Books like THE LAST OF US

I don’t know what took me so long to include pistachio cake, but here we are. Both of my parents love pistachios, so I guess it’s in my DNA — it’s just a flavor/ingredient I love in any and all my sweet things. This recipe is for a bundt cake that I think will go well with any variety of book club coffees and teas. Enjoy!

Now for some books!

When the apocalypse hits in 2011, Candace is a millennial living in Manhattan and working as a production assistant for a company that makes specialty Bibles. The zombies in Severance, made by what’s called “Shen Fever,” aren’t the usual kind, though. Instead of mindlessly chasing humans, they’re mindlessly completing simple tasks that were part of their daily lives pre-infection until their bodies give out — retail workers keep folding clothing, for instance. The world halts, Candace flees and eventually finds a group of survivors who are looking to start a new civilization elsewhere, but she’s got a secret she has to keep from the leader of the group.

The critique of late-stage capitalism, the new, quirky take on zombies, even the pink cover all make this feel super duper representative of millennials. Plus, I like the phrase “coming-of-adulthood” that’s part of the official book blurb.

A man wakes up in 2010 knowing that a tragedy has befallen the world, but can’t remember his own name. As he tries to survive the new landscape, he meets a young boy named Clay who looks well taken care of. Clay is mysterious and hesitant to answer the man’s questions, but through him, we learn of the main character’s past life, and even sometimes wonder if the world is really as over as the protagonist thinks it is.

This takes place over three days in a post-apocalyptic world that has been rocked by what is basically a zombie plague. We follow Mark, who is a member of a civilian team of workers in lower Manhattan who are trying to clear the area of “malfunctioning stragglers.” These stragglers aren’t the same infected that have been cleared out by the army, but a seemingly less dangerous type that are in a catatonic state, unable to adjust to the new forlorn world. Of course, things don’t go quite according to plan.

Once an ancient, arctic virus is accidentally unleashed by researchers, the entire world changes. Suddenly, ways of life all over the world must be altered and humans’ ability to adapt is tested. But adapt we do, and in that adaptation, our capacity for empathy and creativity are held on to steadfastly — people fall in love in the midst of tragedy; animals develop skills that help us connect more meaningfully to them; and loved ones go on cosmic quests.