The Need to Read
Dear Em and Lil,
All my friends have read so many books during quarantine and I haven’t finished a single one. How do I get back into reading? Do you have any book recommendations?
-Bookless Betty
LIL: You asked how to get back into reading, so that tells me you used to be a bigger reader than you are now. Think about the books you read when you were a kid that had you staying up all night with a flashlight. Reignite your love of reading by going for similar subjects.
Were you a Percy Jackson fan? Read Circe by Madeline Miller. Baby-Sitters Club? Read Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. Did you love everything by Beverly Cleary (Ramona Quimby and all the rest)? Read A Girl From Yamhill, the author’s memoir about growing up in 1920s Portland. It might sound dry but seriously, it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read!
If I could leave you with one other thought, it’s this: don’t buy books! Get them from the library instead, and you won’t have to feel bad if you lose interest partway through. Your library building might be closed now, but once it opens back up, browse around in there, and by all means, judge books by their covers!
EM: Reading, like drinking, is about easing into things. Much like how you start with raspberry vodka rather than aged whiskey, you might prefer rom com lit to Anna Karenina. Here are some raspberry vodka suggestions.
Bachelor Nation: Lillian and I have a disgusting (excellent?) habit of watching The Bachelor and having intense reactions. Even better than the show itself is the dramatized tv series UnREAL which takes you behind the scenes of the contestants and behind the behind scenes of the producers. And even better than UnREAL is this book. Bachelor “tea” and poignant takes live alongside one another… somehow…. someway.
Spinster: Have you ever felt like there is one prescribed life you are meant to live? Job, marriage, house, kids, dog? No— ferret. Does your success feel like it is measured by how far or close you fall to the prescribed life? This book will help you dismantle the idea of how you are supposed to live your life.
Here’s Looking at You: Mhairi McFarlane’s romcom books (I refuse the genre titles chicklit and women’s lit) are absolute revenge fantasies. Imagine you are having a hard time in life and embarrass yourself in front of your crush. What’s next, you have a major glow up and everyone and their mother was “wrong about you” and wants to be with you. These books will not take you closer to Buddhist enlightenment, but they go down so good. Like a raspberry vanilla cocktail.
