These Books Make for the Perfect Escape You May Need Right Now
The world is a crazy place. Sometimes you just need a good book to help you escape and unwind.
Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Scouted/Unsplash
If you’ve been reading the news recently (you’re on The Daily Beast so I’ll assume you have been), you might be a little stressed. You could consider a weighted blanket right now, sure, but nothing helps me unwind and escape the way a really good book does. If you’re having trouble finding the perfect book to pick up, fear not. We’ve rounded up some of our favorites from any genre of escape you might be searching for.
Pizza Girl
Recommended to us by Bryan Washington, Pizza Girl traces a pregnant, eighteen year old pizza delivery girl working in Los Angeles. Washington said the book felt “like every moment is earned and inevitable. It’s one I recommend when someone asks me what they should read next.”
Interior Chinatown
The winner of the 2020 National Book Award, this satire does not disappoint. It’s one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time. It’s witty, yet daringly moving as it traces Wills Wu’s journey through Chinatown and his own identity.
The City We Became
The only fantasy book on this list, and therefore the only one that can actually help you escape reality in the strictest sense of it, The City We Became traces multiple stories through New York. Read just one chapter, and you’ll be hooked.
Hidden Valley Road
I haven’t read a more gripping book in a long time. Kolker traces the lives of the Galvin family, a family of twelve. Six of the boys were diagnosed with schizophrenia. It reads like a tragedy because it is one.
Hamnet
If you're a Shakespeare fan, this one’s for you. Since Shakespeare’s son Hamnet died a few years before he wrote “Hamlet,” O’Farrell wonders if this is how the famous play was born. It’s an excellent story of turning something horrible into something beautiful and everlasting.
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