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Station Eleven
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I recently finished Station Eleven, and thought it was an outstanding book. Thanks for suggesting the other titles - I've read some of them, and will add the others to my "to read" list.
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(Deb and Miranda)
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For those of you who are ready for the next great story, here’s a list of ten great titles from your library’s collection to read or watch during the cold months ahead.
A Thousand Acres
Station Eleven begins when an actor who is playing the role of King Lear dies during a performance, and the play is referenced a number of times in the novel. If you’re interested in reading another book inspired King Lear, check out by A Thousand Acres, by Jane Smiley, for a modern retelling of the tale. This powerful novel won the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Larry Cook is an aging farmer with a thriving, successful farm. He decides that it’s time to retire and pass the land on to his daughters, so he incorporates the farm and bestows joint ownership on the three of them. The two oldest still live on the property, but the youngest objects, as she has established herself as a lawyer in the city, so her father cuts her out of the deal. Her dissent opens up long suppressed emotions and leads to the revelation of long hidden family secrets. After you’ve read the book, check out the film, featuring Michelle Pfeiffer and Jessica Lange.
Dog Star Cover
Did you savor the darkly beautiful poetic prose of Station Eleven? Check out The Dog Stars, by Peter Heller, for lovely passages that you’ll want to reread out loud for full effect. Like Station Eleven, part of the novel is set in an abandoned airport, and the narrator takes a journey in search of life. Sold!
Hig has survived a flu epidemic, but all of the people that he loved are gone. He lives in an abandoned airport with his blue heeler hound, Jasper, and his only human company is a gun nut who also lives in the airport. Hig sleeps under the stars and makes up constellations, reinventing the world that he’s lost. After he hears a voice through the radio of his plane, he follows his hope on a journey into the unknown, in search of a better life.
All the Light
Looking for another haunting, beautifully written award-winner that illuminates the innate goodness of humanity in alternating narrative perspectives? All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr, has been hailed by critics as the work of a master, with striking metaphors and dazzling details that pull readers in and won’t let them go. This novel was a National Book Award Finalist and won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
Doerr’s novel is set in France during the Nazi occupation of World War II. Marie-Laure Leblanc is a sightless girl from Paris who has fled to a walled citadel with her father to escape the Nazis. Werner Pfennig is an orphan who grew up in a German mining town, and earned a place at the Hitler Youth academy through his talent with building and fixing radios. In a narrative that moves back and forth from past to present, this novel explores the human struggle between war and life, truth and duty.
The Road
Want to read another award-winning post-apocalyptic work with a journey at the heart of the story? Reach for Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
In the grim world that remains after the fall, the man and his son are “each the other’s world entire.” They are the good guys, but the need to survive blurs the line between good and evil over and over. McCarthy’s use of language is striking and poetic, with passages that you’ll want to reread so that you can savor the words. The story is a dark vision, but it glimmers with hope. After you read the novel, check out the film.
Last night in montreal
Want to read another novel by author Emily St. John Mandel? Try her debut, Last Night in Montreal.
Lilia Albert doesn’t remember much about her early childhood, and she has traveled and changed names over and over throughout her life. It’s a habit that’s hard to break; she leaves people behind over and over. Then an abandoned lover follows her trail to Montreal, unable to let her go. The narrative alternates between the point of view of a private detective who has been tracking Lilia for years, the detective’s daughter, and Eli, so that readers unravel the mystery of Lilia’s life along with the characters. A powerful, haunting debut.
Scatter adapt and remember
How about some nonfiction about the survival of the human species after catastrophic events? Scatter, Adapt, and Remember: How Humans will Survive a Mass Extinction, by Annalee Newitz, tackles the topic with a firm foundation in science and history.
In Scatter, Adapt, and Remember, Newitz states that humanity is due for a catastrophic disaster that will greatly reduce the human population on Earth. It won’t be the first time. But this isn’t an entirely grim forecast, because humans are better prepared to survive a mass extinction than ever before. The book takes readers through the history of humanity’s narrow escapes, and gives explores ways that ingenuity and adaptability will carry us through the next disaster.
Voices from Chernobyl
Read a collection of accounts from people who survived one of the worst disasters in modern history in Voices from Chernobyl: The Oral History of a Nuclear Disaster, by Svetlana Alexievich.
In Voices from Chernobyl, Journalist Svetlana Alexievich shares the voices of the people who survived the worst nuclear disaster in history. On April 26, 1986, a nuclear reactor in Chernobyl, Ukraine, exploded. The disaster contaminated nearly three-quarters of Europe, and the clean-up involved 500,000 workers. Alexievich spoke to hundreds of people who were there, and presented their harrowing, honest accounts in this collection, which was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Bill Bryson Shakespeare
In Station Eleven, people request that the Traveling Symphony perform the plays of Shakespeare more than anything else, to cling to what was best about the world that has been lost. Check out Bill Bryson’s very accessible biography of the Bard, Shakespeare: The World as Stage, to learn more about the playwright who has inspired artists, writers, and readers for hundreds of years.
There are many, many biographies of Shakespeare. So why should you read this one? Shakespeare: The World as Stage, is only 200 pages, because Bryson sticks to what is known of Shakespeare’s life, and resists speculating or drawing his own conclusions. It turns out that not much hard and fast information has survived, and Bryson presents pretty much all of it here, encapsulating the best of the life of the Bard in a highly readable volume.
Star Trek Voyager
In Station Eleven, the Traveling Symphony’s motto is a line from Star Trek: Voyager: “Survival is insufficient.” Check out the television series that inspired Mandel, and see how it moves you.
Star Trek: Voyager was the fifth Star Trek series, and ran for seven seasons. Kate Mulgrew stars as the first female captain featured as a main character in a Star Trek series. As the series begins, the USS Voyager is stranded on the far side of the galaxy. Throughout the run of the series, the crew must explore unknowns in a quest to return to humanity. Sound familiar?
Midsummer night's dream
Make it a movie night! In Station Eleven, one of the group’s favorite plays to perform is A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Check out the 1999 film for a magical and enjoyable version of the story.
Michelle Pfeiffer and Kevin Kline star in this story of entangled love and misplaced attraction. Throw in mischievous forest fairies and feuding Faerie royalty for an enjoyable story of magic and love.
And you don’t have to stop there. After you read these titles, tell a librarian which ones you loved, and we’ll help you find even more. It’s one of our favorite things to do!
This reading (and viewing) list was created by TSCPL staffer Miranda. Check it out at http://tscpl.org/books-movies-music/i...