10 books to read during coronavirus lockdown that will soothe, inspire and stimulate

If you’re worried about your excess screen time, it might be time to switch to a book. These 10 titles will keep you occupied during isolation.

Contrary to popular belief, there really is a limit to how many episodes of The West Wing you can binge on Stan. (That limit is four. Trust us, we’ve done the leg work.)

When you’ve hit your screen time maximum but you’re still in need of entertainment during lockdown, it might be time to switch to a book. Remember those? With paper pages that you turn, not swipe?

Whether it’s a soothing read, a gripping thriller, a sprawling franchise or a prescient commentary on our current era that you’re looking for, here is a list of our favourite books to read during isolation.

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THE MIRROR AND THE LIGHT
Hilary Mantel

Is there a better time to read a 900-page treatise on the machinations of King Henry VIII’s court in Tudor England than in the middle of lockdown? The latest book in Hilary Mantel’s award-winning historical fiction series – previous titles include Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies – is an epic tale of intrigue, rebellion and betrayal that will have you gripped right until the very last page. If this is your introduction to the series, you may want to buy the complete set and start from the beginning, following Thomas Cromwell throughout the course of his fascinating life. Let’s be honest, what else are you going to be doing with your time?

THREE HOURS
Rosamund Lupton

In Three Hours, the nailbiting new thriller from Rosamund Lupton, a school in a picturesque corner of England is in lockdown because of an active shooter, stalking the grounds. The teachers and headmaster have three hours to figure out why their school has been targeted, what the shooter wants and whether they can protect the lives of the hundreds of young students hiding inside the school buildings. This smart and perfectly plotted mystery is for anyone looking for a true page-turner.

This nailbiting thriller will have you glued to the page.

SUCH A FUN AGE
Kiley Reid

Reese Witherspoon and Queen and Slim writer Lena Waithe have both sung the praises of this best-selling novel, which tells the story of a young black nanny accused of kidnapping the white child she is babysitting. This incident sparks off an unravelling of the relationship between Emira, the nanny, and Alix, the mother of the child, with author Reid balancing these two perspectives perfectly – and with an escalating and compelling tension. The way that the story unfolds feels cinematic, so it’s not surprising that Waithe has snapped up the television rights. You can expect Such A Fun Age to become the next Big Little Lies or Little Fires Everywhere.

Looking for things to pass the time? The best shows to watch, the funniest videos, the best hacks and home workouts? Find it all at our Life (goes on) in Lockdown section

APEIROGON, A NOVEL
Colum McCann

There is a message of kindness, compassion and community at the heart of Colum McCann’s latest novel, which traces the close and enduring friendship between two men – one Israeli, one Palestinian – who are both grieving the loss of their daughters. An ‘apeirogon’ is a shape that has an infinite amount of sides, and this novel after which such an occurrence is named has a similar spirit of empathy. What more could you be looking for right now?

FOURTEEN
Shannon Molloy

If what you need to get you through lockdown is a tale of struggle, survival and incredible resilience, you need to pick up Fourteen. This memoir is by news.com.au’s own journalist Shannon Molloy and chronicles a year in the life of his teenage self, a gay 14-year-old at an all-boys Catholic school in regional Queensland.

If you need a good cry, this book will do just that. Picture: Supplied.

It’s funny how, at 14, a year is both only a year and your entire life, and Molloy’s writing perfectly captures the way that adolescence feels like you are falling and flying, all at the same time.

TRACE ELEMENTS
Donna Leon

When the world feels like it’s changing every single day, sometimes you need a good old-fashioned procedural. The more things change, the more things stay the same in detective novels, which is why they can be so comforting in such a strange and uncertain time as the one we’re living through. Like Donna Leon’s best-selling Commisario Brunetti series, whose 29th iteration was published last month and which deals, as it always does, with shocking crimes of passion and anguish against the beautiful backdrop of the Venetian canals. It follows Leon’s tried-and-tested formula to the letter in the best possible way. Reading Commisario Brunetti solve his latest case is a comforting and reassuring thing right now.

A THEATRE FOR DREAMERS
Polly Samson

Holidays might be off the table for the moment, and rightly so, but you can still armchair travel with the help of a good book. TryA Theatre For Dreamers by Polly Samson, a very sexy novel that mostly takes place on the sun-drenched Greek island of Hydra in the 1960s, where a young Leonard Cohen has fallen in with a crew of bohemians misbehaving long into those lazy, hazy summer nights.

MY DARK VANESSA
Kate Elizabeth Russell

If you’re a member of a book club – now being hosted on Zoom once a month, in lieu of IRL catch-ups over wine and cheese – there’s a good chance that you’re already reading this book. My Dark Vanessa is one of the most talked-about new releases of the year, which is unsurprising given its subject matter.

There’s a reason why this book is being read in book clubs the nation over.

Kate Elizabeth Russell’s novel follows Vanessa who, in her 30s, begins to look back on a relationship that she had with a teacher at her prestigious boarding school with a dawning understanding of what really happened to her when she was an isolated, lonely 15-year-old. This is a book that is unsettling and unrelentless in the way it asks readers to think about its central subject matter – no wonder book clubs are devouring it in droves. There’s plenty to talk about when it comes to My Dark Vanessa.

MISS AUSTEN
Gill Hornby

If life is starting to feel like a Jane Austen novel right now – longing to go for a bracing walk on your own, wearing gloves all the time, taking a ‘turn about the room’ in an effort to keep things interesting – you’re not alone. To carry on that Austen mood, this novel by Gill Hornby looks into the mystery of why a brace of letters written by the celebrated author were destroyed by her sister Cassandra shortly after her death, and has perfectly captured Austen’s unique voice.

THE GLASS HOTEL
Emily St John Mandel

This author’s previous work, Station Eleven, has been much cited in pandemic reading lists because it’s all about, well, a deadly pandemic. In it, almost all of the world’s population is wiped out from a devastating flu, with the surviving humans left to piece together the fragments of society, through community, kindness and the works of William Shakespeare. The result is a story that is hopeful, rather than grim, but we understand if you feel like now isn’t the right time to dive into that sort of narrative. Which is why we want to recommend her latest book The Glass Hotel, released just last month. It’s a story of human connection, focusing on the bartender at a five-star hotel who, one day, vanishes into thin air. Read this poetic and haunting tale, and then think about whether you want to tackle Station Eleven next.

What are you reading in lockdown? Share your favourites in the comments below

Originally published as 10 books to read during coronavirus lockdown that will soothe, inspire and stimulate