Beacon Books to Turn to During the Coronavirus Quarantine
May 06, 2020
Can you taste it? The taste of joy when quarantine ends, the panic shopping eases up, and we can get on with the new reality of civilian life. The coronavirus pandemic will change the way we live. However the new reality takes shape, we’ll be ready and eager to get back outside. Not to mention delirious with relief. Until then, safety first. But at least we have plenty of books to turn to as resources and for escape as we shelter in place!
We pulled together a list of titles from our catalog that speak to our homebound times. Whatever your fancy, there are three categories to choose from. Inspiring books to help find meaning and solace during this period of stress and despair. Books on remaking society to show how the pandemic affects many aspects of our day-to-day living and what we want to make better when this whole situation is behind us. And books to get lost in, because we could use a breather from the COVID-19 craziness, right? Scroll down to take a look! You can check out our website to see more titles as well.
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Yes to Life: In Spite of Everything
Viktor E. Frankl
Introduction by Daniel Goleman
“This slim, powerful collection from Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Frankl (Man’s Search for Meaning) attests to life’s meaning, even in desperate circumstances.”
—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Man’s Search for Meaning
Viktor E. Frankl
“This is a book I reread a lot . . . it gives me hope . . . it gives me a sense of strength.”
—Anderson Cooper, Anderson Cooper 360/CNN
The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
Thich Nhat Hanh
“Thich Nhat Hanh’s ideas for peace, if applied, would build a monument to ecumenism, to world brotherhood, to humanity.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.
The Stars in Our Pockets: Getting Lost and Sometimes Found in the Digital Age
Howard Axelrod
“Poetic, ruminative, and never preachy, this book is a game changer for readers who yearn to see beyond 240 characters.”
—Booklist, Starred Review
Marching Toward Coverage: How Women Can Lead the Fight for Universal Health Care
Rosemarie Day
“Day makes the case for why activism by women for our health and healthcare is the path forward for a resilient nation.”
—Juliette Kayyem, former assistant secretary, Department of Homeland Security, author of Security Mom
Natural: How Faith in Nature’s Goodness Leads to Harmful Fads, Unjust Laws, and Flawed Science
Alan Levinovitz
“Explores the power of that word and the often highly consequential ways in which it has been appreciated, appropriated, distorted, hyped, commodified, consecrated, and weaponized.”
—Robert M. Sapolsky, John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor of Neurology and of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, and author of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Proud Boys and the White Ethnostate: How the Alt-Right Is Warping the American Imagination
Alexandra Minna Stern
“An important study that extends the knowledge from other recent books that have demonstrated a stubbornly pervasive network of white nationalists.”
—Kirkus Reviews
Don’t Knock the Hustle: Young Creatives, Tech Ingenuity, and the Making of a New Innovation Economy
S. Craig Watkins
“An insightful guide to the humane potential of new ways of working and sharing. Ignore this book at your peril.”
—Juliet Schor, professor of sociology, Boston College
Why I Wake Early
Mary Oliver
“The gift of Oliver’s poetry is that she communicates the beauty she finds in the world and makes it unforgettable.”
—Miami Herald
Odetta: A Life in Music and Protest
Ian Zack
“A thoughtful portrait of an artist who never quite became as famous as she deserved to be . . . A much needed biography of a crucial American artist and activist.”
—Booklist, Starred Review
Being Heumann: An Unrepentant Memoir of a Disability Rights Activist
Judith Heumann and Kristen Joiner
“Judy’s vision of a society that embraces all aspects of the human condition and where we face adversity with wisdom is truly transformative. . . . All who read her book will be better for it.”
—Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, author of Lean In
Me Dying Trial
Patricia Powell
“Powell shows us the living within the dying, the foreigner within the native born, the male within the female. Her tales unfold like dreams spread out on a table.”
—Danzy Senna, author of Caucasia