5 Books to Read for Your Post-Quarantine Self

It’s impossible to tell when the societal effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will subside, but at least for American residents, it’s looking like the #quarantinelife will be our reality for quite some time still.

Whether you’re a true book worm and have nearly exhausted your shelf with the excess down time, or you’ve never really been a reader, but you’ve run the gamut of Netflix series and home improvement projects, here’s a list of texts curated in anticipation of our eventual reintegration.

Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey

Published earlier this year, Popkey’s narrator unveils and negotiates raw layers of her self image by recalling conversations she’s shared and overheard throughout her life. Equally observational and introspective, Popkey reminds the reader (more specifically, the reader that has been stuck in her own head for months) of the complexity of being human, and the importance of being self-aware, but not wholly selfish, in our exchanges with others.

Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

After a world-wide plague wipes out humanity, the assumed sole survivor retrospects on the events that lead up to his desertion among a band of bio-engineered super-beings. Longing for his deceased lover, and suspicious of his pre-plague, corporate-dominated society, Jimmy (aka “Snowman”) invites us to imagine the motivations and mechanisms to bringing about a complete revolution of life as we know it. Read this pick not as a conspiracy to anarchy, but a catalyst to thinking curiously and critically about our impact as an hierarchical species.

(P.S. This is the first in a three-part series, and it just gets better!)

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Being holed up in our homes for so long, it might feel instinctive to break out on a grandiose adventure, compensating for the lost time. Not that you shouldn’t get out and travel — by all means, do so — but by following one young man’s ultimately fatal journey to the Alaskan bush, Krakauer encourages us to meditate on the roots of our intent, and to approach our adventures with respect to our fallibility. Consider this text also a warning to the proud introvert who may be finding himself all too comfortable in quarantine, or perhaps a little nervous about rejoining the collective: even our lone ranger protagonist begins to find his bliss empty in solitude, having run away for years to the fringes of civilization.

The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert

At this unprecedented low level of human activity, you might be curious of the ecological shifts occurring in our absence. Reading Kolbert’s Pulitzer Prize-winning account of mass extinctions and human impact puts into perspective the true magnitude of our livelihood. If you’re looking for a bright side to social distancing, giving the planet a breather might be it. Kolbert reminds us of the immense responsibility that comes with dominating ecosystems; take this step back as a time to assess the trickle-down effects of your lifestyle.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson

With the sudden influx of free time, you might be feeling stir-crazy with self-pity, turning to social media that claims the cure is a new hobby, an exercise regime, a food blog, etc. Or, you might be feeling the opposite: proud of your uninterrupted productivity and ready to debut post-pandemic as the next great pioneer of your field. Either way, don’t fall into the trap of putting so much weight on yourself that #selfcare turns into self sabotage. Manson’s blunt (often comedic) prose is the perfect kick-in-the-ass self-help narrative to divorce you from whatever expectations you’ve set for yourself, and to teach you how to simply keep moving from the gut.

It might be a while before we can reestablish our routines, but at least for now we have the gift of time and distance to meditate on how we’d like to move forward, as individuals and as a species. If we can’t leave our homes, at least we can embark on journeys of the mind. In the spirit of Buddhist meditation, think of this time not as an escape from reality, but as a time to prime your entrance into a new reality.

“We don’t always control what happens to us. But we always control how we interpret what happens to us, as well as how we respond.” — Mark Manson