Books to Escape With
Responsible global citizens are following news about the latest in COVID-19 developments in their communities and around the world, listening to experts, and taking precautions to keep themselves and their communities safe, so many of us are finding ourselves with a lot more quiet time at home. It’s important to stay informed (and we’ve put together a list of our books to help understand the situation), but we also sometimes need a break from the heaviness of the day’s news.
Below, we’ve put together a handful of books for anyone who’s practicing social distancing, quarantined, or just looking for an engrossing new read. Books that tell stories about our world, history, and even books themselves.
Nonfiction
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Gertrude Stein Has Arrived: The Homecoming of a Literary LegendRoy Morris, Jr. The American book tour that catapulted Gertrude Stein from quirky artist to a household name. "[Morris's] writing is brisk and breezy... he magnifies and makes new." |
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The Lost Books of Jane AustenJanine Barchas "The lesson of this delicious book is that [Jane Austen] was even more popular for even longer with an even greater variety of readers than we ever thought." — John Mullan, The Guardian "For all the Janeites on your list, reach for The Lost Books of Jane Austen... it's a fascinating, richly illustrated study of what we can learn from the numerous popular editions of Austen's novels that appeared during the 19th and 20th centuries." |
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The Making of Jane AustenDevoney Looser An engaging account of how Jane Austen became a household name. "An informative and delightful read for literary lovers who want to learn more about one of the most celebrated authors of all time, The Making of Jane Austen puts the famed novelist in a whole new light." |
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Not Even Past: The Stories We Keep Telling About the Civil WarCody Marrs How the Civil War endures in American life through literature and culture. "Marrs weaves a complex history to capture the essence of the literature and art surrounding the Civil War, resulting in a valuable work beneficial to a variety of collections." |
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The Sting of the WildJustin O. Schmidt The "King of Sting" describes his adventures with insects and the pain scale that’s made him a scientific celebrity. "Beautifully written... like nothing else you have ever read." |
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Taxi! A Social History of the New York City CabdriverGraham Russell Gao Hodges Revised with a new chapter on the era of ridesharing "The definitive book on New York cabs." |
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Nightmare Factories: The Asylum in the American ImaginationTroy Rondinone A journey through fact, fiction, and horror in search of how the insane asylum came to exert its powerful hold on the American imagination. "Will appeal to a broad range of readers, from academics interested in the history of medicine and popular culture, to general readers seeking social history rooted in an imaginative variety of sources." |
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Killing for the Republic: Citizen-Soldiers and the Roman Way of WarSteele Brand How Rome's citizen-soldiers conquered the world—and why this militaristic ideal still has a place in America today. "Brand's book should be read with care by Americans as our republic enters its twilight... Readers of many tastes will receive great enjoyment from Brand's book." |
Poetry & Fiction
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Deep Gossip: New and Selected PoemsSidney Wade A great and frequently subversive book by a lyric poet at the height of her craft. "This is a book suffused with light—dappled, blazing, luminosity and its shadow. She seems to be saying that we must look closely at the earth, and she is a transcendent guide to all we could lose." |
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Staten Island StoriesClaire Jimenez Winner of the 2019 Hornblower Award for a First Book from the New York City Book Awards "These stories are deeply grounded in a particular place and community but will resonate with readers everywhere... Her prose, especially the dialogue, snaps with authentic immediacy... Staten Island Stories concerns ugly times and circumstances, but the people and the stories are beautiful." |
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Catch, ReleaseAdrianne Harun Grand Prize Winner of the Eric Hoffer Award "Told in poised, often shimmering prose, these tales distress and confound... The larger, tragic landscape Harun sketches is acutely destabilizing, wonderfully inscrutable and, at moments, ravenously absurd." |
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SubcorticalLee Conell Recipient of the 2018 Story Prize Spotlight Award. "Conell brings the characters in her rich debut collection to life in weird, wise, and often poignant ways." |
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BallyhooHastings Hensel A poetry collection that grapples with the tragicomic nature of language, memory, love, work, and the performative self. "I will return to these finely spun poems many times." |
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