Oh, my. I've just finished reading a truly excellent book: Peter Heller's The Dog Stars. It's set in a postapocalyptic future, after most of the human race has been wiped out by a virulent flu epidemic. The protagonist, Hig, is a bush pilot, who still has access to his old Cessna. The story focuses on his efforts, along with a few other people, to survive in the area of the country that used to be Colorado. They have to fight off hostile outsiders who show up periodically. It might sound a little like Cormac McCarthy's The Road, but it's really not. It's a lot more like Norman Maclean's A River Runs Through It: it's full of lyrical, poetic beauty and strong connections to nature. And if you're lucky enough to be a pilot of small planes, I suspect this wonderful book provides special thrills, both visceral and cerebral.
As long as I'm at it, I might as well take note of some other good novels I've read lately.
15 Seconds by Andrew Gross
The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker
Into the Darkest Corner by Elizabeth Haynes
On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves
Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt
Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton
Alys, Always by Harriet Lane
Where We Belong by Emily Giffin
Falling Under by Danielle Younge-Ullman
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