“Quarantine” Book List – Curated by the UC Berkeley English Department

Earlier last week, I reached out to English department faculty members and grad students to gather book recommendations to explore during this time of uncertainty. The selections range from fantastical escapes to tragicomedies, to apocalyptic plots that feel all too relevant to what we are experiencing today. 

We hope that this list will inspire you to find comfort in the simplicity of settling in with a good book.

If you haven’t already, please make sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter where we will be highlighting book selections with thought-provoking comments from our faculty and grad students.

 

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

 

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks

 

Krapp’s Last Tape a one-act play, by Samuel Beckett

 

Waiting for Godot a play by Samuel Beckett

 

Watt by Samuel Beckett

 

When the Sick Rule the World by Dodie Bellamy

 

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

 

The Plague by Albert Camus

 

The Brothers K by David James Duncan

 

The Idiot by F.M. Dostoevsky

 

The Novel Cure by Ella Berthoud and Susan Elderkin

 

The Calcutta Chromosome by Amitav Ghosh 

 

The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin 

 

All for Nothing by Walter Kempowski

 

Mutual Aid: A Factor of Evolution by Peter Kropotkin

 

The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin

 

Severance by Ling Ma

 

Circe by Madeline Miller

 

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

 

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

 

Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter

 

The Overstory by Richard Powers

 

In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust

 

The Book of the Dead by Muriel Rukeyser

 

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

 

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

 

The Makioka Sisters by Junichiro Tanizaki