On the Beach | 
pickI haven't decided how many stars I want to give this. Somewhere between 3-5. I want to see how long it stays with me. The ending hits hard even though you know what's coming. Maybe because the characters are mostly ignoring? or disbelieving of what is going to happen.
pickWell written novel about waiting in Australia for the end of humanity after a nuclear war. The radiation is gradually moving South. It's good like usual for this author, but kind of depressing too! Be sure to see the old movie with Gregory Peck, if you get a chance.
Started a book from an author I like. I have seen the old movie a couple of times. He is from Australia.
pickMy friend is having health issues , he‘s on my mind , when the topic turns to books that made a big impression,he always mentions this one.Written in 1957 ,it still has emotional power. Nuclear war has happened,not directly in Australia, the fallout is drifting south.While a sub commander explores north in hopes of finding signs of life, the civilians live their lives,planning for a future that won‘t happen.I found myself empathizing w/ them all.
pick
This 1957 novel was very readable if rather dated in its understanding of the aftermath of a nuclear war and the characterisation of the two main women characters.
As time went on I found the book had quite a deep emotional impact, with a deepening sense of despair in the second half which carried over into my general outlook and in the final chapter floods of tears as each character met their inevitable end.
John Osborne laughed. “It‘s not the end of the world at all,” he said. “It‘s only the end of us. The world will go on just the same, only we shan‘t be in it. I dare say it will get along all right without us.”
#AlphabetGame Letter O
This is such a scary book about a nuclear cloud drifting towards Australia where the people can do nothing but wait for it. Each in their own way. I read this a long long time ago but will never forget it.
pickT.S.Eliot said the world will end “not with a bang but a whimper.” In Shute‘s telling, the bangs precipitating the end of the world occurred a year or so earlier. We see how the characters cope with the knowledge that they have only months to live. The writing is excellent, the characters are believable (mostly). Some face their demise with grace, others with denial, and other with a fatalism that is admirable. A moving story well told.
Lieutenant-Commander Peter Holmes of the Royal Australian Navy woke soon after dawn.
#FirstLineFriday
@ShyBookOwl
so-soOkay, this was rather dated but the story of course is still very relevant in today's world.
But the way it's dealt with here is similar to other Cold War era novels of similar subjects and was playing on the fear of nuclear war and how terrible radiation fallout/sickness is.
I didn't like the ending and the hopelessness of it.
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3148199877 ↩ check out my full review 🙋♂️
⭐⭐⭐☆☆
Browsed in my bookcase, this one looks perfect for being the first book of the year. 🌊🔥
This is at a beach in New Hampshire last summer. Unfortunately I didn't take an actual selfie.
#beachselfie
#summerfun
#summerfunbucketlist
@StayCurious @4thhouseontheleft
panBook Number 20 my #Bookspinbonanza list
This book didn't age well. Written 1957 it has some weird opinions on life after a nuclear blast. It confused me that everyone was saving gas, but then they come up with a Grand Prix and someone's even driving a Ferrari. WTF?!
Also, to much talking, to little happening.
@TheAromaofBooks
Free ebook recommendation: On the Beach by Nevil Shute is free for kindle right now. This 1957 Australian classic is a haunting depiction of what it‘s like to be at the end of everything, but keep going.
Clever librarians!
“The English patient had caught it on the beach. “I should have stayed at home,” she said. Now she was in quarantine, in the dark house of splendid isolation. Still. Hope springs eternal. With a little bit of luck,common sense, and personal hygiene, horror stories must end soon. Always remember, clean hands save lives and when in doubt, don‘t go out!”
pickAnd last book finished for the Tome Infinity and Beyond readathon! Lord, this one is a doozy. I‘ve either read it before or I‘ve seen the movie so I knew exactly how it would end but man, it‘s still brutal. I think it‘s definitely time to return to Wheel of Time. I‘ve been going hard on this post-apocalyptic books for this readathon. I need something a bit less morbidly depressing.
My dad stole this book from his high school library in 1970, and now I‘m gonna try to read it without it falling apart.
pickSet in the 1960‘s (the near future when this was published) aftermath of a nuclear World War III, most of the globe has already died of radiation sickness. Being informed that they have only a few months to live, the survivors remaining in Australia set about the quiet business of waiting to die - while also caring for families, falling in love, and planting gardens. Folks seem to love or hate this book - I adored it while also being terrified.
It‘s #ARoadToNowhere, the lives of the people of Melbourne. They await the arrival of deadly radiation spreading towards them from the North, following a nuclear war a year previously. Each character deals with this truth differently. A heartbreaking story 💔
#WanderingJune
A #blinddate with a book I checked out in February. Just now getting to it.
#backlog
pickA sad story set in the 1950‘s about the final days of the people in Melbourne who are waiting for the radiation poison to end their lives. The plot is simple but the effect is deep. I can‘t get enough of these kinds of stories, thinking about what I would do facing the same plight. Do you give up on life or do you keep waking up every day and just make the most of it?
