I haven't read it, but I'll second the recommendation for World War Z. It's a really fun what-if exercise - not heavy on characterization, but surprisingly plausible in its plot mechanics. Brooks lays out his rules and sticks to them, which I find essential in any sort of genre fiction.



In a way, it reminded me of Tom Clancy's Red Storm Rising...one of his best books to my mind, because it does a good job telling a complex story from useful points of view, and doesn't bother expending effort on the sort of character stuff that Clancy really isn't good at. World War Z doesn't spend even that much time with any one POV, but the storytelling gains a similar benefit from the ability to change frames every five or ten pages.

OMG. I'll send you the Zombie Survival Guide if you want. Only if you send me a cool book in return (Read World War Z)

torrefaction said:

OMG. I'll send you the Zombie Survival Guide if you want. Only if you send me a cool book in return (Read World War Z)

Normally I'd be all kinds of down, but I've already promised it to one of the people involved in the writing project I was telling you about last night. :(

Zombie Survival Guide is great. If you can get WWZ on audiobook, do it. I listened to it during a long drive, its awesome as a companion to the book.

What's the audiobook presentation like? Do they use multiple actors for the narration? I expect that World War Z would lend itself particularly well to a radio-drama sort of format...

Slack3r78 said:

Normally I'd be all kinds of down, but I've already promised it to one of the people involved in the writing project I was telling you about last night. :(

No you fool. I already own World War Z. Send me a Palahniuk book or something.

Inverarity said:

What's the audiobook presentation like? Do they use multiple actors for the narration? I expect that World War Z would lend itself particularly well to a radio-drama sort of format...

Its like an interview, Max Brooks on one side, the other person on the other, just like in the book. They use different voice actors for each person, accents, the whole deal. There are a lot of well-known voice artists in it, I know Mark Hamill is in there too. Its really cool.

Typical Michael said:

Its like an interview, Max Brooks on one side, the other person on the other, just like in the book. They use different voice actors for each person, accents, the whole deal. There are a lot of well-known voice artists in it, I know Mark Hamill is in there too. Its really cool.

Wow, just what I was hoping for. My wife never got around to reading the book, but she goes through a ton of audiobooks...I'll see if I can pick it up for her. Thanks!

Own and read both, because they are AWESOME.

RogueHunter said:

Own and read both, because they are AWESOME.

Agreed. World War Z isn't just a zombie book, it's Zombie Literature. The Survival Guide is a good read too, although I liked WWZ better.