Books for a Quarantine: Select Titles to Pass the Time
Following are a few suggestions in several categories to keep your mind occupied over the coming days and weeks. – Mark/Editor
By Terri Sclichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez
Hunker down.
That’s what you’ll be doing for the immediate future: trying to stay well or get well or just waiting. You’ve had enough TV and the pantry’s as clean as it’ll ever get, so maybe it’s time to find something to read. Why not try one of these great books…..
FICTION
If you’re a fan of unusual thrillers, look for “Please See Us” by Caitlin Mullen. It’s the story of two dead women who have not yet been found in their marshy grave. But they know what’s going on, and they know they won’t be alone for long. Oh, and they know who killed them.
Also, thriller fans, get “Journey of the Pharaohs” by the late Clive Cussler and Graham Brown. If you’ve ever read a Cussler book, you know what you’re in for!
“The Love Story of Missy Charmichael” by Beth Morrey is a sweetheart of a book. It’s about w seventy-nine-year-old woman who’s largely alone; her children are scattered or estranged and she’s old enough to believe that reflection on her past is all she has left. And then she meets a dog….
The fan of historical fiction will love having “Westering Women” by Sandra Dallas on the sofa. It’s the story of a young seamstress and her small daughter, both of whom travel with a caravan of other women to answer the call for “eligible women” out west in the 1800s. Adventure, love, action, can you resist?
NON-FICTION
Music fans will love hunkering down with “The Beatles from A to Zed” by Peter Asher. It’s an easy-breezy book on the Fab Four, but indirectly – which means you’ll get some little-discussed, little-known tales that fans will need to know.
Here’s another book that’s perfect for the music fan: “She Can Really Lay It Down” by Rachel Frankel, a book about music’s female rebels and rockers.
For the reader who loves a good true-medicine tale, try “The Open Heart Club” by Gabriel Brownstein. Written by a man whose life was saved by cardiac surgery when he was just a small child, this book looks at heart surgery in the distant past and what’s being done to cure the heart now.
Another book to look for, whether you’re thinking it’s time to quit smoking, you’re fascinated about why anyone would start, or you’re just plain in need of something different is “The Cigarette: A Political History” by Sarah Milov.
TRUE CRIME
True crime fans will want to have “Highway of Tears” by Jessica McDiarmid in their laps while being quarantined. It’s a deep look into a tragedy: along a highway in British Columbia, officials have discovered dozens of murdered Indigenous women and girls through the decades. How this happened, what is being done about it, it’ll keep you on the edge of your seat.
Also look for “The Lost Brothers” by Jack El-Hai, a missing-boys mystery that’s nearly seven decades old but still a very active case.
Another book you’ll like: “The Third Rainbow Girl: The Long Life of a Double Murder in Appalachia” by Emma Copley Eisenberg, the story of a crime that impacted an entire geographical area.
And if you’ve always wondered how crime-fighters do their work, then look for “American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI” by Kate Winkler Dawson. It’s a book about the man who helped set the stage for the way forensics is done, even today – and that includes the things he got all wrong.
LGBTQ
Okay, so you’re up for something very unique now, and you can’t go wrong with “Uncomfortable Labels” by Laura Kate Dale. What makes it different is that Dale is a gay trans woman who is also autistic and this book is about her self-discovery and her life.
Here’s a book for parents, and for transgender readers: “What We Will Become” by Mimi Lemay, a story of little girl who knew she was a boy, and his mother, an ultra-Orthodox Jew who loved her child enough to give up her old life.
The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri has been reading since she was 3 years old and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill in Wisconsin with two dogs and 13,000 books.