Modern Good Reads discussion

Welcome to October's discussion. What did you think of these books?
What scared you? What made lasting impression.

Let's discuss!

I'm not quite finished with WWZ yet, but I have definitely enjoyed the ride. It's been a book I've wanted to read for a while, and this BOTM finally gave me the excuse to grab it. Thank you for that.

I liked the novel-via-vignettes style, because it blew the microscope out to a macro scale and we could experience the horror of a zombie outbreak at global proportions. Max Brooks did an excellent job of choosing different lenses through which to view the war. There are soldiers, generals, doctors, politicians, criminals, heroes, businessmen, and survivors of all other walks of life. Interviews span the globe, and here is where Brooks really did his homework. Each interview sounds culturally distinct. I travel quite a bit and I was listening for key cultural phrases that you hear from South Africa or China or Russia, even cultural ideology, and Brooks fulfills. As for which scenes I've liked best so far, that's difficult. Every time I read a great one, I read one just as good right after that. I'll let a few comments go by before I actually talk about the specifics of the book, just so I don't spoil anything for other readers. Hope you all are enjoying it as much as I am.

Also, as a side note, I accidentally picked up Apocalypse Z thinking it was this book a while ago. About halfway through, I realized it wasn't, but it's actually an interesting companion read. It's the journal of a man who is living through a zombie epidemic and could very comfortably sit within one of the interviews told in World War Z. It takes the macro view of WWZ and zooms it down in the firsthand account of one individual. The writing's not as good, but it feels authentic, and the plot is well-done. Read it alongside WWZ for a nice little garnish to the main course.

First time managing to read a book with the group :).

Admittedly, this one was a bit of a re-read for me. Just as good the second time round.

I'm in the 'not into Zombies but this book was good' category of a lot of reviewers and readers. It's talking about a Zombie Apocalypse, a super natural occurrence, but from a very realistic and well researched perspective.

The book is a series of post-war interviews with survivors. Everything from the common American housewife to former vice presidents and army generals. It also interviews a very international cast including Chinese doctors and Russian soldiers.

Each story looks and feels like a proper conversation; each person a different take on the Z event. Battles are described in sometimes disturbing details, as well as the individual experiences of fight and flight across the world. Detailed questions are asked and answered; how each government responds, how refugee's a dealt with, how even to fight the undead.

It's well written, well researched, exciting, interesting, detailed stuff. It puts a very human twist on the supernatural event and makes it accessible to people like me who really have no interest in Zombies at all!

I have just started WWZ and am not quite sure yet what to think of it but I really enjoyed "Spilt Milk". These are great stories about not so great people. All a bit gory and depressing but very real in my opinion. It's just that you usually do not meet them :-). I also loved the fact that one of the stories brought two characters from previous stories together. This was a great suggestion and I am so glad I started this group with this book :-)

Bee, I have had the same reaction to Spilt Milk--well-written but dark. I don't usually read material that dark, but this was well done. An interesting selection, to be sure.

I'm happy you enjoyed my book, Spilt Milk. It is very dark and I realize not everyone likes that. I was surprised and honored to have been chosen as one of the BOTM selections. Thank you for for input :-)

Hi Anna and D.K, for me it depends on my mood and how the book is written to read a dark one. The characters in Spilt Milk were so life-like that I just could not stop reading. I think it needed me two lunch breaks and I was through and I am usually a very slow reader. That idea to connect characters from two stories is just brilliant. I so loved that even though they also scared the hell out of me ;-) sorry. D.K well done :-) Anna wrote: "Bee, I have had the same reaction to Spilt Milk--well-written but dark. I don't usually read material that dark, but this was well done. An interesting selection, to be sure."

Hi Bee & Anna,
What's ironic about my style of writing, is that I am not a dark person! When people meet me they think I'm very upbeat. It's interesting what comes out of your mind when you write:-)

Bee wrote: "Hi Anna and D.K, for me it depends on my mood and how the book is written to read a dark one. The characters in Spilt Milk were so life-like that I just could not stop reading. I think it needed me..."

HA! A way to explore things that bother us sometimes, I think--wondering on paper about the darkness brings a little light to it.

Indeed! It can be such a good way to live and discover situations and psychological states that you would never experience in real life. And be entertaining

I enjoyed the complete reversals that the zombie outbreak brought on the world. England had to abandon all modernization and go back to broadswords and castles. Americans fled the US on rafts to make it to Cuba, where they were quarantined and put to work doing "wetback" jobs. Russia became a religious state. A South African apartheid strategist gave them the key to turning the tide. White collar workers in the US became blue collar workers and the blue collar workers who had been looked down on became supervisors and managers over former CEOs of multi-billion dollar corporations.

In terms of the stories that have stayed with me, there are quite a few. The girl who went North with her family only to be trapped over the windows and the slow degradation of their quality of life and what they came to, the pilot who went down in the middle of zombie territory and was talked through by a mysterious woman on a radio frequency, the Japanese otaku who had to escape from his apartment after the city had been thoroughly infested, basically every one of the Russian tales, the Chinese submarine, and "Radio Free Earth" all come to mind right now. I'd like to see a TV show that makes a season out of each of those. It's just begging to be made.