If you like The Walking Dead, Read This! (Top Ten Tuesday)

April 29, 2014 Top Ten Tuesday, Zombies 27

Howdy Bookworms!

It’s Tuesday again, which is mind boggling, because seriously, where does the time go? This week the ladies of The Broke and the Bookish have challenged us to make a list “for fans of.” IE, if you like a certain TV show, here’s a bunch of books you might dig… So OF COURSE I went with one of my favorite shows EVER, The Walking Dead. Because ZOMBIES!

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1. The Walking Dead Comics by Robert Kirkman: It is 100 percent hypocritical of me to list this as I’ve not read them myself. BUT. I want to. And I hope to. And you should join me.

2. The Newsflesh Trilogy by Mira Grant:  I loved these sooooo much! Feed (review), Blackout (review), and Deadline (review) presented such a creative take on the whole zombie genre that I was hooked from the very beginning. Plus, all the internet and bloggy goodness made it extra super appealing. And science. SCIENCE. Just read them, okay?

3. Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion: I may have spoken too soon when I talked about a unique take on zombie lore, because Warm Bodies (review) is definitely off the zombie shuffled path. It’s a light-hearted, quirky little romance starring a dead guy. Seriously so much fun. Check it out!

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4. World War Z by Max Brooks: I read this when I was going through my first round of withdrawal while  The Walking Dead was on hiatus, and it did not disappoint. I had a lot of nightmares while reading this, but it was totally worth it. I make nightmare exceptions when it comes to zombies. (review)

5. The Road by Cormac McCarthy: There are no zombies to be had in this book, but the humans are bad enough to make up for the lack of supernatural monsters. The bleakest post-apocalyptic view of the world I’ve ever read. If this doesn’t creep you out, I don’t know what will. It’s pretty fantastic. (review)

6. Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank: Aside from the gore and special effects elements on The Walking Dead, what’s always really pulled me in is the way it looks at humanity once the thin veneer of civility is rubbed away. Any disaster scenario would suffice for that sort of insight, and nuclear war is certainly one way to destroy civilization. I really enjoyed Pat Frank’s vision of nuclear war’s aftermath in Alas, Babylon. (review)

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7. The Stand by Stephen King: Again, no zombies here, but there’s contagion for sure! Captain Tripps the super flu has successfully killed off most of the world’s population leaving the survivors to fend for themselves. No modern conveniences and a mysterious supernatural undertone makes this book something amazing. (review)

8. The Passage by Justin Cronin: This book created a whole new breed of monster. Sort of vamire-ish, sort of zombie-ish, this government experiment gone wrong successfully brought about an apocalypse. Watching the survivors fight to maintain something approaching a “normal” way of life is haunting and awesome. (review)

9. I Am Legend  by Richard Matheson: Similar to The Passage, though much older, I Am Legend  twists zombie and vampire lore into a new breed of terror. The last man on earth tries to take a stand against the encroaching new race of vampires- it’s epic. (review)

10. The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor by Robert Kirkman and Jay Bonasinga: I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the creators of The Walking Dead  comics have written some novels that dovetail with the comics (for those of us who don’t typically go in for comic books, presumably.) I read the first in this trilogy and found it to be a great companion read for anyone in the fandom. (review)

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There you have it. ZOMBIES a la Katie. Do any of you Bookworms like The Walking Dead, and how much do you hate the long hiatus?!

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27 Responses to “If you like The Walking Dead, Read This! (Top Ten Tuesday)”

  2. Erin

    I love pretty much all the books you mentioned–maybe it’s time I finally watched The Walking Dead.

    Reply

  3. Ashley F

    I loved the Newsflesh trilogy, I Am Legend and Warm Bodies. I was surprised that I was a bit underwhelmed by World War Z but I think it had too much hype and I expected too much from it. Love a good Zombie or plague book.

    Reply

  4. Megan M.

    I love The Walking Dead! The hiatuses don’t bother me as much as they used to. I think their season finales haven’t been as strong the past two seasons as they were when the show started. But I’m still a fan!

    I haven’t read ANY of these books. I want to read Warm Bodies because it sounds cute, but I guess I’m not a typical zombie person. I don’t do “scary” unless something about the story intrigues me enough to risk it. LOL

    Reply

    • Words For Worms

      I’m not great with traditional scary, but for whatever reason zombies are my exception to that rule. I think it has to do with them definitely for sure not being real. Because ghosts and evil spirits… I could see that happening… And psycho killers. Those EXIST, yo.

      Reply

      • Megan M.

        Yeah, I’m not too concerned about zombies ever actually happening. I don’t really believe in evil spirits, either, but a lot of those movies about them just get SO GROSS. Psycho killers are definitely for real. I cannot handle true crime shows or anything resembling Criminal Minds.

        Reply

  5. Stefani @ Caught Read Handed

    THE PASSAGE! YES. Thank you. I love that book with my whole self. 1000 pages of freaking awesome. And The Twelve was awesome, too. I need the next book NOW.
    Warm Bodies was really good, as well. Really enjoyed its light-hearted take on zombies. Great list.

    Reply

  6. Allison (Allure of Books)

    I seriously need to read The Road – I’ve been meaning to for ages! I can always do with a really well done bleak story.

    Also, I should proooobably try out the first few episodes of The Walking Dead on Netflix, right? It is on my (long) list of shows to try…

    Reply

    • Words For Worms

      The Walking Dead is really good, even if you’re not into gore. There’s a great story behind it. And YES, my goodness, read The Road. So good!

      Reply

  7. Elizabeth

    So I have serious nightmare issues, hence no Walking Dead for me, but I LOVED the Newsflesh trilogy. (Totally worth the zombie apocalypse nightmares I got for the week afterwards haha) It’s everything I could ever want in a book – particularly a zombie book! (Turns out I’m kind of picky about those. How have I ended up reading multiple zombie books anyway? I don’t read scary books!)

    Reply

  8. Liesel Hill

    Hey! We had the same idea. You included some great ones that I forgot about–The Passage, The Road. Great list! (Gotta love The Walking Dead. Especially after this last season, totally obsessing over it! :D)

    Reply

  9. Andi (@estellasrevenge)

    I LOVE so many of these books, but I absolutely cannot make myself watch The Walking Dead. Maybe it’s being confronted with the visuals, but it just rips my heart out (no pun intended).

    Reply

  11. AMB (Koiviolet)

    I’ve never seen The Walking Dead! I tend to avoid scary things like zombies, but I did end up liking Susan Dennard’s Something Strange and Deadly (zombies in 19th Century Philadelphia). So, who knows, maybe I should read more zombie books!

    Reply

  12. Annabel Smith

    I’ve never seen The Walking Dead. I don’t watch much TV (Game of Thrones is my one exception) and after watching Warm Bodies I discovered I don’t really like seeing brains get eaten – too gory for me. But I can read about it no problem! I love The Road. I think it is possibly the most powerful and disturbing book I’ve ever read. I also recently read I Am Legend – it feels old-fashioned now but is still a great read and when he wrote it it must have been incredibly cutting edge. As for The Passage – OMG, I am crazy for those books. Can’t wait for the finale.

    Reply

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