When this article is published, I will
have completed nearly 4 weeks of staying
at home during the COVID-19 global pandemic, all while working and parenting
full-time. This time hasn’t been easy for anyone. These rapid changes in the
way we live, while necessary, have left so many of us anxious, lonely, and
pretty claustrophobic. I think I truly understand the sentiment of that old
commercial where the overwhelmed woman cries out, “Calgon, take me away!”.
In addition to all the concerning news,
so many of us have been transitioning to working from home. While the library
is closed to the public, the staff are doing our best to provide virtual
services and programs for Norwood residents. Reference librarians are currently
answering questions via the new RefChat
feature on our website. Located on the lower right corner
of the library’s website, this new service allows our patrons to connect with
librarians to ask questions virtually while the library is closed. RefChat is
live Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. If you use RefChat during
off-hours, don’t worry! An email will be sent to our librarians who will reply
back to you.
Reading has been one of my main coping
strategies during this time of upheaval. I’ve been using my Kindle and scouring
the library’s Overdrive
and Hoopla apps to find ebooks I can escape to before I
go to bed and audiobooks I can listen to while typing away on my home computer.
Recently, the library has increased the number of items patrons may check out
in Hoopla to 20 titles. Hooply is a streaming service with ebooks, digital
audiobooks, digital graphic novels, movies, and music available for Norwood
residents with their Minuteman Library Network card while Overdrive is a
service that allows users to check out ebooks and audiobooks like regular books
on our shelves.
For me, this is not the time for gritty
realistic fiction or grim murder mysteries. This is a time for escapism.
Fantasy and humorous writing are my preferred genres to transport myself
somewhere else from the comfort (confinement?) of my home or transform my mood
when I need a pick-me-up. I recently finished New York Times bestseller Sarah
J. Maas’ House of Earth and Blood, a
contemporary fantasy that incorporates magic, danger and hot romance into one
rollicking read. Main character Bryce Quinlan is a half-human,half-Fae seller
of rare antiques who gets drawn into the Crescent City’s underworld to solve
the murder of her best friend. The plot races along and requires readers to
suspend a lot of disbelief but the magical setting and characters are so enjoyable
that readers forgive some of the quirks of Maas’s writing style.
Vita Nostra, a Ukranian import by Marina and Sergei
Dyachenko and recently translated into English, is often described as a dark,
Russian version of Harry Potter. While this story does feature a young woman
who attends a special school and discovers she has extraordinary abilities, the
similarities end there. Sasha Samokhina
meets the mysterious Farit Kozhenikov, the man in sunglasses who demands she
perform strange tasks for gold coins. Sasha finds out she’s been accepted to
the Institute of Special Technology, an unknown school in a backwater town
where the lessons are obscure, the books can’t be read, and teachers punish
students for the lack of effort by threatening their families with physical
harm. Sasha figures out how to survive in this bizarre environment while
excelling at her schoolwork. In the end, readers are left wondering if Sasha’s
abilities are only magical or can actually re-shape the foundations of reality.
This is fantasy for readers who need a change of pace from predictable genre
tropes and are willing to power through Russian names and a complex, thoughtful
plot.
If fantasy isn’t your thing and being
stuck inside with family is starting to get to you, perhaps stories featuring
dark humor will get you through staying at home. No one loves to poke fun at
his family more than the irreverent David Sedaris and Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim
is a collection of hilarious stories featuring his dysfunctional siblings and
parents. Nothing remarkable usually happens during the course of his stories
but his observations about his family members charms and imperfections are
always funny but painfully relatable. Even if you are not an audiobook person,
listening to Sedaris read his own work is a treat that should not be missed.
Where’d You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple is a short, absurdist take on
suburban upper middle class America and what happens to a woman when she gives
up one dream for another. On the surface, Bernadette seems like a typical
stay-at-home helicopter mom. She obsesses over her brilliant daughter, shuttles
her from activity to activity and holds down the fort while her husband works
for Microsoft. Except Bernadette has never recovered from tragedies in her past
and is practically agoraphobic. She secretly loathes her life in suburban
Seattle and eventually escapes after a PTA disaster. Her family has to follow
her clues to find out what happened to Bernadette, past and present.
Books allow you to travel without leaving
your home. If you would like to use the library’s online resources but don’t
have a library card, you can fill out
this application for an e-card and get instant access. The
library is also facilitating the Together, Apart book group, an
online book group where people can join a Zoom meeting to discuss the books
they love and what they are reading. In a time when we must isolate ourselves
to protect ourselves and others, we still can go beyond our four walls and
connect with each other through books.
