Book Recommendations for Self-Isolation 📚

Seeing as most of us are stuck at home because of lockdown, I thought I'd publish a blog about my book recommendations to try and encourage my audience to use this time productively and not get bored!

Without further ado, here are my top picks for fiction, non-fiction, classics, and poetry & drama.

Fiction

The Fault in Our Stars, John Green (romance, young adult, cancer)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, Gail Honeyman (mental health)
Carry On, Rainbow Rowell (romance, LGBT, young adult, fantasy)

One of us is Lying, Karen McManus (young adult, crime/mystery)

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller (romance, LGBT, Ancient Greece)

Faceless, Alyssa Sheinmel (young adult, illness)

The Bunker Diary, Kevin Brooks (horror)

The Maze Runner Series, James Dashner (dystopia, science fiction, young adult)

Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman (fantasy, humour)

Will Grayson, Will Grayon, John Green and David Levithan (romance, LGBT, humour, mental health)

Paper Towns, John Green (romance, young adult)

Autoboyography, Christina Lauren (romance, young adult, LGBT, religion)

Everything, Everything, Nicola Yoon (romance, young adult, illness)

On the other side, Carrie Hope Fletcher (romance)

Call me by your name, André Aciman (romance, LGBT)

Non-fiction

Playing with Flying Keys, Lang Lang (autobiography, music)
Stupid White Men, Michael Moore (politics, state crime, sociology)

Becoming, Michelle Obama (autobiography, politics, feminism)

A Work in Progress, Connor Franta (autobiography, LGBT)

The Psychology Book (psychology)

Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, edited by Anthony Thwaite (literature)

Classics

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde (Gothic, supernatural, romance, LGBT)

Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë (romance, feminism, coming of age)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle (crime/mystery)

Carmilla, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (Gothic, horror, fantasy, LGBT)

Little Women, Louisa May Alcott (romance, coming of age, religion)

Dracula, Bram Stoker (Gothic, horror)

The Invisible Man, H. G. Wells (science fiction)

Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood (crime)

The Beautiful and Damned, F. Scott Fitzgerald (society)

Maurice, E. M. Forster (romance, LGBT)

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley (Gothic, science fiction, horror, romance)

Olivia, Dorothy Strachey (romance, LGBT)

The Well of Loneliness, Radclyffe Hall (romance, LGBT)

The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood (dystopia, feminism, science fiction)

Poetry & Drama

The World's Wife, Carol Ann Duffy (poetry, feminism, satire)
Look We Have Coming to Dover!, Daljit Nagra (poetry, race and ethnicity, identity)

The Essential Emily Dickinson, edited by Joyce Carol Oates (poetry)

The Less Deceived, Philip Larkin (poetry, death, relationships)

Howl, Allen Ginsberg (poetry)

The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde (drama, satire, identity, relationships)

Twelfth Night, Shakespeare (drama, satire, identity, relationships)

Othello, Shakespeare (drama, romance, tragedy, race, identity, status)

An Inspector Calls, J. B. Priestley (drama, politics/socialism)

~~~

The National Theatre are releasing one play each week during quarantine, free to watch on their YouTube Channel - so far they have streamed Twelfth Night, Treasure Island, Jane Eyre and One Man, Two Guvnors. I'd recommend this for anyone who studies English Literature, as well as those who prefer to watch classics rather than read them.

Let me know in the comments if you decide to read any of these recommendations, and let me know what you think!

Stay safe,

- R