Features | What We're Reading During Self Isolation

Features | What We're Reading During Self Isolation

• Friday 3 April 2020

Like many around the world at this time, the Blogger's Bookshelf are in self isolation, whether that be for their own safety and health, or that and government decree. For us bibliophiles, self isolation and/or lockdown just means more time to read.

We thought we'd share with you what the BB team is reading during this time. We would also love to know what you're reading if you're self isolating at the moment. Drop us a comment or flick us a Tweet.

"Audiobooks have definitely been my friends this week!

I was already working my way through the Harry Potter series in this format as and when each one became available from my library and just finished The Order Of The Phoenix yesterday; I have The Half-Blood Prince lined up too! For a little break from HP, I also just finished listening to Checkmate, the third book in Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses series, and have a few other titles reserved including Little Women (which I’ve never read) and The Seven Husbands Of Evelyn Hugo (which I read a physical copy of last year and loved).

Aside from the audiobooks, I’ve just picked up Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen as last year I really enjoyed her most recent novel The Rest Of The Story." - Erin

"I'm currently in a bit of a reading slump and frankly, all of my free time that I would usually spend reading has been taken over by Animal Crossing.

However, I made myself finish the book I've been reading at the weekend (a reread of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time (again excellent)) so that I could start on The Hand On The Wall by Maureen Johnson. All of BB have raved about this series and after finishing the first two books last year I couldn't wait to get stuck into the third when it came out this month, and I finally made it to the top of the library reserves list last week!" - Sophie

"So far I've been gravitating towards the kind of cosy romance stories that guarantee a happy ending, like The Little Shop of Happy Ever After by Jenny Colgan, and The Oyster Catcher by Jo Thomas. Both are novels where the heroine's world is shaken at the start but with the kindness of strangers everything works out in the end." - Anastasia

"The past few weeks I've been reading Artemis Fowl. I never finished the series as a kid for some reason, so caught up on the last two books before diving into The Fowl Twins, which is the beginning of a new series by Eoin Colfer. I'm about to pick up some stories which will be pretty feel-good, like The Gentleman’s Guide to Getting Lucky novella by Mackenzi Lee and Yes No Maybe So which is the new one from Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed." - Anjali

"I've been turning to old favourites right now. I'm re-reading The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman, and working through the audiobooks of the Harry Potter series. I'm trying to see this as a chance for reading and writing." - Kelly

"I'm currently reading In the Country by Mia Alvar. I've found attention span waning and am, like many I suspect, a little homesick. So a short story collection about Filipinos around the world seems like the perfect antidote right now." - Ria

What are you reading during self isolation?

Photo by Fabiola Peñalba on Unsplash