I’m not writing a review. The book is too old, and reviews either have spoilers (so they ruin the book for whoever hasn’t read it) or don’t have spoilers (so they don’t say anything).
Instead, here’s a list of reasons why you should read A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter Miller:
- It’s post-apocalyptic, which means it will feel more and more familiar every day that passes.
- It’s about both science and religion, two topics you should care about.
- It’s a really fun book to read.
- It’s not an ordeal. There aren’t 700 characters with four different names each, plus one patronymic.
- It’s funny and sad at the same time (not Don Quixote funny and sad at the same time, but still pretty funny and sad at the same time).
- We’ll probably need to figure out how to preserve the scraps left of civilization pretty soon, and this book will get you in the mood to do that.
That’s it. I’m reading The Name of the Rose next. Books about monasteries are much more interesting than monasteries.
I hope you write something about Name of the Rose. I read it after finding on a dusty book shelf and, even though I enjoyed it, took it for nothing more than a nice read. Is there something more there?