Well, the zombie apocalypse is here. Or as close as I’ve ever come to it.
My daughter’s school district will be shut down for 40 days starting Monday, and all her extracurriculars cancelled. A whole bunch of events I’d looked forward to? Called off. Upcoming travel plans? Up in the air (literally). And let’s not even talk about the state of my local grocery store.
My favorite meme of the week came from Mark Edwards on Twitter.
Thank God the Internet still lives on, right?
And he’s kind of right. We WILL all need some good reading material if we’re going to survive the next couple of months with our sanity intact. And, no, that doesn’t mean angry-reading the New York Times every chance we get. The idea is to get AWAY from anxiety-inducing stuff, not closer to it. So, with that in mind, I’ve made a list of recommendations that steer clear of things like Cormac McCarthy’s post-apocalyptic The Road, or Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (science labs that test bodily fluids are universally banned from this party). I even left off a brilliantly written novel about office dynamics, Joshua Ferris’ Then We Came to the End, simply because the title could be triggering. You’re welcome.
So here we go. My top 10 book picks for the Coronapocalypse. And (all kidding aside), please be extra-safe out there, friends!
1. Just Kids by Patti Smith. Short and fun, and it’s Patti Smith. Win-win-win.
2. Birds of America by Lorrie Moore. I adored every square inch of this short-story collection.
3. Both Way is the Only Way I Want it by Maile Meloy. Ditto for this one. So freaking good.
4. The Shipping News by Annie Proux. Proux is a genius, and this book quietly changed my life. I can’t even remember why. But on the mental pyramid of books in my mind, this one is at the top.
5. God is Disappointed in You by Mark Russell and Shannon Wheeler. If the title doesn’t pull you in, don’t read it. If it does, you’re in for a treat. This illustrated book is essentially the Bible, stripped down to its essence. And, as is turns out, the Bible stripped down to its essence, is kind of hilarious.
6. Tame Your Anxiety: Rewiring Your Brain for Happiness by Loretta Bruening. If you are particularly susceptible to anxiety, this is a must-read. Especially now.
7. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving. Because, c’mon, am I right?
8. A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I just read this recently and enjoyed the heck out of it. Highly recommend.
9. Spoiled Brats by Simon Rich. This is another collection of short stories, and it is funny as all get-out. A great escape.
10. My Struggle by Karl Ove Knausgård. Because this guy is a master of his craft and, frankly, his struggle is so tame compared to the one we are dealing with right now! But it’s also real. And if you are drawn in by his writing (as I was) and this corona-thing drags on, there are plenty more “struggles” where it came from. My Struggle is a series of six!
