KITastrophe: Epidemics and Famine

Ripped from the Headlines! When we planned this month’s topic last fall we had no idea it would be a topic on everyone’s mind in March. But here we are in the throes of the 2019 Coronavirus epidemic. It’s a good time to look back at previous epidemics and measure our reactions accordingly. For some reason this kind of drama fascinates me. I think it’s because we see many of the characters (real or imagined) on the worst day of their lives and get a vision into what that looks like for different people/personalities.
Just as a jumping off point I thought this discussion about why we read fiction and watch films about pandemics and their aftermath was timely.

But how does fiction fight something like disease? In its own way, says writer and filmmaker Jeff Barnaby, by helping us make sense of the real world. Barnaby says today's books, TV shows and movies based on pandemics explore how people live upon and move around a planet defined by compromised ecosystems, borders and barricades.

Full Article Here.

In the planning thread I mentioned that I had already volunteered to do a similar topic for Reading Through Time in August this year. So for those of you who follow both challenges there will be a lot of overlap. I guess this way you get to plan for August ahead of time or finish books in August that you hoped to get to this month! In this month I can include more recent epidemics so that will differentiate my recs from my historical pics for August which I will also include here.

Some definitions may help.



Epidemic
a widespread occurrence of an infectious disease in a community at a particular time.
Pandemic: (of a disease) prevalent over a whole country or the world.
Outbreak: A disease outbreak happens when a disease occurs in greater numbers than expected in a community or region or during a season. An outbreak may occur in one community or even extend to several countries. It can last from days to years. Sometimes a single case of a contagious disease is considered an outbreak.



Famine
Widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, inflation, crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies. Starvation: suffering or death caused by hunger.

Recommendations
Non-fiction on both these topics is relatively easy to locate in a simple search. I've listed a few here, but there is a huge inventory to choose from, hopefully some already on your TBR. Fiction is much trickier because the disease or famine is not the story--its how people react under their life circumstances that make the story. The disease or famine is not generally named in a title or even as part of a publisher's write up. Below are books I've gathered through my own reading experiences and through some searches. It will be fun to see what others offer from their past reading life as well.

The Dancing Plague: The Strange, True Story of an Extraordinary Illness by John Waller 1518
1666: Plague, War, and Hellfire by Rebecca Rideal 1666 England Plague
The Ghost Map: The Story of London’s Most Terrifying Epidemic — and How It Changed Science, Cities, and the Modern World by Steven Johnson 1854 London--Cholera
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks 1666 England The Plague
Frog Music by Emma Donoghue 1876 San Francisco--Small Pox
Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History --1918 Influenza
Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World by Laura Spinney
Breath: A Lifetime in an Iron Lung by Martha Mason North Carolina 1948 Polio
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai 1985 Chicago AIDS
And the band played on : politics, people, and the AIDS epidemic by Randy Shilts AIDS
How to Survive a Plague: The Story of How Activists and Scientists Tamed AIDS by David France AIDS
The Hot Zone and Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston Ebola
The Line Between: A Novel by Tosca Lee Apocalyptic psychological thriller
Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. Apocalyptic

Famine

Mass Starvation The History and Future of Famine by Alex De Waal
The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See Jeju Island 1948
Tombstone by Yang Jisheng famine in China 1958-1961
The Killing Snows: The Defining Novel of the Great Irish Famine by Charles Egan (The Irish Famine Series)1841-1849
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind by William Kamkwamba , Bryan Mealer , et al. Malawi Famine
The Famine Ships by Edward Laxton. Irish Potato Famine
Flight from Famine: The Coming of the Irish to Canada by Donald MacKay Irish Potato Famine
Gracelin O'Malley by Ann Moore Series: Grace O'Malley (1) Irish Potato Famine

I've left out so much, but you get the idea. Here are a few more tips for searches. For Polio look for books on FDR along with a host of memoirs from those who suffered. For 19th c. Ireland read the LT thread for Reading Through Time on 19th c. Ireland. Mr. Rogers (aka Fred Rogers) always repeated his mother's advice-- in a crisis, look for the helpers. With that in mind, look for books about Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) or other humanitarian aid groups called in during a famine or disease.

Don't forget the Wiki.

I have The Black Death (Plague in Europe) and The Plague and the Fire (London 1666). Looking forward to participating.

