A comment alg made recently about being in demand if the world as we know it ends due to useful knowledge garnered from novels, as well as my recent enjoyment of Kiki Strike and How I live now, reminded me of my long standing weakness for survival books.

A prime example is an obscure children's book The young Crusoes by Burton Spiller, which tells the story of two teenagers whose light aircraft crashes in the Canadian wilderness but who manage to survive due to their ingenious trapping skills (they caught a moose!) and canoe making ability. I adored this book when I was about 11 and could easily picture myself chopping up wood and setting snares. Similarly , I loved post-apocalyptic novels where people had to live in caves/hidden caves/under their tables with blankets around the sides and historical books like Laura Ingalls Wilder that told of churning butter and smoking meat. I conveniently managed to forget that I lived not only in a city but in a completely different continent to most of these survival books, making the hints less than useful. And that although I enjoyed camping it was always nice to come home to a hot shower.

The more I think about the whole survival sub genre, the more books I can remember enjoying. No wonder I liked the Tomorrow, when the war began series so much - they were modern survival stories AND set in Australia. Don't be surprised if I come back and edit this entry as I think of more books that could be listed!

Tags: books