Comments on: Books about escape and survival?

Question: Books about escape and survival?

takeyourmedicine — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:43:03 -0800

Any suggestions for books based on the theme of escape and/or survival? I especially love books based on desert islands, in prisons or in some post-apocolyptic world.

I've seen Lost, read Lord of the Flies, enjoyed Castaway and adored The Shawshank Redemption, Mad Max, Papillion etc. Now I'm looking for some not so well known Books that you can reccommend for Christmas reading and present suggestions.

By: meerkatty

meerkatty — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:44:51 -0800

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

By: thanotopsis

thanotopsis — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:48:04 -0800

There's a classic by Orson Scott Card that I typically reread every 2-3 years that I think you'll like: Treason

By: ericb

ericb — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:49:30 -0800

Check out this previous AskMe thread.

By: thomas j wise

thomas j wise — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:50:49 -0800

If you liked Lord of the Flies, you might be interested in Marianne Wiggins' response, John Dollar (featuring girls instead of boys; let's just say that they're no nicer).

By: tentacle

tentacle — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:51:04 -0800

Can't say that it's not well known, but...

The Stand, by Stephen King. Disregard the TV miniseries, which was made some years ago.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:51:26 -0800

Concrete Island

By: cmonkey

cmonkey — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:51:32 -0800

I've asked questions about zombie books and post-apocalyptic books before, both types frequently incorporating survival themes, maybe those threads have some suggestions that look good to you.

By: pwb503

pwb503 — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:51:35 -0800

The White Plague by Frank Herbert? ...Our story opens with the death of the wife and children of brilliant biochemical researcher John O'Neill at the hands of terrorists. O'Neil is driven mad with grief and unleashes a biochemically engineered plague on the world, one that is 100% fatal to women.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 17:51:48 -0800

I highly recommend Blindness by Jose Saramago. I like the kind of thing you talk about, and this is the nearest I have come to finding it.

It's an awesome book. More than half of it is about survival under the most unusual conditions. And very "post apocalyptic" in its own way also.

By: justkevin

justkevin — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:07:39 -0800

The description of Blindness reminds me of the apocalyptic survival classic, "Day of the Triffids." I recall it had some flaws, but worth reading.

By: ersatzkat

ersatzkat — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:07:50 -0800

pwb503 said:

The White Plague by Frank Herbert?

Daieeee! Haven't thought about that book in years. Loved it!

Thanks, man!

By: ersatzkat

ersatzkat — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:09:23 -0800

...and to follow meerkatty's Margaret Atwood suggestion, The Handmaid's Tale is another good one.

By: takeyourmedicine

takeyourmedicine — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:13:40 -0800

yeh day of the triffids was fantastic but like many of these books it's let down by its length. In my opinion, the longer the better!

By: blink_left

blink_left — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 18:58:19 -0800

Dhalgren by Samuel R Delany sort of a end of the city but it's not clear how far it goes...
Lucifer's Hammer by Larry Niven Jerry Pournelle, Big rock hits earth (forget the Kevin Costner movie the postman).
Seconds to Deus Irae, and from the other threads "A Canticle for Leibowitz" and Stephen King's "The Stand" and "The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner" are all good.
I was haveing a few post-apocolyptic years there.
As for the rest, thanks you people i have some reading to do.

By: SPrintF

SPrintF — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:09:27 -0800

Verne's The Mysterious Island is interesting in part because it depicts survival on a desert island as neither easy nor fun. Also, Verne's narrator rags on Wyss's Swiss Family Robinson for making things way too easy for the Robinsons.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:16:56 -0800

You gotta see Battle Royale, which is like Lord of the Flies crossed with Fortress.

By: nicwolff

nicwolff — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:22:17 -0800

Oh, sorry, books only - how'd I miss that?

By: johngoren

johngoren — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:32:23 -0800

I Am Legend is a rippin' 1954 book that inspired The Omega Man, Dawn of the Dead, and Stephen King's career. Now available in a nice edition.

By: saladin

saladin — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:33:01 -0800

Might be a bit young-adult for you, but Hatchet is one of the all-time best of the survival-literature genre.

Also, The Life of Pi tells a pretty excellent story of a boy adrift at sea.

By: Mitheral

Mitheral — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 19:50:49 -0800

Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold is excellent though only about 50% of the book is survivalist in nature. The strong 1960's style racism that runs through the book can be a little jarring. Try to only empathize with the main protagonist.

By: arruns

arruns — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 20:03:47 -0800

Earth Abides is one of the best post-apocalypse books there is.

By: johnsmith415

johnsmith415 — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 20:21:39 -0800

I'll second cmonkey's suggestion (in his other thread) of On the Beach...loved that book.

Not a fan of Margaret Atwood...(just thought I'd mention that)

By: johnsmith415

johnsmith415 — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 20:23:51 -0800

(sorry if cmonkey is a girl...I was making an unbased assumption that he/she was a boy)

By: frogan

frogan — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 20:32:43 -0800

The Last Ship

By: bmckenzie

bmckenzie — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 20:51:30 -0800

Harlan Ellison's "A Boy and His Dog" is a bleak/funny post-apocaplypse story that was made into a pretty good movie, starring Don Johnson.

By: bmckenzie

bmckenzie — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 20:56:50 -0800

Oh, you probably know the stories, you may have seen the movies,, but The Count of Monte Cristo and Treasure Island are still great reads.

By: gsteff

gsteff — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 21:02:13 -0800

Blindness is good, but isn't very adventure-y, as you seem to be looking for. Its more like Camus' The Plague.

And I can't believe no one has mentioned Dune.

By: maryh

maryh — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 22:33:25 -0800

I second Life of Pi. Really great lost at sea sequences. Plus a tiger.

By: rob511

rob511 — Mon, 12 Dec 2005 22:36:30 -0800

Alas, Babylon: the Cold-War era bookend to "On the Beach"

By: dpcoffin

dpcoffin — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 00:32:43 -0800

A BIG second for Hatchet, and in the same vein, but longer and more dangerous is Far North, a terrific Yukon-winter survival tale. Both are GREAT audio books, btw.
And there's always Endurance. ESSENTIAL reading for any armchair survival fan; all the better for being true.

By: geekyguy

geekyguy — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 01:16:09 -0800

Skeletons on the Zahara, one of Abraham Lincoln's favorite true stories.

By: Corky

Corky — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 04:24:23 -0800

I second Alas, Babylon. If rob511 hadn't mentioned it, I would have. It's timeless, and believe it or not, an excellent 'How To' reference for survival.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 05:58:43 -0800

Papillon.

And, if you can find it, Dry Guillotine.

Both are about escape from Devil's Island, one of the worst prisons in history.

By: m@

m@ — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 08:10:59 -0800

(forget the Kevin Costner movie the postman).

David Brin's book of the same name is MUCH better than the movie that is based on it.

Sample chapters on his web site

By: Robot Johnny

Robot Johnny — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:19:42 -0800

If you can handle the sheer size of it, The Last Man by Mary "Frankenstein" Shelley is great plague fiction.

By: chronic sublime

chronic sublime — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 22:45:34 -0800

An Australian young-adult suggestion: the Tomorrow, When The War Began series. Bunch of teens in the bush when war breaks out in Australia. Countless adults who I've recommended first book to have demanded to read the rest of the series. Good stuff.