Continued in comments....
pickI swear this was a new book when it first became mine. Apparently I was a little rough on this one. Or I'm getting old. Whichever.
What a beautiful location to start this next book. Thanks to @MrsMalaprop for gifting me this beautiful edition published in 1958. Happy holiday reading! 📚💛
I'm really craving a post-apocalyptic book these days and i have had this one for awhile and it sounds really good
a radioactive cloud headed towards the survivors of a nuclear WW3 ✔ this sounds like it will be just what i need for my post-apocalyptic fix!!!
#postapocalyptic
#horror
#fiction
Nuclear radiation has pretty much wiped out the world‘s population and is coming for those survivors in Melbourne, Australia. But, wait, is a Morse code signal an #SOS - are there any people still out there??
#LMPBC pick - nearly finished and coming to you @Tashreads soon.
#LMPBC #GroupX @suvata
It‘s arrived @thegreensofa 😊 Thank you for the extra goodies - they are awesome. Let the scribbling commence! @LapReader @Tashreads
Massive #libraryhaul because I couldn‘t make up my mind. I already bailed on Pride and Prejudice and Mistletoe, but can‘t decide what to read next. I also just received new short stories today. Decisions, decisions!
pickI really enjoyed this book. Post-apocalypse / dystopian fiction is my favorite genre and this is an excellent and unique example of this. It reflects the period in which it was written, the late 1950s, and therefore reads a little odd at times (Albania a nuclear power?!). Overall, this is a really poignant story and it was a sad trip to the last page as we watched the characters live out their final days. So sad and gloomy, but sooooo good.
I‘ve never heard of a Morris Minor in my life and then one popped up in BOTH of the books I‘m currently reading: On the Beach and The Versions of Us. Both set in the same approximate period and one in England and one in Australia so maybe not that odd a coincidence that the characters drive the same car. 🚗
#AdelesMayMashUp #ThisIsTheEnd
It seems a shame to end this fun month of pictures on such a depressing note, with such a depressing book, but, hey, I didn't choose the prompts!
Record heat in May after record cold and snowfall levels in April. Perfect reading conditions in the shade, though, and Brittney is keeping the squirrels and chipmunks away.
Starting today. If I‘m without a dystopian book for too long I get too comfortable and my blood pressure remains low. Although my current audiobook, Educated: A Memoir, feels dystopian.
#OldCoolBooks #Princeps
Ok, so I had to look #princeps up. It seems “first” is one definition, so I‘m posting this precious 1957 First Edition of On The Beach.
I was haunted by this story as a child. It was one of my mum‘s favourites. I recall the movie and the scenes of the empty streets of Melbourne.
Not long after we met, my husband and I found this beauty on a weekend away, in a tiny second hand shop. ❤️🤗📚
pickIncredibly moving piece. No long or complicated but touching. Feels like you are reading in black and white. Very sad.
pickI can't remember the last time I stayed up till 3am to finish a book. Despite the lack of visible death throughout the majority of the book, Shute reminds readers of it's imminent nature through his imagery of death. Quotes above are just my favorites if the kind. I cried at the end, although the characters of Shutes horrible world all had a sense of grace in dealing with their fate. #endoftheworld #antiwar #death #radiationsickness #nuclearwar
This quote is this book, and life under uncertainty. I love this book and the thoughts it make me think. So far it is a simple classic about the last people to live on Earth. #endoftheworld #classics #australia #grace @Kimberlone I'll lend it to you once you finish Alice.
"I don't know...Some kinds of silliness you just can't stop," he said. "I mean, if a couple of hundred million people all decide that their national honour requires them to drop cobalt bombs upon their neighbour, well, there's not much that you or I can do about it. The only possible hope would have been to educate them out of their silliness."
pickI read this book after being intrigued by @BarbaraBB ‘s post.
You can definitely tell it was written in the 1950s. Sexism, drinking & smoking abounds. And what is with him referring to the baby as “It” instead of she???? But never mind all that. It‘s a good story. Would not surprise me if WE all found ourselves in their situation one of these days. The last people on earth living out our last days, waiting for the deadly rain.
#black #rocktober Lots of Black on my shelves .The Beth Book and Harriet Hume are old Viragos when they were working with Dial Press in the early 1980‘s.
“Maybe we‘ve been too silly to deserve a world like this.”
— Nevil Shute
I don't have responsibilities at the beach. At the beach, I don't care about not being appreciated. All I need is my family, the waves, a good book (obvs), and about 18 bottles of 🍾.
Years since I read this. Now it's almost as though I wanted an excuse to tell you where I am today... #chickenlegs
pickWhat would you do, if you know that'll die within a year? And not just you, but all of humanity? Even though you know what is coming, Neville Shute is still able to capture the reader by this story. I also appreciated the explanations and the motives that he used to explain the development into WWIII. Slight deductions in rating because the book uses very traditional gender roles... it was written in 1957 and it shows.
I do enjoy this book a lot, but in passages like these one can tell in what time it has been written.
