Reading Station Eleven during a pandemic

Reading a pandemic novel while living through a pandemic is a strange experience, and it is the starting point for this discussion of Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel. The novel follows a travelling Shakespearean troupe in the years after a flu pandemic has wiped out most of the world’s population. It moves between the outbreak itself and the scattered communities that form in its aftermath, asking what survives when almost everything else is gone. The episode contains only mild spoilers, so it is suitable if you have not yet finished the book. ## Books discussed - Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel (ISBN 9780385353304 for the hardback edition) - The Water Cure by Sophie Mackintosh - Severance by Ling Ma - The Death of Grass by John Christopher - The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard - The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - King Lear by William Shakespeare - Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel ## Other works mentioned - No Books on a Dead Planet, a podcast - Contagion (2011), directed by Steven Soderbergh ## If you want to take part Listeners are invited to send in audio clips for a future discussion of Severance by Ling Ma. The deadline is 25 March. To submit a clip, email endoftheworldbookclubpod@gmail.com with the subject line “Severance Book Club” and include: - your first name, and pronouns if you wish to share them - a 30 to 45 second audio clip as an attachment - any other information that might be useful Clips do not need to be perfect. Long pauses and small mistakes can be edited out. If you would rather your name was not read out, say so in your email. Sending a clip counts as permission for it to be used in an episode.