It’s easy to underplay the urgency of self-quarantining. You don’t realize it, but by staying at home you are helping save lives.
Now that we have more time to ourselves, it’s the perfect time to catch up on some reading. Which brings us to today’s article, a reading list of ten great reads to help both bibliophiles and casual readers alike through the quarantine.
Check out our full Lockdown Reading List after the bump.
10 books you can read to tide you over the quarantine
Stephen King, “The Outsider”
What’s it about: A string of murders leads a small-town sheriff and detective to a doppelganger-like entity that preys on young children in the form that looks exactly like people they know.
Why you should read it: Easily the best Stephen King novel in years, “The Outsider” is a well-paced procedural thriller that sticks long after you close out its gruelling last chapter. Great read for those looking for well-crafted frights.
Chris Guillebeau, “Side Hustle”
What’s it about: A full manual that teaches readers how to start a profitable side hustle – from idea to income! – in just 27 days.
Why you should read it: Chris Guillebeau is a must-have manual for people who want to start side hustles. The best parts of this book unmoors you from common misconceptions about starting your own thing, be it an Etsy shop or a full-fledged side business.
Jessica Hagedorn, “Manila Noir”
What’s it about: An incredible collection of short fiction set in Manila. Written by some of the best Filipino authors working today.
Why you should read it: Packed with stories written by the best writers we have in the Philippines, this book casts the eponymous city as the perfect setting for a noir film: dark, damp, and so dreadful it’s so hard to put down.
Eric Barker, “Barking Up the Wrong Tree”
What’s it about: A deep-dive on the extraordinary science behind what actually determines success and how anyone can achieve it.
Why you should read it: What is success, really? Eric Barker’s exceptional book breaks down everything you need to know to navigate your work with a more informed and enlightened outlook. It’s a crucial read.
Harper Lee, “To Kill a Mockingbird”
What’s it about: A Southern gothic classic that follows a young girl from the Deep South as a world of prejudice, racism, and violence unfold around her.
Why you should read it: As if you don’t already revisit this novel every once in a while, the quarantine period is as good a time as any to rendezvous with Scout, Jem, and their noble father, Atticus Finch. Such an easy story to lose yourself to.
James Clear, “Atomic Habits”
What’s it about: An eye-opening look at how habits can help us get to where we want to be – faster than, say, setting up yet another lofty goal.
Why you should read it: Sometimes, goals just don’t work. In James Clear’s book, he dishes out a simple concept of habits as building blocks of who you want to become. Want to be fit? Make good fitness habits. Want to save? Make good financial habits. It’s simple, but it works great.
William Gibson, “The Peripheral”
What’s it about: A tale set into the future where time travel and man-made realities exist by way of mental transmission through a class of artificial avatars called “peripherals”.
Why you should read it: A great book for those looking to escape into a fascinating future world with man-made alternate realities, this sci-fi serves as a homecoming to Gibson who deserves just as much street cred as Weir, Bradbury, and Stevenson.
Naomi Wolf, “The Beauty Myth”
What’s it about: A searing study of the behaviors females are forced to adapt as their social power and prominence increase.
Why you should read it: Physical beauty is gruesomely malformed by entertainment and mass media. Naomi Wolf’s book reveals how these false perceptions sprawl into toxic and destructive habits that further push women down. A great, enlightening read about womanhood.
Sylvia Plath, “Ariel”
What’s it about: A collection of poetry posthumously published by one of the best poets we’ve had the luck of knowing.
Why you should read it: Sylvia Plath’s suicide casts a dark cloud over much of her work, which makes this great poetry collection such a revelation. There are heavy subjects, to be sure – the holocaust in “Lady Lazarus” and misogyny in “The Munich Mannequins” – but there’s also hopeful love notes, like the title poem, which talks about reinvention and mental rebirth.
David Sedaris, “Calypso”
What’s it about: An essay collection following the quick-witted author’s adventures in California.
Why you should read it: David Sedaris is as great a thinker as he is a storyteller. His work is funny, empathic, and resolute, all of which are true too in this book. It’s hard not to get lost in his unputdownable escapades – perfect for the isolation we all have to go through these days.
