Pandemic books, not "pandemic books"
November 18, 2022 5:30 PM Subscribe
I have recently read numerous "pandemic books" that are so designated because they were written in lockdown. I would like to read some fiction that is set during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Preference for characters really trying their best to do the right thing. Lots of bonus points for not resolving everything with "ok, the pandemic is over so we can live happily ever after".
Books do not need to be set during the height of the pandemic; I would also appreciate some books set in current times that acknowledge the continuing impacts/risks/dangers of COVID. I usually prefer fiction that is on the lighter side - not capital-L Literature, not too gruesome or gory, and definitely no horror. YA is fine and even encouraged.
Preference for characters really trying their best to do the right thing. Lots of bonus points for not resolving everything with "ok, the pandemic is over so we can live happily ever after".
Books do not need to be set during the height of the pandemic; I would also appreciate some books set in current times that acknowledge the continuing impacts/risks/dangers of COVID. I usually prefer fiction that is on the lighter side - not capital-L Literature, not too gruesome or gory, and definitely no horror. YA is fine and even encouraged.
Been trying to get mine published, lol!
But scalzi’s Kaiju Preservation Society starts there ….
posted by tilde at 5:34 PM on November 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
But scalzi’s Kaiju Preservation Society starts there ….
posted by tilde at 5:34 PM on November 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
New From Here by Kelly Yang is the only one I can think of. This is an older middle grade title, think 5th-6th grader level with appeal about 4th-8th.
Random by Penn Jillette is set just prior to and at the beginning of the pandemic. It is addressed a little bit and a plot point but it's not the focus of the book. This book may not work for your taste.
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:35 PM on November 18, 2022
Random by Penn Jillette is set just prior to and at the beginning of the pandemic. It is addressed a little bit and a plot point but it's not the focus of the book. This book may not work for your taste.
posted by blnkfrnk at 5:35 PM on November 18, 2022
I Would Be Doing This Anyway, Jia Tolentino
The Sentence, Louise Erdrich
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:36 PM on November 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
The Sentence, Louise Erdrich
posted by Iris Gambol at 5:36 PM on November 18, 2022 [3 favorites]
A portion of Sea of Tranquility is during the pandemic.
posted by sacrifix at 6:01 PM on November 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by sacrifix at 6:01 PM on November 18, 2022 [6 favorites]
I believe Elizabeth Strout’s new novel, Lucy by the Sea, is set during the pandemic.
posted by somedaycatlady at 6:03 PM on November 18, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by somedaycatlady at 6:03 PM on November 18, 2022 [4 favorites]
"The Problem With the Pandemic Plot" has several leads (NYT article from February, archived link)
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:00 PM on November 18, 2022
posted by Iris Gambol at 7:00 PM on November 18, 2022
+1 for Wish You Were Here
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 7:10 PM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Goblin Barbarian at 7:10 PM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
Jason Reynolds' and Jason Griffin's Ain't Burned All the Bright, and Rez Dogs by Joseph Bruchac are two books that I have read in the past year that deal with the pandemic. Ain't Burned All the Bright is a book that defies categorization- but is marketed as YA. Rez Dogs is middle grade fiction.
posted by momochan at 7:15 PM on November 18, 2022
posted by momochan at 7:15 PM on November 18, 2022
The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths. Book 14 in a mystery series.
posted by AMyNameIs at 7:17 PM on November 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by AMyNameIs at 7:17 PM on November 18, 2022 [2 favorites]
Caught a Vibe by Eva Moore. (High heat level warning.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:35 PM on November 18, 2022
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:35 PM on November 18, 2022
+ 1 for Joan is Okay, by Weike Wang. It’s told from the perspective of a female, Chinese-American ICU doctor in NYC. I will reread it, it was that good.
posted by Maarika at 8:42 PM on November 18, 2022
posted by Maarika at 8:42 PM on November 18, 2022
Mick Herron's Bad Actors has some COVID-specific moments (a telling scene involving who does and who doesn't use hand sanitizer, for example) but COVID isn't a main plot point.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:56 PM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:56 PM on November 18, 2022 [1 favorite]
+1 for The Fell by Sarah Moss. It's a novella set in the Peak District in England in November 2020, which puts it in the gap between the original lockdown and the "oh whoops" last-minute Christmas lockdown. Everyone is trying to do the right thing, but one character in particular is having to seek a balance between doing the right thing for society and doing the right thing to keep from losing her mind. Moss is on the literary side of things, but I'm a low-to-middlebrow reader and really enjoy her books; and there is an injury (not a spoiler, it's mentioned on the back of the book) but I would also stipulate "not too gruesome or gory" and was able to read it without flinching.
Also +1 for The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths, which is set in Norfolk. Griffiths writes breezy, accessible crime novels - I read them like popcorn. This one is Book 14, yes, but I don't think you'd have any trouble getting up to speed. The series protagonist is a middle-aged archaeologist with a tween daughter; she lives in a fairly isolated cottage on the edge of the coastal marshes; she has a complicated relationship with her daughter's father, a senior policeman; their friends include fellow academics and police, plus a druid. This one is set right at the start of the pandemic, before and during the first lockdown, and some of the characters are a little more inclined to stretch some of the rules; it actually helped me understand how/why people did that.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:04 AM on November 19, 2022
Also +1 for The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths, which is set in Norfolk. Griffiths writes breezy, accessible crime novels - I read them like popcorn. This one is Book 14, yes, but I don't think you'd have any trouble getting up to speed. The series protagonist is a middle-aged archaeologist with a tween daughter; she lives in a fairly isolated cottage on the edge of the coastal marshes; she has a complicated relationship with her daughter's father, a senior policeman; their friends include fellow academics and police, plus a druid. This one is set right at the start of the pandemic, before and during the first lockdown, and some of the characters are a little more inclined to stretch some of the rules; it actually helped me understand how/why people did that.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 2:04 AM on November 19, 2022
He Used Thought as a Wife by (comedian/poet) Tim Key
edited to add: I guess it’s borderline whether this counts as fiction? It’s not not fiction.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 2:21 AM on November 19, 2022
edited to add: I guess it’s borderline whether this counts as fiction? It’s not not fiction.
posted by Bloxworth Snout at 2:21 AM on November 19, 2022
+1 for Burntcoat which isn't our pandemic but kind of is but is also one of the best books I read in 2022.
posted by janey47 at 10:45 AM on November 19, 2022
posted by janey47 at 10:45 AM on November 19, 2022
I have not read this book, but The Boys by Katie Hafner has gotten good reviews (NY Times: "Katie Hafner's taut and utterly delightful debut is a novel of multitudes.")
posted by kristi at 5:15 PM on November 21, 2022
[Ethan and Barb] decide to foster two young boys, but when the Covid-19 pandemic hits and Ethan develops an overbearing attachment to them, his relationship with Barb disintegrates. She leaves him and he takes the boys on a bike trip to Italy, where a jaw-dropping twist ensues.(I know about this book because I follow hospitalist and covid tracker Dr. Bob Wachter, and Hafner is his wife, so he's mentioned all the good reviews as they come out.)
posted by kristi at 5:15 PM on November 21, 2022
Delphi by Clare Pollard
a classics professor immersed in her studies of ancient prophecies—navigates the tightening grip of lockdown, a marriage in crisis, and a ten-year-old son who seems increasingly unreachableposted by a humble nudibranch at 11:38 AM on November 22, 2022
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by sibilatorix at 5:31 PM on November 18, 2022