I second world made by hand and the witch of Hebron. I read the postman years ago, and I remember it being a good book. Books are always better than the movie!

I recently read patriots, survivors, and founders by Jamex Wesley Rawles - the survivor blog guy. The 3 books cover the same period of time with different characters. There are some good ideas in them, but that man is not a fiction writer - I had trouble telling the characters apart.

Lucifers Hammer is on my reading list next. It's post shtf after a comet hits earth. It's sci-fi, so it might have a different petspective...

I don't read books much, but I have seen Mad Max and The Postman, both great movies. I generally prefer movies like Dances with Wolves, Open Range, Braveheart, The Patriot, Last of the Mohicans.

Got to be "Day of the Triffids" by John Wyndham. This was compulsory reading in English class way back when and unlike any other book given to read, I was done this one in record time. Have re-read it at least 5 times over the years and seen the BBC versin twice and also listened to it as an audio book.
His other books are pretty good too!

Favorite Books:

Scary Sh!#: “1 Second After” by William R. Forstchen

Not as good but same premise:* “77 Days in September”: Ray Gorham

Good Fun and Local Content: “Mountain Man” and sequels by Keith C. Blackmore

Almost Literature (maybe that’s a stretch but a very good read none the less): “The Passage” and "The twelve" by Justin Cronin

Classics: "Alas, Babylon" by Pat Frank

Honorable Mentions:
"On the Beach" by Nevil Shute
“The Day of the Triffids” by John Wyndham
“The Stand” by Stephen King

I really like lloyd Tackitt's- A Distant Eden and follow up books.

1 second after, o ya on the scary side.., I also have all the Mountain Man and sequels as well.

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Now I have some ideas for what to read next!

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. Now I have some ideas for what to read next!

Absolutely - 1 second after sounds like a winner!

and I forgot to mention The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Its about as bleak a book as I have ever read - if you want a close to worst case scenario this is it. the movie is good as well.

Im back, but my internet is still scetchy.
For pure fun, non realistic, apocalypse porn, my fave is definatly Dies The Fire (just the first book). I bought a quality sword after that book. Next would be World War Z. Best seller for a reason.
On a negative note, I thought Patriots was a shit book. Great book to follow if your surival plan...is to be judged in the Hauge for war crimes. Even Rawles thinks the senario is unlikely. If you think of the good guys as bad guys it a compleatly different read. That subject deserves its own rant post.

Im waiting for the library to to bring in a copy of Into The Forest. Ive wanted to re read it for years. What I was left with was that the book never said what the disaster that took down society was. It almost seemed like it was just despair and people giving up on keeping it running. My subconscious has been poking at me for some reason about this topic.

The first book I ever read completely as a teen was The Last Canadian

cernunnos5 - Yes I read The Last Canadian way back when as well and loved it. I just found it ironic that the last Canadian was an American :p

I have yet to read a truly great post SHTF book.

I, too, have read World Made by Hand by Kunstler. It enjoyed it over all but there were some over the top parts.

One Second After was pretty close to my idea of what would actually happen post SHTF. Someone should have proof read it pre-publication though - "should of" should have been "should have", etc.

Patriots by Jim Rawles had a lot of good information in it but certainly was not a flowing read.

I will read Lucifer's Hammer and I may have another go at Atlas Shrugged.

In the movie/TV genre, I loved the series Jericho and I now own the DVD box set.

A really good survival novel is Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour.

Jerico is great and Mrs C5 watches it over and over. Another worthwile very long series is the original 1975 BBC, Survivors. I like the original way more than the remake...but Mrs C5 cant stand it. I like it because it covers so many un thought about issues mostly dealing with inter relationships. 40 episodes will certainly help get you through a winter.
http://www.1channel.ch/watch-88263-Survivors

C5, thanks for the heads up on Survivors. I hadn't realized that there was a 1975 series, it looks interesting. I made note of it for my next Amazon order. They have it for $69.00.

Also on my list is the Lone Gunmen series, and the books Lucifer's Hammer and one by Jerry Belanger titled Enough.