What to read while everything’s canceled.
Photo by Anthony Tran on Unsplash
I’m writing this as COVID-19 is starting to wallop the United States. We all know that social distancing is crucial for the health of our communities at this point. Your job has sent you home, and the schools are closed. Now what?
Hopefully you can limit your stress scrolling through Twitter — and sooner or later, you’re going to run out of appealing options on Netflix. Reading is a fantastic alternative. One good book can kill hours and hours and leave you the richer for your investment in time and attention.
Don’t want to leave the house? No problem. Yes, you’ve got Amazon/Kindle/Audible — but your local independent bookstore will also likely ship to you (and will greatly appreciate the business). In addition, your local library probably has e-books or audiobooks you can borrow. Give them a call or check their website.
Here are some of my favorite books to consider, organized thematically (and without affiliate links):
If you find worst-case scenarios somehow soothing:
The Stand, by Stephen King
Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson
The Children of Men, by P.D. James
The Doomsday Book, by Connie Willis
If you want inspiring heroes battling adverse circumstances:
The Girl in Gray, by Annette Lyon
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
True Grit, by Charles Portis
The Things They Carried, by Tim O’Brien
A Soldier of the Great War, by Mark Helprin
If you could use something light and romantic:
Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins
Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson
Austenland, by Shannon Hale
When Dimple Met Rishi, by Sandhya Menon
Going Vintage, by Lindsey Leavitt
If you need some hilarity:
Hollow Kingdom, by Kira Jane Buxton
The Wee Free Men, by Terry Pratchett
Me Talk Pretty One Day, by David Sedaris
Queen Lucia, by E.F. Benson
A Walk in the Woods, by Bill Bryson
If you need some wide-open spaces:
Desert Solitaire, by Edward Abbey
Death Comes for the Archbishop, by Willa Cather
Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
Walden, by Henry David Thoreau
Shackleton, by Alfred Lansing
If you crave an engrossing mystery:
The Name of the Rose, by Umberto Eco
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Woman in White, by Wilkie Collins
The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith
The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde
If you long for “simpler times”:
Here Be Dragons, by Sharon Kay Penman
The Game of Kings, by Dorothy Dunnett
The Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
Wolf Hall, by Hilary Mantel
Perfume, by Patrick Süskind
If you had to cancel your vacation abroad:
Cook’s Tour, by Anthony Bourdain
A Room with a View, by E.M. Forster
Wind, Sand, and Stars, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
My Family and Other Animals, by Gerald Durrell
Paris to the Moon, by Adam Gopnik
Finally, if you’re sick of this planet and all its problems:
Dune, by Frank Herbert
Ancillary Justice, by Ann Leckie
Ammonite, by Nicola Griffith
Hyperion, by Dan Simmons
The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell
Oh, and if you’re in the mood for something creepy, check out this post:
13 Octoberish Books
A reading list to evoke pleasurable melancholy~medium.com
Do you have the perfect book recommendation for these troubled times? Leave me a comment and let me know!