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For the A to Z Challenge, I'm discussing different book genres/categories. Each day, I will give a few details about the genre/category and an example or two. I would love to know your thoughts on the genre/category and if you have any reading suggestions. Be sure to check out all of my A to Z posts.
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Eco-fiction is a relatively new term though the body of work it encompasses dates back to some of the earliest writings. First People incorporated nature and the natural world in their stories. Pastoral literature as well as much medieval European literature exalted nature, the trend continued in Arthurian lore and Shakespeare's tale, and through the literary movements of Romanticism and Transcendentalism.
The term Eco-fiction was coined in the 1960s and 1970s when the environmental movement started. 19th-century examples of eco-fiction include works by Herman Melville (Moby Dick) and H. G. Wells (The Island of Dr. Moreau).
More contemporary eco-fiction has evolved to address environmental crises such as works by Jack London and Upton Sinclair. One of the earliest eco-fiction books I read was John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. Recent works in this genre have focused largely on climate change and is sometimes referred to as climate fiction. My post-apocalyptic book club has read several novels involving climate change as the driver of the apocalypse, including Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler.
There is some evidence that addressing environmental issues in fiction influences readers' attitudes on animal welfare, climate change, and environmental injustice (Wikipedia)
One of my favorite novels in the genre is quite the thriller where water rights have become a cut-throat business.
The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupe
In a future hammered by climate change and drought, mountain snows have turned to rain, and rain evaporates before it hits the ground. In a fragmenting United States, the cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas skirmish for a dwindling share of the Colorado River. But it is the Las Vegas water knives - assassins, terrorists and spies - who are legendary for protecting Las Vegas' water supplies, and for ensuring Phoenix's ruin.
When rumours of a game-changing water source surface, Las Vegas dispatches elite water knife Angel Velasquez to Phoenix to investigate. There, he discovers hardened journalist Lucy Monroe, who holds the secret to the water source Angel seeks. But Angel isn't the only one hunting for water, Lucy is no pushover, and the death of a despised water knife is a small price to pay in return for the life-giving flow of a river.
Buy The Water Knife at Amazon
Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour.
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Reading any kind of thriller works for me. I might give this one a try, along with the World War II book you recommended, the one in the point of view of two besties, the postal worker and the librarian. Great reviews. You sure do know how to make a book sound enticing. :-)
ReplyDeleteThe Water Knife sounds excellent...I didn't realize Eco-fiction was a thing, but that's silly of me, bc i've read books with climate change themes. sort of staring me straight in the face.
ReplyDeleteSounds like an interesting book.
ReplyDeleteRonel visiting for E: My Languishing TBR: E
Gargoyles
jamie (jannghi.blogspot.com):
ReplyDeleteI never knew this was a thing. Thanks for sharing.