I have Blindness by Jose Saramago on my TBR.

I am likely to read Year of Wonders since I have had it on my Kindle for a number of years! I recently added Station Eleven to my TBR so may take a look at that as well. So many others are calling my name...

This book was assigned as a staff read a couple of years ago, and I've not yet read it, so if I finish February's read (Napoleon 652 pages), then I will read Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic.

I have about 3 books on epidemics and 3 on the Irish famine in my collection that need to be read. I'm not sure which will win. One of the famine books is historical fiction. The others are history. I guess I'll see which one appeals most when I'm ready to grab one.

I have a few options to choose from:

The Brief History of the Dead / Kevin Brockmeier
The Passage / Justin Cronin
The Island of Sea Women / Lisa See (thank you for this suggestion!)

I'm considering Geraldine Brooks' Year of Wonders which is available through the library's ebook & audiobook collections for this. I'll probably read the ebook. I have some other options in my own collection but none really grab me (for varying reasons). Flight of the Earls is the historical fiction for the "famine" aspect, but I think most of the book is in New York rather than Ireland so the potato famine aspect is mainly the cause for immigration. I own hard copies of two other books, but most books are boxed because of a shelf collapse (weight of books plus cats), and I'm not sure I can quickly locate them. My epidemic books are probably boxed also. One of those (Epidemics in Colonial America) sounds interesting to me, but I'd have to hunt for it. I'll probably go with the easy access to Brooks' work of historical fiction on the bubonic plague which has really good reviews.

>8 thornton37814: - Year of Wonders is a great read!

>8 thornton37814: Oh yes, Year of Wonders is great.

>9 katiekrug: >10 JayneCM: Sounds like this will be a great choice!

I adored Year of Wonders. It's been a really long time since I read it. I might join along.

ETA: I've decided on The Transmigration of Bodies by Yuri Herrera as I've already started it.

There are tons of great sci-fi novels out there dealing with global pandemics - The Stand by Stephen King stands out; also Swan Song by John Galsworthy, Santa Olivia by Jacqueline Carey, Year Zero by Jeff Long and Disposable People by Marshall Goldberg. For classics, there's The Plague by Albert Camus.

I read a fantastic non-fiction book a few years back called Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic by David Quammen.

I've got The White Plague by Frank Herbert of Dune fame on the shelf and I think that'll be my pick. Although I'm also contemplating The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio and Darwin's Radio by Greg Bear. And for famine, I'm thinking about Everything Flows by Vasily Grossman that covers the Terror Famine in Ukraine.

Edited to add some more books I'm considering, and also to include famine.

>13 LisaMorr: So glad you found us...apologies again that I messed up the title. Any thoughts on how to promote this month?

Thanks for all your recs!!

>14 beebeereads: No worries - it happens; I'm pretty sure I've made the same mistake at some point! The best thing to do is by posting that the new thread is up, and you've covered that!

I think we have a small but interested group here, which I think is great, and as we post about the books we're reading here and in places like the What Are We Reading in March thread, we may draw some more in. There are so many CATs and KITs to choose from, you never know how many we can draw. And as noted - the theme is very timely!

>15 LisaMorr: All good points! Thanks for the support :-)

I just finished Black Death at the Golden Gate by David K. Randall, and I recommend it with the caveat that it focuses heavily on the roles that racism and short-sighted political/economic goals played in exacerbating a disease outbreak, so it might feel a bit TOO timely for some readers.

I read How to Survive a Plague a couple of years ago and couldn't recommend it more highly.

I'm not sure what I'll be reading this month (there are so many great options and I love a good plague book), but I have to suggest one of my all time favorite books, Connie Willis' Doomsday Book. Published in 1992, it won the Hugo and the Nebula for best novel and has a dual timeline/time-travel and, of course, an epidemic or two. Shoot. Now I'll probably end up rereading it yet again....

>18 Dejah_Thoris: I"ll second that recommendation! Great book!

