I genuinely would like to know what books folks have been reading during isolation. I have gone through all of my feel-good reads, so I am in desperate need of suggestions regardless of genre.
What book(s) kept your spirits up?
Book Recommendations Please! - Positive Wellbein...
Positive Wellbeing During Self-Isolation
9,738 posts•
Book Recommendations Please!
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52 Replies
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Before I fall, Lauren Oliver
• in reply toFabiodgl
Wow, I just looked it up and it definitely sounds interesting. Thank you!
The Shepherds Life by James Rebanks, so inspirational and uplifting. Following that a book which was a present The Tattooist of Auschwitz which makes one think how lucky we are and how awful the world can be. You are willing people to survive.
• in reply toElizabethhampson
Thank you! The Tattooist of Auschwitz just brought to mind "Man's Search for Meaning" by Viktor Frankl who was a concentration camp prisoner. Very short, but significant read.
We certainly are lucky, despite everything. I appreciate these recommendations that put things into perspective
Elizabethhampson• in reply to
I have to say I have read thousands of books professionally and personally, The Shepherds Life is one of the very few I would read twice. To go from being illiterate to Oxford University and yet treasure where you were born is unique.
I've just finished reading Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and really enjoyed that.About to reread The Island by Victoria Hislop so that I can read the sequel which has just been released.
Thank you so much!
I love Milly Johnson - she is a feel good writer - so you may have tried her already -and the Agatha Raisin books, have you tried any of them?
I am ashamed to say that I have not read the books of either of these authors! But the fact that there is a book entitled "Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death" means it HAS to be on my reading list! Thank you so much for bringing these books to my attention ❤️
wiserlady• in reply to
your welcome - they made some of the agatha raisin books into sky dramas
Read all the Agatha Raisin as so light. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles is very good and I’m enjoying Miss Austen by Gill Hornby. Also The Salt Path by Raynor Winn
Thank you Hylda! So many great suggestions. And Miss Austen is certainly a fascinating read 😊
Hi Hidden ,Each month, we have a monthly book posting that is pinned to the Pinned Posts section called Reading Rabbits: healthunlocked.com/positive...
In the comments section, there’s some interesting suggestions for different types of books by the other members of the group and myself. Enjoy!😀👍🌈📖🐇
• in reply toActivity2004
WHAT?! This is great! Thank you for being so helpful 😆👍
Activity2004• in reply to
You’re welcome! We also have book postings on the Healthy Eating and Diabetes India groups.😀👍🌈📚📖🐇
I’ve been re-reading John Connolly’s Charlie Parker series. Not for the faint hearted. A splendid mix of thriller, supernatural and horror.
Lots
Valentina by S. E. Lynes. Psychological thriller. Unputdownable
• in reply toEntela15
Thank you for the suggestion AND for my new favorite word (unputdownable)! ❤️
Most of my new reading in recent days has come in the form of daily poems I receive by email through various sources, but I did finish a couple of books of poetry by Michael Laskey, Thinking of Happiness and The Tightrope Wedding. Currently, I'm reading a couple of books on prosody -- Paul Fussell's Poetic Meter and Poetic Form and a book called All The Fun's In How You Say A Thing by Timothy Steele.
I'm not sure if any of those books would qualify as "feel-good reads" necessarily (though I feel good in reading them), but there are poets whose work I return to routinely to nourish my spirit, like Elizabeth Jennings, Donald Justice, Philip Larkin, and my HealthUnlocked avatar, Sir John Betjeman.
Ahh poetry! I'm an awful poet, but I write anyway because it's soothing. Thank you for all of these suggestions! Maybe I can use them as inspiration and guidance as I try to write poetry myself 😊
mrmonk• in reply to
You're welcome! 😺 I wish I could recommend something more recent -- the books and poets I cited are older -- but the contemporary poems I read are generally from those daily email digests I mentioned, or just stuff I find randomly online.
Do you like to read poems, too?
Reading poetry, for me, has always been the best guidance for writing it. I admire your humility, self-awareness, and persistence -- no poet can be awful with those qualities.
So good to find a kindred spirit who also uses cat emojis instead of people emojis 😸
I don't mind that they aren't contemporary. I like reading poetry, but when I try looking for poetry books on my own, I don't know where to begin and I get a bit overwhelmed, so I appreciate you pointing me in a good direction.
I've also found that reading poetry is the best guidance for writing it! I get a bit analytical with poems... I spend a lot of time examining the pauses and patterns. It's fascinating!
And you are far too kind. Those sweet words have made my day and I hope to live up to them ❤️
mrmonk• in reply to
Ah, in light of your emoji preference, I'm guessing you, too, have a special feline friend? Do tell, do tell. 😻
One of the great things about reading poetry is that each poem is its own universe, so I can spend hours or days with a single poem I come across online or in an anthology, returning to it repeatedly to reexperience and rediscover. A single poem is like a book that never really ends.
But there's just so much poetry out there! It is overwhelming, as you say. I just wrote to another friend from HealthUnlocked (a gifted writer, whose posts are often wonderfully vivid excursions in the British outdoors) and I suggested the idea of starting a poetry reading group chat, where we'd select some poems (from anthologies or collections or what have you) and talk about them -- how they make us feel, memories or experiences they conjure, the significance of those pauses and patterns you mentioned (we must be kindred spirits because I'm shamelessly obsessed with how poems work, the magic trick's slight of hand.) I haven't heard back from my friend yet, but I was wondering if it would be something in which you'd be interested?
I used to organize local poetry readings and discussion groups, and it was such a joy to see how sharing thoughts and feelings about poems could bring a community together. I think it could do the same remotely for folks in self-isolation during the pandemic.
And hey, maybe, it could be a boon to those of us writing poems, too? Feel free to message me if you'd be interested. 😺
“Empty Bottles Full of Stories” by R.H Sins
• in reply toFearIsALiar
Ooo Yes! Thank you. Are there any poems I should pay particular attention to?
FearIsALiar• in reply to
I say all of them are good so I can’t just choose one 🥰
The lost continent by Bill Bryson. It’s hilarious; I can turn to any page and have a nice chuckle or even silly laugh
How long is the book?
Just short of 300 pages
Thank you! When I get done with breakfast tomorrow morning, I will look it up.😀👍🌈📚🐇📖
• in reply toKainan
Awesome! Humorous books are great 😄 Thank you!
Author Laura Levine for humerous murder-solving books by an amature PI.
• in reply tosashaming1
Humor and murder! Perfect combo 😄 Thank you!
How about "The Works" by Beryl Cook [works of the artist, good for a giggle!]or "Rogues, Villains and Eccentrics" by William Donaldson [An A-Z of Roguish Britons through the Ages] (I like black humour!) that last one will keep you up?
• in reply toAdlon57
Dark humor is always welcome 😄 Thank you for the suggestions!
Adlon57• in reply to
The Rebus collection written by Ian Rankin, I have about eighteen of them, the Scottish detective set in Edinburgh, probably my favourite Fleshmarket Close . A favourite read from my student days The Prince [translated by George Bull] by Niccolo Machiavelli 🤓🤓🤓
Hmm 🤔 in front of the class
I only watched the movie and it’s about a teacher with Tourette’s syndrome the movie made me cry
But there is a book
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