What has your reading experience been like during the pandemic? Everyone’s experience is different – from delving into as many new books as possible, to needing to learn how to read on a device compared, to in print to not wanting to read at all. If you are one of those who haven’t wanted to read – you are not alone. This Vogue article shares a similar experience and shares that one reason why we might not want to read is how stress effects our attention and ability to shift from one thing to the next.
Whether you haven’t picked up a book to read since March – or – you need something different, this book list should give you something to read that you will enjoy while coping with pandemic life.
Fast-paced Thrillers
If you need a book that you can’t put down because it’s sooooo good and… a little thrilling, try one of these.
Searching for a missing woman in Silicon Valley, an expert tracker is pitted against dark elements in the billion-dollar gaming industry and a serial killer who stages scenes from his favorite game. This is book one of The Colter Shaw series.
After discovering his drug-addicted daughter Paige, who he has not seen in six months, panhandling in Central Park, Simon follows her into a dark and dangerous world he never knew existed that puts his family and his life on the line.
Trapped in a closed zoo after witnessing a life-shattering event, a woman and her 4-year-old son navigate the zoo’s hidden pathways and under-renovation exhibits to stay ahead of a dangerous adversary who tests their survival and the limits of the mother-child bond.
Heartwarming Reads
If you need a book that gives you a ‘feel good’ vibe when life seems to hard, try one of these.
A talented baker running a business out of her nursing home reconnects with her master brewer sister at the same time her pregnant granddaughter launches an IPA brewpub.
We meet a cast of lovable, funny, quintessentially American characters eager to make their mark in a world that’s often stacked against them. In this deeply affecting family saga, resolution can take generations, but when it finally comes, we’re surprised, moved, and delighted.
At forty, May Attaway is more at home with plants than people. Over the years, she’s turned inward, finding pleasure in language, her work as a gardener, and keeping her neighbors at arm’s length while keenly observing them. But when she is unexpectedly granted some leave from her job, May is inspired to reconnect with four once close friends. She knows they will never have a proper reunion, so she goes, one-by-one, to each of them. A student of the classics, May considers her journey a female Odyssey.
The First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales after an incident of international proportions forces them to pretend to be best friends.
Can love save the world after all? Where do we find the courage, and the power, to be the people we are meant to be? And how can we learn to let our true colors shine through? Casey McQuiston’s novel proves: true love isn’t always diplomatic.
Funny & Lighthearted
If you need to grow your smile and lighten your load, these books might lift your mood.
When down-and-out Maeve Stephens arrives at an inherited house, she is greeted by a cheerful bulldog on her front porch and discovers a set of friends at the St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets, where women knit sweaters for the dogs and cats in their care.
A rom-com-obsessed romantic waiting for her perfect leading man learns that life doesn’t always go according to a script.
Already read it? Look out for the sequel, Not Like the Movie, to come out mid-summer.
Entering a flatshare arrangement with a man on an opposite work shift, a heartbroken woman begins exchanging notes with the roommate she has never met and becomes his best friend, and possibly soulmate, through their correspondence.
Pandemic Apocalypse Fiction
If you need to read about pandemic survivors, these science fiction novels that take place in post-apocalyptic worlds might be for you.
A tale set in an anarchic near-future America of mountaintop colonies surrounded by rising oceans finds an independent woman trading for supplies and information about the daughter who was stolen from her eight years earlier.
When her little sister is afflicted by a bizarre sleepwalking disorder that begins to affect people all across the country, Shana is embroiled in an apocalyptic epidemic involving a decadent rock star, a religious radio host, and a disgraced scientist.
Presents the story of a student in an isolated Southern California college town who witnesses a strange sleeping illness that subjects patients to life-altering, heightened dreams.
Gentle & Cozy
If you are one to wake up and stay in your pajamas all day, why not add some extra coziness with these gentle books.
A young, sophisticated Chicago woman falls for the owner of a farm on Johns Island, a lush lowcountry paradise off the coast of South Carolina, and trades the bustle of cosmopolitan city life for the vagaries of a small Southern community.
The owner of a 1988 music shop in a down-at-heel suburban community uses his talent for connecting customers to the music they seek and resists a chance at an intimate relationship with a beautiful young woman who hides a mysterious agenda and compels him to confront painful elements from his past.
Selling her home and taking time off from her career as a successful motivational speaker, Cecilia Ross moves into a beautiful old house in St. Paul and bonds with three roommates, including one who would reconnect with a daughter she gave up for adoption, one who would visit her long-absent ex, and a professional chef who would find inspiration from other restaurants.
This blog post was created by librarians from Park City Library with help of information found in NoveList – a database which is free with your library card. NoveList is a comprehensive reading recommendation resource.