I can recommend:
The Hot Zone by Richard Preston--about the ebola virus
The Crisis in the Red Zone by Richard Preston more about ebola
The Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks---a favorite
Fever 1793 by L. Halse Anderson
The Fireman by Joe Hill
In the Shadow of Blackbirds (Spanish flu of 1919)
The Demon in the Freezer by Richard Preston...can you tell I'm a Preston fan? this one about smallpox and anthrax
The Speckled Monster by Jennifer Lee Carrell smallpox

I don't participate in this KIT but for the famine theme I heartily recommand Nothing to envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea by Barbara Demick. The author is a journalist who was stationed in South Korea and interviewed fugitives from North Korea in order to write this nonfiction book. The stories cover, among other things, the terrible famine that occured in the 1990s.

>18 Dejah_Thoris:, >19 LibraryCin: me three!

>21 chlorine: BB for me...that looks like a very interesting, although difficult read. Thank you.

>23 beebeereads: Yes it was definitely not a pleasant read, but I really appreciated learning more about a country of which I'm completely ignorant.

>18 Dejah_Thoris: >19 LibraryCin: Hmm, that looks really good. I always seem to like time travel to the past.

I read Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones. a big sprawling (too sprawling for my taste) narrative about the oxycontin epidemic followed by the Xalisco black tar heroin epidemic. I found this book interesting as 50% of the situations and companies in the book are from Ohio, my home state. Sadly, these two epidemics plague Appalachia, where sometimes there isn't a lot of hope. I was just shocked that establishments like Urgent Care (who I thought were well respected) saw patients at a rate of one every 96 seconds in Portsmouth, Ohio. One doctor alone prescribed 1.6 million oxycontin's. When oxycontin became too expensive ($70 per pill), addicts went to cheaper black tar heroin imported from Mexico. Just a scathing review of unscrupulous doctors as well as Purdue Pharma. For example, if doctors prescribed x amount of oxycontin pills in a year they could win cars, vacations at exotic locales, etc. Just wow! 400 pages

>18 Dejah_Thoris: I have this on my list for next year as I want to do a time travel category in my challenge.
My book for this month finally arrived at the library today, Blindness by Jose Saramago.

>26 Tess_W: or others ... if you are interested in continuing to explore this topic, I would recommend Dopesick by Beth Macy.

I had never heard of The Scarlet Plague by Jack London before yesterday, but this novella from 1912, available from Project Gutenberg, fits the bill perfectly. It's a survivor's tale, told to his brutish descendants, of a deadly plague that struck the world in 2012, and what was lost. I could see the roots of many post apocalyptic / dystopian novels in this short work.

>29 Dejah_Thoris: I like Jack London. I'll add this!

ETA: Looks like it's already on the tbr!

I finished Die Pest in Bergamo, a short story by Danish author Jens Peter Jacobsen. It feels a bit ghoulish, reading about the plague these days.

I'm finding it hard to want to read about epidemics just at the moment...

But anyway, the April thread is up: https://www.librarything.com/topic/317678

>32 antqueen: it is odd how this topic which we chose last fall coincides with our pandemic. I am reading Year of Wonders. It's been on my list for (shamefully) a number of years. I love her writing and was thrilled to have this topic push it to the top of my list. It is eerie though. I am just at the part where the community takes an oath to practice social distancing.

>33 beebeereads: That's my choice. I'm next on the hold list so I'm hoping it shows up soon.

The Brief History of the Dead / Kevin Brockmeier
3 stars

When someone dies, there is a place – a city – they go until the last person who remembers them dies. Then they disappear from the city. In alternating chapters, this book is in that place, alternating with Laura, who is stuck in Antarctica. She is by herself, as the two others she was there doing research with went for help when they could no longer radio home. But, they didn’t come back, either. What Laura doesn’t know is that an epidemic has hit the rest of the world.

I was ready to rate this 3.5 stars (good), but I dropped it right at the end. I mostly preferred following Laura’s story in Antarctica to the chapters following the various people in the “dead” city. But, the last chapter following Laura was just... weird, I thought.

Year of Wonders arrived yesterday. After finishing the book I was reading, I've begun it! So far, so good.

>36 thornton37814: I'm over half way through...I love this author. I have occasionally opted for a lighter read to cleanse my head, but I am definitely not putting it aside, just taking it in smaller doses right now. I am fascinated with the instincts of the townspeople during this time period which seems so long ago and yet...not so much. Social distancing was definitely a thing!

>36 thornton37814: I'm over halfway through. I love this author Geraldine Brooks. I have occasionally set it aside this month for a lighter read to cleanse my head. I will definitely be finishing it, just taking it in a smaller doses. It's amazing to me the similarities with what we are dealing with today...social distancing was definitely a thing in 1666. More commentary when I finish.

