When the Netflix shows have been binged, the banana bread baked, and the toothbrushes disinfected, there's only one thing left to do: Start reading.
Luckily, the past few weeks have been a goldmine for great books, whether you need a little laughter, poetry, romance, or suspense. Getting lost in a gripping book is not only a great way to escape from current world issues, but it's also a good way to take a break from screens and boost your creativity.
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Here, 8 recently released books to help you find your next escape.
Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby
Bestselling author Samantha Irby is back with her latest collection of essays, which covers everything from her move to the Midwest and bad dates with new friends to spending time in L.A. as a "cheese fry–eating slightly damp Midwest person" — all in a very specifically and hysterically detailed way. You'll feel like you're catching up with an old friend.
Joy at Work: Organizing Your Professional Life, by Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo is back at it again with her latest organizational book, which is all about decluttering your work life. Ironically, it couldn't have come at a better time, since the struggle to balance work and home is at an all-time high. Consider this the one requirement for a successful WFH life.
Strike Me Down by Mindy Mejia
As a forensic accountant and partner in her downtown Minneapolis firm, Nora Trier is used to playing by the book and catching thieves who don't. But when $20 million goes missing and a local company hires her firm to help hunt it down, Nora's secrets start to get in the way and trigger a complicated and potentially deadly search for the truth. With endless plot twists and turns, this thriller will have you guessing right up to the last page.
The Upside of Being Down: How Mental Health Struggles Led to My Greatest Successes in Work and Life by Jen Gotch
As the founder of the wildly fun and colorful Ban.do, Jen Gotch's life hasn't always been rainbows and butterflies. In this inspirational memoir, Gotch recaps her life growing up in Florida, her struggles with the misdiagnoses — and then eventual acceptance — of her mental health, and her winding career path, as it led from odd jobs to her eventual (and self-described) role as an "accidental" entrepreneur. It's funny, raw, and relatable — everything you could wish for from a memoir.
How Much of These Hills Is Gold: A Novel by C Pam Zhang
Set against the twilight of the American gold rush, this debut novel was named one of the most anticipated books of 2020. Two newly orphaned siblings are on the run in an unforgiving landscape — trying not just to survive, but to find a home. On a broad level, it explores race in an expanding country and the question of where immigrants are allowed to belong, but, page by page, it's about the memories that bind and divide families.
Recollections of My Nonexistence by Rebecca Solnit
Author and activist Solnit writes in this enlightening, nonlinear memoir of her life as a poor young woman in 1980s San Francisco and her development as a writer and feminist thinker. Along the way, she highlights her publishing achievements, including the viral essay, Men Explain Things to Me, which inspired the term "mansplaining." This is a thinking person's book about writing, female identity, and freedom by a powerful and motivating voice for change.
The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
The award-winning author of Station Eleven is back with a captivating novel about money, beauty, white-collar crime, ghosts, and moral compromise, in which a woman disappears from a container ship off the coast of Mauritania and a massive Ponzi scheme implodes in New York, dragging countless fortunes with it.
More Myself: A Journey by Alicia Keys
Part autobiography and part narrative documentary, this book is an intimate, revealing look at Alicia Keys' journey, revealed not only through her own candid recounting but also through vivid recollections from those who have walked alongside her. The result is a 360-degree perspective on Alicia's path, from her girlhood in Hell's Kitchen and Harlem to the process of growth and self-discovery that we all must navigate.