We're all responsible humans participating in social distancing right now (or I hope we all are) so here are some books to read during this strange time!
I recommend buying them from a local bookstore (Unabridged Books if your in Chicago, The Strand if your in New York) if you can afford to, because local business really need our help right now!
In no particular order- with hyperlinked titles, to buy them online, my personal rating/review, themes, and the first few sentences of each book.
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
My Rating: 3.5/5 This is a good read if you want something short. It is interesting and heartfelt, but also very typical cannon literature.
Major Themes (read if your interested in...): Novella, short-read, poverty, old age, relationships (platonic and familial), beautiful prose, literary canon.
First Words: "He was an old man who had fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days without taking a fish. In the first forty days a boy had been with him. But after forty days without a fish the boys parents had told him that the old man was now definitely and finally a salad, which is the worst form of unlucky, and the boy had gone at their orders in another boat which had caught three good fish the first week."
The Oracle Glass- Judith Merkle Riley
My Rating: 4.5/5 Great read to escape from todays crazy. Amazing storyline, very engaging.
Themes: historical fiction, magic, France, history, love story, rags to riches, great storyline, based on real events, written by a woman
First Words: " 'What in heaven's name, is that?' the Milanese ambassador to the court of His Majesty, Louis XIV, King of France, raised his lorgnon to his eye, to better inspect the curious figure that had just been showed into the room. The woman who stood on the threshold was an extraordinary sight, even in this extravagant setting in the year of victories, 1676. Above an old-fashioned Spanish farthingale, a black brocade gown cut in the style of Henri IV rose to a tight little white ruff at her neck."
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
My Rating: 4.5/5 This is a quick read (I promise even though it doesn't sound like it), if you feel like you should read something from the literary cannon but hate "school books" this is for you! So much drama, great storyline, amazing romances and fantastic leading lady.
Themes: Romance, literary canon, victorian era, written by a woman, amazing storyline, good prose, romantic, dramatic, poverty, morals
First Words: "There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further out-door excersise was now out of the question. I was glad of it: I never liked long walks, especially on chilly afternoons: dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight, with nipped fingers and toes, and a heart added by the chiding of Bessie, the nurse, and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza, John, and Georgiana Reed."
The Highly Sensitive Person - Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D.
My Rating: 3/5 Very interesting read, provoked a lot of thought on my end about how I function in the world. I wish it wasn't written by a "highly sensitive person" as I found it kind of biased toward us/them which made me trust the "science" less. At points in was iffy on taking anxiety seriously which was a huge problem for me, but over all I would recommend a read.
Themes: nonfiction, informative, psychology, anxiety, introvert, though-provoking
First Words: " 'Cry baby!' 'Scaredy-cat!' 'Don't be a spoilsport' Echoes from the past? And how about this well-meaning warning: 'You're just too sensitive for your own good.' If you were like me, you heard a lot of that, and it made you feel there must be something very different about you."
bel canto- Ann Pratchett (TOP RECOMMENDATION)
My Rating: 5/5 This is one of my favorite books of ALL TIME, and while I would ALWAYS recommend it for its beautiful prose, storyline, thoughtfulness, it is particularly apt in this period of history and with COVID-19 as it focuses on people coming together across cultures and classes, and finding similarities.
Themes: multi-cultured, shared human experience, prose, war, art/music, love, restores belief in humanity
First Words: "When the lights went off the accompanist kissed her. Maybe he had been turning toward her just before it was completely dark, maybe he was lifting his hands. There must have been some movement, a gesture, because every person in the living room would later remember a kiss. They did not see a kiss, that would have been impossible."
Mere Christianity - CS Lewis
My Rating: 4/5 I recommend this book for anyone questioning what christianity is about, or any practicing christians...get ready to THINK. It's a bit out-dated in my opinion (it was written in the 50s or 60s) but most of the stuff on faith and human nature is still applicable.
Themes: christianity, faith, beliefs, human nature, behavior, morality, religion
First Words: "Everyone has heard people quarreling. Sometimes it sounds funny and sometimes it sounds merely unpleasant; but however it sounds I believe we can learn something very important from listening to the kind of things they say. They say things like this: 'How's you like it if anyone did the same thing to you' - 'That's my seat, I was there first' - 'Leave him alone, he isn't doing you any harm' - 'Why should you shove in first?' - 'Give me a bit of your orange, I gave you a bit of mine.' - 'Come on you promised." People say things like that everyday, educated people as well as uneducated, and children as well as grown-ups."
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao- Junot Diaz (TOP RECOMMENDATION)
My Rating: 5/5 This is one of the books I most recently finished and WOW it was so good. Read this book if you want to reevaluate your world view and cry, it's so good for so many reasons. Honestly anything by Junot Diaz is amazing and deserves some of your time.
Themes: realistic fiction, other cultures, Dominican Republic, deep, emotional, politics, broken family, poverty, dialed, first-person, narrative, generational novel, historical
First Words: "They say it first came from Africa, carries in the screams of the enslaved; that it was the death bane of the Tainos, uttered just as one world perished and another began; that it was a demon drawn into Creation through the nightmare door that was cracked in the Antilles. Fuku americans, or more colloquially, fuku- generally a curse or doom of some kind; specifically the Curse or Doom of the New World. Also called the fuku of the Admiral because the Admiral was both its midwife and one of its great European victims; despite "discovering" the New World the Admiral died miserable and syphilitic, hearing (dique) divine voices."