>36 thornton37814: I made it at least 1/3 of the way through last night. Will enjoy a little more tonight although I plan to cross stitch a little too. I need a break from a screen for awhile--and my book is electronic.

I finished Epidemic : Ebola and the Global Scramble to Prevent the Next Killer Outbreak by Reid Wilson a few days ago. I found the parts of the books that dealt with societal and medical side of the outbreak far more interesting that the political side. I was impressed how well Nigeria dealt with the outbreak compared to Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia did.

I finished The White Plague by Frank Herbert of Dune fame. Reading about this man-made plague right now wasn't too bad as the plague in this book kills all the women, which is worse than what we are currently dealing with. John O'Neill is in Dublin with his wife and twins when they are killed in an IRA terrorist bombing. He goes back home and comes up with the worst revenge he can think of - a plague targeted at Ireland, England and Libya (who he sees as all part of the bombing) that kills only women. Of course, a plague like this can spread beyond a country's borders, and soon the world is in a race to cure the plague and prevent the end of the world.

Finished Year of Wonders today. Geraldine Brooks is one of my favorites and this did not disappoint! 5* read for me.

I managed to get several books in this month, and I have several more that I'm putting off until April.

As I mentioned earlier, I stumbled across Jack London's The Scarlet Plague, which was definitely a product of it's time, but a forerunner more recent plague fiction. I finally read the iconic, Pulitzer Prize winning play about AIDS Angels In America, Part One: Millennium Approaches. It's powerful, painful and amazing - I'm planning to get to Part Two: Perestroika in April.

>17 susanna.fraser: Thanks to you, Susanna, I got Black Death at the Golden Gate from the library just before it closed for the duration. Thank you for pointing me to this one - I thought it was excellent.

The library also provided me with a copy of Year of Wonders. It was beautifully written, but it grab me the way it seems to have done many readers. I thought it was good, but not great. I am clearly in a minority!

Finally, I'm hoping to finish Katherine Anne Porter's Pale Horse, Pale Rider: Three Short Novels in the next two days. Only Pale Horse, Pale Rider really counts, but as it's one of the most important pieces of fiction written about the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, I'm going to count it.

Unexpectedly, another book had a connection. I read I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi and learned that she likely died in a Bubonic Plague out break in Naples, Italy, in 1653.

I'm not done with this topic. As I mentioned, I'll read Part Two of Angels In America next month, and my old favorite Doomsday Book, which I'll probably listen to for the first time (it's Time Travel month for the SFFKit). Station Eleven has been on my radar for years - it's time I got around to it.

Thanks to everyone who participated this month. I know this was a tough one for some. Feel free to post on this thread later in the year if you wish.
Stay safe everyone!

I don't usually participate in this KIT but as the last book I read fits the theme, I thought I would mention it here.

Rant: an oral biography of Buster Casy by Chuck Palahniuk is the story of Buster Casey, aka Rant, told by many people, sometimes contradicting each other. The story takes place in a dystopian world in which people living during daytime are kept separate from those living during night time, and many characters are endearing weirdos and misfits. The story involves a rabies epidemics and therefore one interviewed character is an epidemiologist, who even uses the word 'coronavirus'! That was a surprise for a book written in 2007. The story also involves time travel which I'm a sucker for and it's hard to tell more without completely spoiling the plot. Recommanded.

>45 chlorine: one interviewed character is an epidemiologist, who even uses the word 'coronavirus'!

I heard that there are other types of coronavirus that have been around for a while, but this one coronavirus-19 is the new one.

>46 LibraryCin: Yes I heard that SRAS was a coronavirus, but still it feels weird to read the word now! :)

>46 LibraryCin: Yes, you're right. Most of us hadn't heard of it until now!

>46 LibraryCin: >47 chlorine: >48 LibraryCin: From Wikipedia re: Coronavirus, "Mild illnesses include some cases of the common cold (which has other possible causes, predominantly rhinoviruses)..."

>49 Morphidae: interesting. It seems like this cover a very wide variety of viruses then.

I read Gracelin O'Malley about the Irish potato famine. Fast moving historical fiction with a strong female character. Looking forward to reading the rest of the trilogy.