Pandemic Reading
National Read a Book Day – something I didn’t even know was a thing until recently – is celebrated on September 6th, which happens to fall on a Sunday this year. A perfect day-of-the-week for spending with a book.
In the spirit of the luxury of losing yourself in a book for an entire day, here are a few of my favorite reads from this strange, stressful year (with one exception).
Zadie Smith’s Intimations
If you only read one book during the remaining months of 2020, Intimations should be it. A deceptively slight volume of essays, it will likely resonate with me for years, in the same way the effects of – and grief from – this year will linger.
Zadie Smith is one of my favorite writers, and I believe one of the most important writers of our day; the back cover of Intimations calls her “essential,” and this is not an overstatement. In fact these essays, in some ways, feel like the most essential words I’ve read this year. She was able to put to words the emotions I’m still processing.
Smith wrote these essays during quarantine and while they are very personal to her experiences, the feelings they evoke could be from any person’s months of partial or total isolation. Three essays in particular stood out to me (on this first reading at least – I suspect each piece will inspire me differently on future readings):
“Suffering Like Mel Gibson” – How many times have you started a sentence to a friend with something like, “I’m not doing well, but I recognize I don’t have it as bad as …”? This essay is in reaction to that sentiment and is Smith’s analysis of privilege and suffering. The ongoing conversations we’ve had about privilege – while very important – have not prepared us for the individual pain of suffering, regardless of what that pain might be. I read this essay once, read some of it out loud to my patient boyfriend, then read it immediately again. I can’t recommend it highly enough for this present moment.
“Postscript: Contempt as a Virus” – Similarly to “Suffering Like Mel Gibson,” this essay should be required reading for every American. It is both specific to this moment and timeless in its metaphor of contempt as a virus that infects people to behave inhumanely, because of their contempt for another’s race. Her use of virus-oriented language (“herd immunity” becomes “immunity from the herd”) is thought-provoking and never flippant. The essay seems to have been written shortly after the killing of George Floyd, and it stings even more these months later as we continue to see violent racism and flagrant hypocrisy in places like Kenosha, Wisconsin. Unlike “Suffering Like Mel Gibson,” I didn’t feel better after reading this because Smith – like myself – seems to feel somewhat hopeless about America’s ability to stop spreading this virus. But some hope can be found in her diagnosis; if more people see the symptoms of contempt, perhaps we can end them. As she says, “If the virus and the inequalities it creates were ever to leave us, American’s extremities would fade.”
“Debts and Lessons” – Smith ends Intimations with a different sort of catalog of acknowledgements. She lists and describes the people she cherishes in an almost stream-of-consciousness style. For many of the descriptions, I recognized similar teachers in my own life; for others, I grieved not knowing someone like that. It’s a hopeful and loving way to end a book that is both challenging and affirming.
The author is donating her royalties from Intimations to charity. The edition I purchased benefits The Equal Justice Initiative and The COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund for New York.
Other books I’ve enjoyed this spring and summer include:
The Woman's Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss
August 2020 marked the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, granting many American women the right to vote. Elaine Weiss’ history of the movement to make this happen is vibrant and well-paced. More importantly, its clear-sighted about both the achievements and the shortfalls of the movement. Given the continued threats to our right to vote, this book is inspiring and convicting as we face November’s elections.
The Starless Sea: A Novel by Erin Morgenstern
Erin Morgenstern’s first novel, The Night Circus, remains one of my favorite books and her sophomore novel – which faithful readers waited eight years for – lives up to its predecessor’s mythic greatness. The Starless Sea is really a novel about the love of reading and the people we meet because of a shared love of stories. A fantastical tale of an underground library, it is the perfect world to lose yourself in during this year.
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Emily St. John Mandel’s most recent novel, The Glass House, was the first book I read in March after shutdown orders began. And it is wonderful. So wonderful, it prompted me to re-read her iconic book Station Eleven. If you know the plot, then you might wonder why an apocalyptic story set a decade after a worldwide flu decimates the population might interest me. I have always loved apocalyptic literature because I ultimately think these stories are about how we create communities in the aftermath of trauma. While grim in many ways, Station Eleven reminds us of the resiliency and innovativeness of humanity’s best.
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
This sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale was just released in paperback, and if you’re a fan of the first book – or the exceptional tv show – then The Testaments is a must-read. But it made my pandemic must-read list because after the diary style and cryptic ending of The Handmaid’s Tale – which I loved as a middle-schooler first introduced to this world – I appreciated The Testament’s more traditional storytelling. When some of our headlines seem ripped from the misogynistic world of Gilead, it’s inspiring to read of resistance.
The Book of Delights: Essays by Ross Gay
My friend Kelley recommended this book to me a few weeks ago, and as soon as I started it, I had a similar evangelistic love of it. Poet Ross Gay spent an entire year writing a daily essay of delights. Kelley is reading an essay a day, and I have adopted the same practice as a sort of meditation. I couldn’t recommend this more as a way to start your day in loveliness rather than despair.
The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery
This book was a media darling when it came out, and I’ve had it by my bedside since that time, excited to read it. Yet somehow, I still haven’t. After recently seeing this delightful segment on CBS Sunday Morning, I’m inspired to spend National Read a Book Day with The Soul of an Octopus.
