ON READING WHILE QUARANTINED
We’re all stuck at home, isn’t it nice?
Getting to know the corners of our apartment in intimate detail, as our partners, family members, roommates learn about our daily ritual of staring out the window and screaming from the top of our lungs at 11 a.m. sharp to keep our soul on its toes, and taking cat-naps at seven in the evening just because.
Whether it’s business as usual and you’re attempting to keep up appearances to your now-online work colleagues, or you find yourself with an abundance of time to fill with activities that don’t involve a social media app, reading remains an important cornerstone activity of any daily routine.
And to help inspire your choice of reading material I’ve found a number of classics currently listed for next to nothing on Amazon, as part of their selection of monthly deals, giving you the perfect opportunity to fill your library with any you happen to be missing.
(Full disclosure: the buy buttons below include affiliate links, where I may get a small portion of your purchase should you decide to buy.)
Seven book recommendations to get you through this time of isolation and reflection:
Crime & Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Living in a squalid room in St. Petersburg, the indigent but proud Rodion Raskolnikov believes he is above society. Obsessed with the idea of breaking the law, Raskolnikov resolves to kill an old pawnbroker for her cash.
Who better to get you through a time of discomfort and isolation, than our dear friend in optimism, Dostoyevsky.
The first of many heart-wrenching titles from deep-feeling Russians that are mandatory reading for any red-blooded human - quarantined or not - Crime & Punishment is a great place to start in order to remind ourselves of the struggles that come with being human, and the lengths that some of us will go to break our collective moral codes in order to enlarge our small bit of space in the world - consequences be damned!
I’ve written previously about the angst of this particular title, and it remains one of my favourites from Dostoyevsky, and well worth the read.
2. The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Anthony Patch is the idle heir to a vast fortune. His wife, Gloria, dazzles society with her good looks. Satisfied by privilege and beauty alone, they are beholden only to the “magnificent attitude of not giving a damn.” When Anthony’s inheritance is withheld, it causes an irreparable rift in their marriage, threatening their fragile paradise. Oblivious to their future, he and Gloria have little left to define themselves but their ever-receding pasts.
The Beautiful and Damned; that’s all of us, isn’t it? Beautifully laid up at home in our pyjamas and damned to try and keep focus while the air around us is filled with the destruction from a piece of lifeless RNA. Join the party of a hundred years ago and live vicariously through the self destruction and misery of two young people in love and in idle… from the safety of your living room.
3. A Room With a View by E.M. Forster
Set in freewheeling Florence, Italy, and sober Surrey, England, E. M. Forster’s beloved third novel follows young Lucy Honeychurch’s journey to self-discovery at a transitional moment in British society. As Lucy is exposed to opportunities previously not afforded to women, her mind—and heart—must open. Before long, she’s in love with an “unsuitable” man and is faced with an impossible choice: follow her heart or be pressured into propriety.
Oh, to fall in love with an unsuitable man! The daily occurrence of my early twenties, upon which I look back fondly, and with only a smattering of extraordinary shame. While Lucy’s adventures pale in comparison to the exploits of the twenty first century woman, we can all appreciate the paths that our foresisters paved for us to be able to choose something - anything! - other than a man of any suitability. E.M Forster’s most well-known title, set in the romantic landscape of Florence, Italy, reminds us of softer, more virginal times than the present.
In early nineteenth-century Russia, the threat of Napoleon’s invasion looms, and the lives of millions are about to be changed forever. This includes Pierre Bezúkhov, illegitimate son of an aristocrat; Andrew Bolkónski, ambitious military scion; and Natásha Rostóva, compassionate daughter of a nobleman. All of them are unprepared for what lies ahead. Alongside their fellow compatriots—a catalog of enduring literary characters—Pierre, Andrew, and Natásha will be irrevocably torn between fate and free will.
War and Peace is required reading for many high schoolers around the world, but I personally think it’s best enjoyed when you’ve had some breathing room away from the hallowed hallways of educational institutes and given time to live through periods of personal war and peace. What better time than now to start reading Tolstoy’s magnum opus?
Don Quixote, a man driven by chivalrous ideals and wild delusions, adopts sword and lance as a knight-errant to defend the weak, slay the ignoble, and win the heart of the farm girl he envisions as a princess. In his world of fantasy—where inns are castles, peasants are kings, and windmills are beasts—Quixote, his nag, and his sound but devoted squire, Sancho Panza, set forth on a picaresque adventure conceivable only to a man obsessed.
Turning to my adopted country of Spain, Cervantes’ Don Quixote is the most humorous addition on this list, and a title sure to be hidden on every bookshelf on the planet, though who knows how it got there? My own copy is tattered and worn, pages falling out and edges crinkled from dozens of hands fingering their way through the eggshell-thin pages. This laugh-out-loud tale of delusion and imagined heroism has withstood the test of time, and rightfully so! So, pour yourself a glass of Spanish red and let your mind wander away from the here and now with our poor hero, Don Quixote de la Mancha.
6. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Beautiful, popular, and fortunate, Anna Karenina is an upright wife and mother. But her passionless marriage to a senior statesman leads her into the arms of Count Alexey Vronsky. The dashing cavalry officer stokes in her something exciting and defiant. In abandoning the rules of her noble station, she’s aware of the risks: a degraded reputation and the hostile recriminations of St. Petersburg society. But there are even greater stakes as Anna follows desires both romantic and carnal, emancipating and destructive.
We’re starting to see a trend here, are we? Why yes, I am quite a fan of the Russian literary man, why do you ask? One last Russian, and I’ll make it a good one - I promise! My grade 11 English literature teacher told me that I reminded him of Anna Karenina. I hadn’t read the book at the time, and now I wonder if he saw me as a beautiful but treacherous homewrecker, or an overly educated, suicidal martyr. Perhaps a little bit of column A, little bit of column B?
Anna Karenina is both sublime and religious, while simultaneously nihilistic and grasping. No facet of the human condition is left untouched, and our dear friends Anna and Levin help to lead us through the different chambers of the human heart, uncovering our own hopes and fears about Mortality, Love and The Future.
7. The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
Almustafa has been exiled in the island city of Orphalese for twelve years when he sees his ship coming with the mist. Before he sets sail, the beloved prophet is asked by his followers to impart his truth. In these twenty-eight poetic essays, he offers profound inspiration on such matters of love and friendship, freedom and self-knowledge, joy and sorrow, pleasure, prayer, and death. In doing so, Almustafa offers a universal serenity.
The final book on this list is one I have not read yet, but that was recently recommended by someone I follow on Instagram. They shared a beautiful quote from the author that makes my nervous system fizz both with sadness and with hope;
“Between what is said and not meant, and what is meant and not said, most of love is lost.” – Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet
Beautiful, no? I’ve added this to my TBR list and look forward to sinking deeper into my couch and losing myself in literature while all the time in the back of my mind willing the world around me to heal. I hope you’ll join me.
Those are my suggestions for reading material ranging from the light to, well, not so light.
If you have more to add, share the love with your fellow readers and let us know in the comments below.
