Sydney Reads and Reads: Quarantine Reads

Hello friends, it's been a while! How have you been holding up? Since we last met, I bought a new car, turned 30, and moved to Colorado, all in the midst of a global health crisis! 

As with anything else, part of what's helped me cope with the roller coaster of 2020 has been reading. And taking a closer look, the titles I chose during the peak of quarantine fell into three distinct categories: Quarantine, Comfort Reads, and Challengers, each helping me understand or explore my feelings in a different way. 

First up, Quarantine themed reads.

Back when the idea of staying at home for weeks at a time seemed more like a lark, or a fun escape from the pace of everyday life, I (somewhat) ironically picked up a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  "What could be better to read," I thought, "than a book that takes place during a pandemic?"

Though cholera is present in the book, the real focus is on the decades-long, unrequited love affair between Florentino Ariza and Fermina Daza.  As the world was suddenly turned on its head, following their relationship through the years felt grounding, and the end was so satisfying.

I first read Amor Towles' A Gentleman in Moscow in November of 2018, and returning to it during quarantine felt like coming home. Following Count Rostov through the halls of The Hotel Metropol once again, helped me to escape the anxiety and stress of my circumstances, while also asking me to find ways to make the best of them.

In the midst of everything else happening during Coronavirus, I turned 30. My birthday actually fell on Mother's Day this year. So, I took the day off on Monday, made myself a gorgeous and delicious breakfast, and enjoyed having the house to myself while escaping to the Isle of Guernsey. 

For those of you who haven't watched the Netflix movie, or read this enchanting novel, The Guernsey  Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society follows the story of author Juliet Ashton as she gets to know a literary society formed on the Channel Island of Guernsey during the German occupation in World War II. 

Throughout the occupation, the citizens of Gurnsey were completely isolated from their friends and family in England; unable to travel or communicate with them at all. During which time they found comfort in books. And that's only the beginning.

I can think of few books that better fit the profile of Quarantine Read than The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn. 

Anna Fox lives alone in her New York City brownstone, drinking Merlot, watching old black and white movies, and trying to remember to feed her cat. When one day she sees something horrible through the windows of a neighboring brownstone. Or does she? Even if she did see it, would anyone believe a pill-popping, noir-obsessed, woman who refuses to leave her house?  

I first read The Woman in the Window in October 2018, but I was amazed once again by the sheer number and unpredictability of the plot twists and turns. Not to mention how accurately it captures the feeling of being locked up in your home for days, weeks, months at a time. 

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halls Anderson was a book I remembered reading from childhood. I have such vivid memories of a scene in which the protagonist, Mattie Cook, runs door to door looking for help during the peak of the Philadelphia fever outbreak of 1793. 

Reading it now, during COVID-19, I am struck by all the similarities.  From the wealthy feeing the city, to the tragic effects on the Black community, even down to the advice given by local health officials. This was enjoyable as an adult, but it would be great for a younger reader as a means of relating their experience of COVID to a character their age.

While Quarantine themed books helped me shift my perspective on all we've been experiencing this year, sometimes you just want to turn your brain off and escape for a while. Enter, the Comfort Read. 

Early on in the pandemic, when my mind was reeling with new information and my fear triggers were out of control I turned to one of my all-time favorite comfort reads, the Little House on the Prairie series. Specifically, By the Shores of Silver Lake. Not only did Laura Ingles Wilder's frontier stories help to soothe and distract me during this time, but they turned out to be very of-the-moment! 

If you pick up a copy of By the Shores of Silver Lake, you'll find Ma Ingles' sourdough starter recipe within its pages.  A tidbit which led me to name my own starter Ma and my discard Half Pint. 

Another comfort read I found my way to during quarantine was Alex George's, The Paris Hours. Through its pages, I was transported to 1920's Paris, following the stories of an Armenian puppeteer, a lovesick artist, Marcel Proust's maid, and a heartbroken journalist all through one ordinary day full of extraordinary experiences.  I couldn't put it down. Come to find out, Alex George is the owner of our own local Skylark Bookshop! What a small world!

Does anyone remember in January when I raved about The Bromance Bookclub? Luckily for us all, the sequel Undercover Bromance was published in March.  Less, gotta-win-my-girl-back than its predecessor, Undercover Bromance follows Braden Mack, the founder of The Bromance Bookclub, as he finds himself having to swallow his pride and take all the smug advice he's been offering his friends for years.  That is, if he wants to expose a serial sexual assaulter and get the girl. But what's so complicated about that?

