Ep. 51 Writers of the Apocalypse with Giselle Spurgeon 6-24-20

Are you a reader that shies away from dystopian or pandemic themed books because they just seem too scary in our current reality or do you “lean in” to the darkness and find it “fun”? Our guest this week, Giselle Spurgeon, is a reader who has long had a fascination with this sub-genre of work. COVID-19 has affected book-loving people differently. Some of them couldn't focus on reading their books because they felt like they needed to constantly stay informed by watching the news but others dove headfirst into books and reading as an escape. There are even some readers, like Giselle, who have spent a lot of their reading life preparing for this moment of catastrophe; readers who enjoy pandemic, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, which includes any horrible event that turns a fictional world on its head. Whether it is a virus that runs out of control, a nuclear disaster, or an asteroid that smashes into Earth, this genre is dystopian in nature but also in many ways, hopeful. Giselle talks to us about how she had to make herself stop reading as a kid so she could get her homework completed, why sometimes immersing yourself in a book while important things are happening in the world can seem like a dismissive act, and how dystopian fiction is just another way for her to have control over the chaotic world around her. Books Discussed In This Episode: Izzy Willy-Nilly by Cynthia Voight Killing Mr. Griffin by Lois Duncan Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren The End of October by Lawrence Wright Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton On The Beach by Nevil Shute One Second After by William R. Forstchen The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins Life As We Know It by Susan Beth Pfeffer Ashfall by Mike Mulin Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank Seveneves by Neal Stephenson The Stand by Stephen King Wool by Hugh Howey Fever, 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson Z for Zachariah by Robert O' Brien Children of Men by P. D. James I Am Legend by Richard Matheson The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel A Song For a New Day by Sarah Pinsker The Passage by Justin Cronin The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman The Maze Runner by Richard Dashner Spaceman of Bohemia by Jaroslav Kalfar The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri The Fountain of Silence by Ruta Sepetys Salt To The Sea by Ruta Sepetys You can find us on FB, instagram (@perksofbeingabookloverpod) and on our blog site at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com Perks airs on Forward Radio 106.5 FM and forwardradio.org every Wednesday at 6 pm, Thursdays at 6 am and 12 pm. We have purchased the rights to the theme music used.