(Please note: If you have never watched The Walking Dead, but plan to, don’t read this post. Spoilers abound.)
While The Walking Dead isn’t my favorite show of all time, that honor remains with Twin Peaks or The X-Files, it’s up there on the list of television I enjoy. Sure they took way, way, WAY too long to kill off Andrea and Lori, and the second season was really slow, but the episodes that are good are practically perfection. Although don’t put down the baby! Why? Why would you do that?
There’s also Daryl. Near perfection, with the introduction of a shower.
Anyway…
So what should you read if you’re fan of The Walking Dead? In no particular order, except I’ll start with the obvious and World War Z is nowhere to be found:
10. The Walking Dead. Although the similarities between the show and the comic aren’t as close as you might think.
09. Pontypool Changes Everything // Tony Burgess. It’s a movie too.
08. Station Eleven // Emily St. John Mandel. Post-apocalyptic and thematically similar.
07. Zone One // Colson Whitehead. A literary take on the zombie genre. And as Glen Duncan says “A literary novelist writing a genre novel is like an intellectual dating a porn star.” Read it.
06. The Stand // Stephen King. Not zombies, but there are groups of good survivors and bad survivors.
05. Black Moon // Kenneth Calhoun. I recommend this one with reservations, I hated it, but that doesn’t make it bad.
04. Cell // Stephen King. Zombies by cell phone.
03. The Missing // Sarah Langan. A solid horror novel featuring…zombies.
02. The Flame Alphabet // Ben Marcus. Language is killer.
01. The n-Body Problem // Tony Burgess. Delightfully weird. Read it.
flannel and folklore 
This is great, and I also was very pleased that Darryl finally took a shower. And I LOVE Carol the badass, with a strong sweater game. Definitely going to check out a few of these books! https://bookishtendencieskatie.wordpress.com/
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Great list! I don’t watch The Walking Dead but I can see fans reading and liking these titles. I think The Flame Alphabet is on my wishlist but I should double-check, it sounds like a very interesting book. And I finally read Station Eleven and really enjoyed it 🙂
My TTT
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Reading Station Eleven is what finally convinced me to watch The Walking Dead. And now I’m hooked. I didn’t like Ben Marcus’ short story collection, but I’m still really curious about The Flame Alphabet!
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I agree that Darryl needs to take a shower (and get a haircut) yet he is still so appealing! I love The Walking Dead and this list. Some of the books I haven’t heard of before, but I’m open to anything with zombies or weird or both.
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Great list! I loved The Stand and Station Eleven, and I liked the Walking Dead graphic novels I read. Having watched a couple of seasons of the show first, I appreciated the fact that they’re so much different. I may need to check out Stephen King’s zombies by cellphone epic. 🙂
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More books for me to read! You know I adore TWD and I trust your book prowess.
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The Missing has been on my TBR since I first stumbled upon your review of it. Station Eleven, Zone One and The Stand are already on my TBR. Love the Walking Dead so will definitely have to try to make these a priority.
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