Furies and Fates - Lauren Groff
My Rating: 2.5/5 This is the only book under a 3 rating that I will recommend (mostly because I understand not everyone has as high expectations as me). I didn't like the first half, I found it boring and contrived, but I do admit it needed to exist for the second section to exist. The second section is good enough that I am recommending this book, it almost makes up for the first. I also found it very verbose and too poetic but that is neither here nor there.
Themes: realistic fiction, New York, sickness, actors, writers, artists, love story, atypical family, passionate, gritty
First Words: "A thick drizzle from the sky, like a curtain's sudden sweeping. The seabirds stop their tuning, the ocean went mute. Houselights over the water dimmed to gray."
Bluets- Maggie Nelson (TOP RECOMMENDATION)
My Rating: 5/5 This an epic (i.e. in the style of Homer, and also the current meaning of the word) poetic prose journey. It the kind of art I am interested in making and aspire to create. Basically it's THE MOST amazing thing I have ever read. Read this if you have ever been in love, hurt, heartbroken. Be prepared to feel, to learn, to cry, and to kickstart your journey toward healing you heart!
Themes: poetry, prose, epic, romantic, emotional educational, deep, sad, cultured, lgbtqa, gritty, depression, extended metaphor
First Words: "1. Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color. Suppose I went to speak this as though it were a confession; suppose I shredded my napkin as we spoke. It began slowly. An appreciation, an affinity. Then one day it became more serious. Then (looking into an empty teacup, its bottom stained with thin brown excrement coiled into the shape of a sea horse) it became somehow personal."
A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
My Rating: 4/5 This is a hilarious read, perfect for someone who needs an escape from the seriousness of the world. It's not deep in any way but it is incredibly well-written and interesting and will brighten up your day with well-written complexly flat characters.
Themes: humor, great characterizations, original, unique, New Orleans
First Words: "A green hunting hat squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head. The green earflaps, full of large ears and uncut hair and the fine bristles that grew in the ears themselves, stuck out on either side like turn signals indicating two directions at once. Full, pursed lips protruded beneath the bushy black mustache and, at their corners, sank into little folds filled with disapproval and potato chip crumbs."
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (TOP RECOMMENDATION)
My Rating: 5/5 This is one of my absolute FAVORITE novels, I am obsessed. It honestly warrants a re-read for me in this social distancing. I could talk forever about it but this novel speaks for itself, dramatic intriguing plot line which cross generations. Deep interesting characters female and male, AND the BEST romance ever written by anyone anywhere.
Themes: novel, canon, riches vs poverty, time jump, generational story, drama, romance, victorian era, written by a woman
First Words: "1801- I have just returned from a visit to my landlord-the solitaire neighbor that I shall be troubled with. This is certainly a beautiful country! In all England, I do not believe that I could have fixed on a situation so completely removed from the stir of society . A perfect misanthropists Heaven- and Mr. Heathcliff and I are such a suitable pair to divide to desolation between us."
Everybody Always - Bob Goff
My Rating: 4/5 Bob Goff isn't the best writer, but his heart comes through in his stories so strongly that it almost doesn't matter. This book is spot on and everyone everywhere should read it. It challenges how we behave in the world to the core, and asks us how good of a person we really are. It doesn't shy away from the tough questions either, loving your enemy isn't just a thought in this Bob puts it to practice and it's hard but always worth it.
Themes: life, philosophical, semi-autobiographical, funny, sweet, christianity, applicable to everyday life, aspirational
First Words: "My friends and I finished what we were doing at the restaurant and took the windowless van back to the airport. We pulled up into the rental lot looking a little windblown, and the attendant started at us with a puzzles expression. 'It looked like this when we got it,' I told him nonchalantly."
Emma- Jane Austen (TOP RECOMMENDATION)
My Rating: 5/5 This is my favorite Jane Austen novel (other than Northanger Abbey they might be tied). Clueless is based on this novel and if that doesn't convince you I don't know what will!
Themes: rom-com, coming of age, victorian era, female power, written by a woman, rich v poor, romantic
First Words: "Emma Woodhouse, handsome, clever, and rich, with a comfortable home and happy disposition, seemed to unite some of the best blessings of existence and had lived nearly twenty-one years in the world with very little to distress or vex her. She was the youngest of two daughters of the most affectionate, indulgent father; and had in consequence of her sister's marriage been the mistress of his house from a very early period. Her mother had died too long ago for her to have more than an indistinct remembrance of her caresses; and her place had been supplied by an excellent woman as governess, who had fallen little short of a mother in affection."
Jitterbug Perfume - Tom Robbins
My Rating: 4.5/5 Tom Robbins is a quirky offbeat written and if you don't love traditional literature, but like to read this might be for you! Written of Still Life with a Woodpecker, which I also recommend. The characters and situations he creates are so amazing and interested and interwoven, nothing makes sense and nothing needs to make sense in this world fueled by magical realism, old gods, the possibility of immortality and a mysterious amount of beets.
Themes: magical- realism, across eras, Paris, New Orleans, California, funny, quirky, different, well-written
First Words: "The beet is the most intense of vegetables. The radish, admittedly is more feverish, but the first of the radish is a cold firs, the dire of discontent not of passion. Tomatoes are lusty enough, yet there run through tomatoes an undercurrent of frivolity. Beets are deadly serious."
Social distancing isn't isolation, so reach out! Let me know in the comments which books you're going to try- and give me some recommendations too! I'm in danger of running out of books to read!
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