You don't need to be in forced isolation to read more, but it certainly provides more time to fill. There is only so much Netflix content you can watch at one sitting.
So here are some ideas, some easy to read, some very serious fare and one stinker.
The Last Taxi Driver by Lee Durkee, a writer and former cabbie, is profane but laugh outloud funny. Bleak and madcap all at once.
St. X by Alexis Schaitken tells of a sister's mission to understand the man she thinks killed her sister years ago on a Caribbean island. Both a thriller and a psychological portrait, it is an engaging read.
Rain Will Come. I will not print the author's name. It is a pen name and he should remain nameless. Vigilante justice done very poorly. I only finished it because I got it free and I don't write reviews unless I finish the book.
A Hundred Suns by Karin Tanabe is an immersive journey to Indochine in the 1930's. A lush, elegant setting for a thriller, plus I learned about the politics that led to the Viet Nam war.
I strongly recommend My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell as an audible book. Stunningly performed by Grace Gummer, this is a very difficult story of psychological manipulation, power, memory and recovery. My boarding school friends will note that the dorm at the prep school is Gould.
Mrs. Mohr Goes Missing by Maryla Szymickowa introduces a Polish Agatha Christie in the form of a determined and resourceful socialite who uses her sense of humor like a blunt object. The character names can be challenging but stick with it. A romp of a read.
Did you like News of the World by Paulette Jiles? Then you will enjoy Simon The Fiddler. Spare prose delivers an evocative story set just after the Civil War as Simon, an itinerant fiddler, roams Southeast Texas. (News of The World is coming out as a movie with Tom Hanks.)
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