Quarantine Reading
Have your
reading habits and choices changed during the Covid-19 Quarantine? After realizing that mine have, I asked
several BHPL staff to write a paragraph about what’s happening to them. Starting with me, in the very beginning I
simply couldn’t find a book that held my interest for more than twenty or
thirty pages. I didn’t like the
characters, story, writing, or anything else.
I reverted to a few of my favorite authors for several books before I
started venturing back out of my reading shell.
Also, I stopped watching news
programs on TV or listening to serious news during my trips back and forth to
work. Unfortunately for my ability to sleep
soundly, my next choices were several dark, atmospheric mysteries featuring
premonitions and really creepy characters.
I was reading more and enjoying it less.
The weather started to improve and I could, in good conscience, declare
it time to start my annual summer reading.
If I read hard covers or even paperbacks, my current reading choices are
so light and happy they could fly away.
Fortunately, I download my titles so they can’t escape when I turn off
the device. I am reading more and
sleeping better.
~Stephanie Bakos
When I was very young I dreamed that I was in a big comfy
chair in a log cabin with a fire place, and a cat, and the walls lined with
books. And more books in piles. And a
book in my lap and a cup of hot chocolate.
I could spend the rest of eternity snuggled up with a good read. Aaah. Two months ago, when our lives took a turn, I
tried reading a book but it did me no good.
Non-stop media news was all the new storyline I could process. After 3 or 4 weeks of learning new rules and
practices, while gorging on breaking news, I felt starved for a story about
something else. Even then it took a lot
of looking to settle on Echo by Pam Munoz Ryan. I won’t say much about it, but if the time
comes when you don’t know what to, read this.
This one book was all it took to set me back on track and rekindle my reading dream. I fixed up a
cozy reading nest with lots of pillows, a blanket, a stack of books, a cat,
and, this time, a glass of wine. Aaah.
~Laura Fuhro
Little did I
know when I picked up Chris Bohjalian’s latest novel The Red Lotus that I would be reading a fictionalized, prophetic
version of our current situation. Being
a fan of his writing, I had placed a hold on the book not really paying
attention to the plot… a biologically engineered pathogen ready to be released
by unscrupulous scientists to create a worldwide plague. It was a slow read, but eerily riveting.
Unfortunately, this slowness has become a pattern. My reading has slowed down and has even become
distracted during this time. For someone who works at a library and has access
to thousands of books, I am also given many books as gifts by family and
friends. Adding to that, I love to
browse, or should I say purchase, at independent and used bookstores. I decided to focus on the books from my own shelves, bedside piles and
Kindle. As I looked through the these
titles, I saw that they held wonderful memories. Reminiscing had me picking up books and
flipping through, but not really reading them.
At work I read a review of an upcoming novel that sounded
interesting. I saw the author had
published previously so I downloaded Pride,
Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev from hoopla and read it on my
phone in two days. Amazing, perhaps I am
out of my slowness rut. Currently
throughout the house I have many half-started or half-finished books depending
on how you look at it. Is it because I’m
not focused and my mind wanders to happier, freer times when I acquired these
books? Is there just one more chore I need to do around the house before I can
sit and read? Or is it that I am asked twenty times a day “What’s for dinner?”.
~Ann-Marie Sieczka
Due to almost everything being closed due to COVID-19, I
thought "Great! Now I will have more time to read books!" It's not
exactly worked out that way. In some ways, I feel that I have less
"me" time because my family is together more with few opportunities
for us to run off to do our own things. We do more things together than before,
e.g. taking walks, eating, watching
movies and TV. I have made some changes in terms of my reading habits; I’m reading newspapers and
magazines more (and not just articles about the coronavirus!). I've been
reading more variety: I read The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah and listened to Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (both novels) and I also have 2
non-fiction books (one print and one ebook) on my to-read list. The
biggest change has been making an effort to read 1-3 chapters of a book most
nights before going to sleep. Hopefully, even when we get back to
"normal", some of these new reading habits will stick.
~Lisa Wernett
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