man, may I suggest The Speed of Dark by Elizabeth Moon. Her son (~17 now?) is autistic. I really chaps my hide that Curious Incident the obviously inferior book, is so much more well known.
But isn’t it less silly now that we know The Guide is a real book in the World War Z world?
I’m sorry, I’ve recommended this book to a bunch of people, and I always describe it as “Completely serious, that’s why it’s so funny.” So seeing it described as silly is just jarring to me.
I just read The Stolen Child (which I wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for this thread) and reaklly enjoyed it–I stayed up o read it rather than trying to sleep on a flight.
I dunno, the main character really reminded me of my oldest little brother, who’s a “clearly somewhere on the autism continuum but I don’t think even the doctors are completely sure where”. I can’t point to any specific examples because I don’t have the book at hand right now, but at least for me, some of the actions and events seemed really familiar.
I’ve read all three books and enjoyed each of them thoroughly. World War Z would be my first choice for a road trip. It’s creepy as hell and never dull, so perfect for listening to on a long drive. *The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time * is fascinating and funny, so another good choice for driving. The Stolen Child is lovely, but slower-paced and more reflective. It would be a better choice for reading than listening to, IMO.
Seriously, though, it’s