Literary Scene: The Bonus “Quarantine Reading List”

By Ryan G. Van Cleave

COVID-19 has us homebound and bored. I know this is the case because I just watched my neighbors’ kids try to shoot gummy bears off the BBQ grill with rubber bands on their back porch. “To keep them from driving us crazy,” my neighbor (inside his house) to me (inside my house). 

I get it. We’re desperate to do something other than avoid work, binge on Netflix, and work on putting on 25 comfort-food pounds. 

So, in case you don’t have rubber bands or gummy bears in enough supply, I offer this solution—books. Not to shoot with rubber bands, but to use as they were intended. Because, c’mon—what better option for passing the time is there than losing yourself in the pages of a new-to-you book?

To help you out, here are my recommendations of titles suitable for a variety of readers, with an eye toward books you might not have already encountered but are well-worth reading regardless. Trust me on these choices. I have a Ph.D. in Book Nerdology.

Cat. 1 — “I can’t get enough virus stories!”

The Decameron. Written around 1350, it’s one of the original plague stories! Author Giovanni Boccaccio follows ten characters who flee Florence to avoid the Black Death, and they huddle in a secluded villa where they pass the days by telling 100 tales. (I recommend the J.M. Rigg translation).

Doomsday Book. Author Connie Willis has won the Hugo and Nebula award, so you can check out this one with the full confidence that she’s got the writing chops to make this work—time-traveling Oxford historians go back to the Ye Olde Days and get caught up in a village’s plague experience.

The Eyes of Darkness. Horror writer Dean Koontz’s 1981 book reveals how a Chinese scientist created a biological weapon called Wuhan-400 which has a 100% mortality rate. Spooky.

The Iliad. Homer’s ancient story shows how, when one of Apollo’s priests is disrespected by the Greeks, the god himself fires contagion-laden arrows into their camp for nine days. Spoiler: unlike with COVID-19, this plague is cured by sacrificing sheep and goats to Apollo.

Station Eleven. In this 2015 novel by Emily St. John Mandel, it’s twenty-some years after most of the earth is wiped out by a plague, and a modest Shakespearean troupe travels the now-nearly deserted landscape, risking everything for art, culture, and humanity. The epidemiology is a bit unscientific, but the story is still a total winner.

Cat. 2 — “I liked Harry Potter. What’s similar, but different?”

The Abhorsen Series.Fit for young adults or bonafide adults alike, this series by Australian writer Garth Nix is dark fantasy at its finest. Learn about the Nine Bright Shiners, the Bells of Necromancy, the five basic supernatural creatures of the Bestiary and more. If Nix were American, I think he’d have four times the following here. He’s good.

The Dresden Files. My writer-friend Rick thinks this series by Jim Butcher about Chicago’s only wizard PI is “a bit hacky.” He’s wrong. It’s a wild romp in a supernatural noir Windy City setting. And perhaps best of all, there are 15+ books, as well as various short story collections, and comic versions available. (Don’t let the one-season so-so TV series fool you—the books are a blast.)

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. Set in 1899, this novel by Jacqueline Kelly follows twelve-year-old heroine Calpurnia, who is enmeshed in the magic of the natural world as deeply as Harry Potter was in the magical one of Hogwarts and the greater wizarding world. Calpurnia is simply delightful. (There’s now a fine sequel, too—The Curious World of Calpurnia Tate.)

The Shadow and Bone Trilogy. Leigh Bardugo’s series is set in the land of Ravka where science collides with superstition in this lush world of magic and mayhem. (This trilogy has a subsequent duology set two years after the timeline of these three books, and the whole enchilada’s becoming a Netflix series in 2021-ish! Maybe get ahead of the pop culture curve by reading these now?)

The Invention of Hugo Cabret. Magical, marvelous, mysterious, and mind-blowing—that’s what I’d say about this 2007 book by Brian Selznick, where the images play as big of a role as the text in keeping readers turning pages well into the night.

Cat. 3 — “What should my wee ones read?”

Carmela Full of Wishes.Matt de la Peña’s 2018 picture book is about a birthday girl on a walk and all the wishes she’s considers making. Set against the backdrop of her Spanish-speaking community, there’s a lot here to discover, discuss, and enjoy in this beautiful, lyrical story.

A Different Pond. This 2018 Caldecott Honor Book by Bao Phi is a father-and-son story about a fishing trip. But it’s so much more than that, being a powerful coming-of-age story coupled with the immigrant experience in America.

The Wall in the Middle of the Book.Jon Agee makes good use of breaking the fourth wall in this story about getting past boundaries that are physical or otherwise. 

One Cool Friend. This picture book by Toni Buzzeo shows what happens when a penguin-loving boy swipes one from the local aquarium and takes him home as a pet. The black-and-white line illustrations here are great, and the story is sneaky-good, which should earn a “read it again!” ask from kids.

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole. I’m a fan of Jon Klassen’s art, and I’m equally taken with Mac Barnett’s stories. The two pair up here with this tale in this deadpan tale with loads of visual humor.

Cat. 4 — “Any chance I can keep my brain in gear?”

The Alchemist. Paulo Coelho’s international bestseller has been changing lives for nearly three decades. This fable about following your dreams just might expand your mind and perhaps even transform your life. Open your heart and give this modern classic a chance.

Flow. Yes, the author’s name is hard to both spell and pronounce—Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. But if you’ve ever seen Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant “in the zone,” well, that’s also called “flow.” And this 2008 book helps you understand it, with an eye toward being able to do it more yourself. I use excerpts of it in my writing classes all the time to good effect.

How We Got to Now: Six Innovations that Made the Modern World. Steven Johnson will blow your mind in this 2014 illustrated history book. Why? Because he’s brilliant, he writes clearly, and these inventions are AWESOME. What more do you need?

Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything. Who doesn’t want that skill? Let Joshua Foer’s fine book show you how to not squander 40 days a year (on average) that we waste compensating for things we’ve forgotten.

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking. Susan Cain’s book helps readers see how to unlock the powers introverts have to change the world. Since she believes that half the world are introverts, this is likely a good book for you. Or the person sitting next to you.

Cat. 5 — “Good books to read if I loved the movie?”

Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas. The nonfiction book by Nicholas Pileggi dives deep into the seedy-and-amazing workings of the Mafia in Las Vegas, and how it all came crashing down. Exciting, scary stuff.

The Help. The 2009 novel of the same name by Kathryn Stockett—her first published book— was subbed a “summer sleeper hit” by the USA Today with good reason. It went on to spend 100+ weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Holes. The book by Louis Sachar enjoys a near-perfect adaptation to Hollywood thanks to Disney knowing not to mess with an already-great story, like Sachar wrote. Seriously—who doesn’t love Sigourney Weaver as the warden in that movie?

Jurassic Park. Yep, it was a 1990 book before they put those dinos on the big screen and helped make Jeff Goldblum the world’s coolest chaos theorist. Author Michael Crichton knew how to write a page turner—no doubt about it.

The Shawshank Redemption.It’s not a novel but rather a novella (meaning shorter) that appears in Stephen King’s Different Seasons under the title “Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption.” In the novella version, Tommy doesn’t die, the warden simply resigns, and Brooks dies of old age in an old folks’ home, but believe me—it’s a first-rate King story, nevertheless.