dystopian & post-apocalyptic books I've read before
anthologies * dystopia/apocalypse * fantasy * humor * literary realism * nonfiction * nostalgia * philosophy/religion * science fiction

These are books I read before I ever started writing reviews for my website. Maybe eventually I'll reread some of them and write proper reviews, but probably not all of them. But I still want to at least mention as many books that I've read as I can recall.


Alas, Babylon, by Pat Frank (pub. 1959)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; TV Tropes; Wikipedia

I don't remember if I read this when I was in high school or more toward the end of my grade school days, but I remember liking it, and I'd really like to read it again someday.


A Canticle for Leibowitz, by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (pub. 1960)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; HarperCollins; Random House; TV Tropes; Wikipedia

A post-apocalyptic novel. It was really, really good, but of course I can't remember any details about it, so I'll definitely want to reread it someday. And there's a sequel I should probably read, too.


Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury (pub. 1953)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Simon & Schuster; TV Tropes; Wikipedia

This is, of course, a classic. I'm afraid, as usual, that I don't remember where or when I got this book, though I feel like it may have been a gift from a friend. And when I read it, I knew it was a classic, and I must have liked it... but again, as usual, I have failed to retain any specifics. So, hells yeah I'm gonna reread it, someday.


Lord of the Flies, by William Golding (pub. 1954)
Amazon; B&N; Goodreads; Scholastic; TV Tropes; Wikipedia

This is something I read in high school, I think either Freshman or Sophomore year. I'm sure I liked it well enough. And I wrote a story for my class, which was related to the book, but used one of my own characters, D'Ward Javert. (I always called myself D'WARD in high school, which is obviously a contraction of David Ward. And I had some characters/alternate personalities who used that as a base in their own names. D'Ward Javert was of course also named for Inspector Javert, from "Les Miserables," which I had read an abridged form of in one of my classes.) Anyway, this book is sort of a microcosm of dystopia, though I'm not sure I would have thought of that if I hadn't seen it listed on Wikipedia as a dystopian novel. (In fact, there's probably various stuff about the book that I either never realized, or else forgot soon after reading it. Like, it's apparently set in what was at the time, the near future. But I'm pretty sure I always thought it was set during World War II, which would have been the recent past, when the book was written. I guess I was wrong.)



dystopian/apocalyptic index

anthologies * dystopia/apocalypse * fantasy * humor * literary realism * nonfiction * nostalgia * philosophy/religion * science fiction