Quarantine Quality Reads


I've borrowed this post title from my one of my favourite haunts a Book Exchange  I love these places and sadly they are increasingly hard to find. It's where new books are exchanged for old or old for new, classics for contemporary (or vice-versa) and where you can take your collection and get credit. I don't really understand how it works economically, but these exchanges always seem to be run by book-obsessed characters who will greet you warmly and are always up for a bookish chat. (Check out their FB page for other great reading ideas).

So in this age of the Corona Crisis, what to read when one is in self-imposed (or compulsory) isolation? It might be a situation many of us are having to face in the near future - schools are already closing down near us, and I'm mindful that if my kids are facing days at home I will go crazy if they are ON SCREENS ALL DAY!!!

So here are some recommendations of what to read so that the time is put to good use. After all, we can't keep re-posting toilet paper memes forever - can we?

The Winter Trilogy by Mark Smith

Mark Smith lives on the west coast of Victoria, Australia. The Road To Winter, Wilder Country and Land Of Fences are a part Dystopian part survival series - where a virus has changed the world as we know it. 

Image result for wilder trilogy mark smith

I'd recommend these for age 14+ as there is some violence and adult themes. The sense of the Australian landscape, albeit in a feral Mad-Max form is so strong in these books - I felt like I was there with the characters and experiencing their isolation, hardship, pain and challenges every step of the way. In this era of panic buying and growing unease about a virus - this book will resonate. Themes of survival, isolation, racism, violence, and what it takes to make society work and people act with dignity and kindness are all explored. When lives have been lost and society breaks down it is amazing and terrifying how quickly an every-man-for-himself mentality takes over. The results can be scary and disastrous. Mark Smith is a great writer and these books are sure to become YA classics. 


This series of 5 books is awesome - Jarli, a boy in rural NSW invents a Truth App that can tell when people are lying. Problem is, not everyone wants to be caught out lying, so things go bad really quickly. Jack Heath writes his books like film scripts - and this series so deserves to be made into a movie! The action is fast-paced and will leave you breaking out into a cold sweat on numerous occasions. Each book ends on a cliff-hanger, heck most chapters do too! It's not a far-fetched idea, and again, these books are about survival in a world where many are not as they seem, and working out who to trust is complicated, and can be a matter of life and death!! Reluctant readers will love these - I'd recommend these for any good readers over the age of 10 (that said, my 8 year old loved them, but he's an awesome reader, what can I say?)

Image result for liars by jack heath

The titles are: 
#1: The Truth App
#2: No Survivors
#3: The Set Up
#4: Lockdown
#5: Armageddon

Buy them all  - you won't regret it!!

(Re)Read a CLASSIC

There are so many gorgeous editions out there and so many titles that are well-worth revisiting. Use this period of isolation as justification for buying the copies you've always wanted. It's an investment in your mental well-being if nothing else. You'll need something full of substance and depth (not despair kind of depth but escapism kind of depth). I'd go with any or all of the following: 

Les Miserables - Omnibus Edition : Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions - Victor Hugo  Middlemarch : Barnes & Noble Collectible Editions - George Eliot  
  • Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Long and if you can't get through it, there's very long TV adaptations to turn to..)
  • Middlemarch by George Eliot (Many people call this their desert island book. It's not my fave, but it's long, I'll give it that)
  • Bleak House by Charles Dickens (The title doesn't bode well for being stuck at home with whining kids, but the story is awesome)

Let me know what you'd choose to read if you were in isolation (and not sick, obviously) - I know Netflix is compelling, but just say the power went out, what then? 

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