Perks Ep. 51 | Giselle Spurgeon | Writers of the Apocalypse | 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.