By Rachel Holcomb

Monroe Public Library

I know we’ve all heard it before, but we truly are living in wild and unprecedented times. With a global pandemic making the rounds and several new rules in place to try to slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep us safe, the majority of us find ourselves quarantined at home. 

For those of us who are not essential workers (thank you essential workers!), we seem to have a lot of free time on our hands, perhaps for the first time in years. For library users and literature lovers, I think it’s safe to say that we tried to see a silver lining in all this when we found out we were about to be stuck inside for the foreseeable future, and assumed this would be the perfect time to catch up on all that reading we’ve missed out on over the years. 

You know, the backlist of bestsellers we’ve heard about, the teetering to-be-read pile on our bedside tables, that friend’s recommendation we just never got to, that Oprah book pick or Pulitzer Prize winner that it feels like everyone but you read. A lot of us clearly went into this thing with lofty goals. According to a survey done by Rakuten Intelligence, “online book sales skyrocketed 777% in the first half of April, compared with the first half of March before stay-at-home orders were issued.” 

If that statistic just filled you with doubt and self-loathing, you are not alone. But I would wager that many of these downloaded books have not yet been read, as some of that was simply wishful downloading. I say this because so many of us are finding it very hard to read right now. There’s a lot going on in our lives and in our brains. For lots of book lovers, reading is a relaxing escape in which you can let your mind wander, a wind-down at the end of a long day. But all our days are long now, not divided up into neat, manageable moments, time feels irrelevant, and the stress and chaos we’re all experiencing can’t be left behind at the end of the day. (What day is it anyway?) 

Anxiety, fear and a racing brain can make it very difficult to focus on something like the page in front of you. Even the most avid readers among us are finding ourselves picking up a book, staring at the words for a few minutes, only to sadly set it aside and choose Netflix for the 900th time instead. (I’m currently obsessed with Outer Banks, by the way.) 

It feels so much easier to just zone out in front of a screen, doesn’t it? If this has happened to you, and you feel like a failure because of it (because you are an avid reader, this is your moment) I am here to tell you to stop. Stop feeling that way, stop judging yourself, stop feeling like you are the only person who can’t get through a single chapter. Most of us can’t get through a single chapter. Rest assured, even your librarians are struggling to read in these trying times.

If you have gotten this far down the page, congratulations and let me give you a social distancing-approved figurative high five. This article may even be hard for you to read right now. And you are forgiven if you don’t get through it — we need to be kind to ourselves right now. 

We’re all judging by a different standard these days. If you can’t focus, instead of hating yourself and repeatedly picking up “Ulysses” or “Moby Dick,” try something smaller, like a magazine article, a short story collection, or even a children’s book. You could also check out a different format, like an audiobook, or even a podcast. Listening can be much more relaxing and requires less focus — plus you can do other things at the same time, which will soothe your restless mind. 

That brings me to my next point: perhaps the stress of a pandemic isn’t your problem as much as your to-do list is. Maybe you feel like there is so much you should be doing instead of reading — like deep cleaning the house, learning a new language, baking sourdough bread or teaching your children trigonometry. Those are good and noble things that may need doing. I am here to tell you that you are in no way obligated to better yourself at this time, and if anyone judges you for not becoming trilingual in quarantine, feel free to change your Netflix password on them. But try not to feel like taking time for you isn’t just as important as housework and taking care of everyone else.

Crises requires you to put the oxygen mask on yourself before you put it on anyone else, and so it really is vital that you try and practice some self-care right now. If for you that means reading, then I sincerely hope you are able to get there. Start small if need be, remember that many of us feel just like you, and we’re all in this together.

Perhaps reading hasn’t been too hard for you. But finding what you are in the mood for right now can still be tricky. Perhaps you want to read about isolated places and horrible things, even disasters, epidemics and the end of the world. Reading about danger and doom puts things into perspective, and can even feel relatable in times like these. Maybe you seek the opposite — you want happy, feel-good, anything to take your mind off what is going on in the world right now; perhaps even favorite classics from childhood for maximum comfort. Some read to be informed — you might choose nonfiction about past pandemics, for example. 

Maybe you’re busying yourself around the house right now and will reach for cookbooks, gardening guides and home improvement books. You dreamers may be grabbing every travel book in sight to think about future trips and reminisce about past ones. These are just a sampling of options, but hopefully they will help you land on something. 

Lastly, if you are wondering where to find reading material in lockdown, you have options. Your library is still offering full access to Libby, the free app that offers thousands of ebooks and audiobooks. There are also lots of great ebook deals online right now. If you prefer to order your books in print, independent bookstores are really hurting right now and would appreciate the business. 

Rest assured that the Monroe Public Library is still here for you. Check us out on Facebook and Instagram or head over to our website for all the latest updates.

I hope this brought you some comfort and gave you some ideas on how to get the most out of your literary lockdown. 

— Cover to Cover is provided by the Monroe Public Library and is published monthly in the Times.