Loved them both? Look for Crazy Stupid Bromance, publishing in October!

When I made the transition to working full time from home I made a personal commitment to make my occasional neighborhood evening walks more of an intentional habit. Part of my incentive for that each day was listening to Julie Andrews' latest memoir Home Work. Not only does Andrews narrate the book herself, but it gives you a behind the scenes look at her Hollywood years. Detailing what it was like to begin a family, make Mary Poppins and so many of her other films, and fall in love with Switzerland.

There was so much about her life and career that I didn't know about, and I left with a long list of her backlist movies to watch. 

Just as the Missouri summer was starting to heat up, and by heat up I mean become a wall of dense humidity, I pulled The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes, down from my shelf. In it, we follow a collection of Kentucky women in the 1930s, each uniquely out of place, serving their community in a way that was far from accepted at the time. Operating a pack horse library!

Having spent some time living and working in Kentucky, and with a deep abiding affection for Kentucky women, it's as if Jojo Moyes wrote this story just for me. With my only other experience of Moyes' work being the Me Before You series, it was a pleasure to tuck in and experience a broader part of her authorial range.

This book round-up wouldn't be complete without the Challengers.  Those titles which, though undeniably enjoyable, asked me to do a little work along the way, pausing to reflect deeper on what they were teaching me.

What happens when a grocery store security guard accuses a young Black babysitter of kidnapping the White child she's responsible for and it's caught on camera? We find out in Such a Fun Age, by Kiley Reid. 

Such a Fun Age did for me what all great books do, it allowed me to view the world through someone else's lived experience while simultaneously holding up a mirror for me to reflect on my own actions. More specifically, this book (which I read in March) had me examining the ways in which my privilege as a cis White woman can blind me to the harmful effects of my good intentions.  A lesson I think many of us would do well to spend more energy putting into practice.

As a young woman, pursuing a creative career, who's romantic relationships have not always been grounded in what we'd call reality, I felt a lot of kinship with Casey Peabody of Lily King's Writers and Lovers.

I have been that woman working the survival job, putting up with all that entails (hello Times Square fuzzies), trying to eke out the time and motivation to pursue your craft, and instead, putting far too much energy into a relationship which isn't serving you. So, for me, the challenge with this story wasn't relating to it, but rather taking a step back to look at my life as it is now and access what progress I've made. 

Untamed, by Glennon Doyle, was a book I avoided for a lot of reasons. It's popularity for one, but primarily because I knew it would ask me to sit in my own discomfort.  And boy did it! In its pages, Glennon challenged the way I evaluate relationships, sexuality, my power, and so much more.  Yet, by the time I turned the last page, I felt re-born, ready to take on the personal challenges that lay along my path with gusto.

In his debut novel, The Water Dancer, Ta-Nehisi Coates reimagines the enslaved south, recounting the story of Hiram Walker as he fights to reach the North, escaping the bondage he was born into all while plotting to rescue the family he left behind. 

I've had this book since October 2019, but kept avoiding it because, based on the reviews, I thought the style would bog me down.  But it didn't.  And neither did the subject matter. How on earth did Coates manage to fit three books worth of plot and rich backstory into just over 400 pages?! This is one I'll be thinking about for a while. 

One more thing before I go...

You’ll notice the ratio of White to BIPOC authors. I did too, and it’s not ok. 

I went through my stacks before I moved and pulled out so many titles by BIPOC, and especially Black authors, that I had purchased but not prioritized. I also rattled off a list of other titles I knew I wanted to read but hadn’t added to my Goodreads list. Why? What chance did they have of being chosen from that ever-growing list of titles if I didn’t take the time to physically add them? That had to change. 

I’ve updated my system now to actively include those black authors I know I like, and some I’m excited to try. I’m anxious, as I am with each book I read, for them to make their impression on me and expand my understanding of the world. 

You’ll also notice that most of the books I’ve read over the last three months have come from BOTM. This is something I’m changing as well.  After even just a cursory examination of my reading habits, it was clear I was letting BOTM be my primary guide for what was new, good, and available to me in publishing. Meanwhile, there is an internet full of bookstagrammers, and specifically, Black bookstagrammers, with much more diverse and informed stacks for me to choose from. So, I've dumped my BOTM subscription for one that focuses on diversity and inclusion, Page 1 Books! I am so excited to see what titles they send my way! 

What steps are you taking to ensure greater diversity in your reading life? I'd love to know!- xo Sydney