We love a good quarantine reading list! Since we seem to be stuck inside a lot lately, we at Her Campus can’t think of a better way to spend our free time than to escape into a good book. Organized categorically, this list is designed as a rough template for your own reading—my picks are all books I heartily recommend, but I encourage you to find books for each category that fit your preferences. Grab a blanket and a cup of tea and get comfy!
Category: The Comfort Book
If you don’t yet have a comfort book, I recommend that you designate one. It should be something you’ve read before, ideally something you can dip into for half an hour and then put down again without feeling in suspense. Break it out whenever you need the literary equivalent of a hug.
My Pick: Emma, Jane Austen
Jane Austen is hilarious. Emma has winning characters and dialogue scenes so immersive and fully-realised that they sometimes feel like theatre—just wait until you get to the scene with Mr Knightly, an open window, and some apples.
Category: Award-Winning (or nominated) Books
2020 was a terrible year—but at least some excellent books came out of it. Check out The Booker Prize lists, or lists from any prominent newspaper. Many books this year were stunning justifications of writing as an art form.
My Picks: The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett
The Vanishing Half startled me over and over again. While deftly handling perennial themes, it manages somehow to be entirely original—this one will stick with you for a long time. The characters are compelling, the plot is mesmerising; it is an astonishingly-rendered portrait.
Category: The International Book
Pick a book with a setting that’s completely unfamiliar. Explore the world from the comfort of your bed! Most of us haven’t travelled for a while (and it might be a while before we can) so this is the perfect time to experience another country and culture through a book.
My Pick: Apeirogon, Colum McCann
Apeirogon feels completely refreshing, despite addressing one of the world’s most infamous protracted conflicts. Ultimately, McCann manages to humanise again and again. He shifts the ground beneath us until we feel Palestinian and Israeli pain in such a way that the only possible response is compassion. The book does eventually take an unequivocal stance—the voices from all sides of the conflict call for an end to the Occupation.
Category: The Book From a Genre You Wouldn’t Usually Read
What better time to branch out? Maybe you’re not usually a biography person, but you think now is the time to pick up that book on Milton. Or maybe you have no patience for novels, but you try one with a main character whose voice you find compelling. In a time when there’s very little to think about besides studying, eating, and sleeping, let’s expand our horizons…
My Pick: 19 Varieties of Gazelle, Naomi Shihab Nye (Poetry)
Naomi Shihab Nye’s poems are exquisite examples of lyric storytelling. This collection features ‘poems of the Middle East’, informed by the poet’s experience of growing up Arab-American.
Category: The Book You’ve Been Meaning to Read For A While
Oh, go on. You can do it. No time like the present—I promise you’ll feel accomplished. When else are you going to have so much are time?
My Picks: The Confessions, Augustine of Hippo; The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt; Dreams from My Father, Barack Obama
Obviously everyone’s “to-read” list looks different. Suffice it to say, Augustine cracks me up (he’s also an important author for Western philosophy), Origins is chillingly brilliant, and Dreams from My Father is a book by a man who was not planning to become President—it is clear-eyed, candid, and frequently moving.
Category: The Book That Makes You Laugh
I dare you to find a book that makes you actually laugh out loud. Quarantine can feel completely humourless, so get your daily fix from a book!
My Pick: Heartburn, by Nora Ephron
Nora Ephron’s distinctive voice is on full display in Heartburn. Pulling no punches, Ephron deploys incongruous details like no one else, building characters so recognisable you’ll wonder how she read your mind. This is a book that is not afraid to explore the full ridiculousness of humans and their relationships.
I hope this list got you excited to hit up your local library or independent bookstore—or maybe just to grab an old favourite off the shelf. Happy reading!