A Breath of Fresh Books

Do you remember what your New Year’s resolutions were for the beginning of this year? Perhaps you made them in haste or ambiguity, well-versed in the annual task of bullet-pointing some ideals for the sake of it; otherwise, you may have taken the more cynical approach, abandoning the social tradition (read: obligation) altogether. As often happens, life gets in the way—and consequently, the luxury of time slips away altogether. The chance to read uninterrupted, embark on a fitness journey, prep meals for the week, draft that business plan to turn your “side hustle” into a “main hustle”…it seems impossible to squeeze everything into 24 hours, without even accounting for job/school plus commute, which is usually where we spend most of our time awake.

Cue the Pandemic of 2020™, officially named COVID-19, which ground the world to a halt. The routine, the security, the certainty of everything we once knew had all suddenly been thrown up in the air, with no good guesses as to when we might find some sense of normality again. For everyone, this has been a strange, stressful and difficult time (we are pointedly avoiding the word ‘unprecedented’, but there is a reason it’s become such a familiar part of our media vernacular now). Of course, this is heightened for those who were already vulnerable pre-pandemic—the elderly, the immunocompromised, the visibly and invisibly disabled, the poor, the homeless, and many others. Ethnic minorities. Refugees. Victims of domestic violence. Children in abusive homes. Members of LGBTQ+ communities. We are all facing our own challenges, whether that’s dealing with crippling loneliness, figuring out how to pay rent for the next few months, or struggling to feed your family or find suitable shelter in a world where key services have closed their doors.

It is more important than ever for us to be kind and compassionate to one another; to not jump to conclusions, and offer support at a safe distance. Those with the privilege of isolating comfortably will likely find themselves turning to simple pleasures—the kind that move our day along, fill us with purpose or at least keep us distracted from the oft-apocalyptic newsreel for five minutes at a time. All at once, the time we so craved to indulge in precious hobbies or better habits has landed in our lap: and it is ours to reclaim from the bottomless pit of what if?s and should haves. But first, slow down. Rest. Let your mind breathe amidst all the madness; the other pile, brimming with what next?s, can come later.

So, here is our breath of fresh books: an edit of five titles that are easy to read, mentally cleansing, and worthy time-fillers. In addition, leave your suggestions in the comments below for our community to browse—sharing is caring, after all.