Surrounded: How Books Are Keeping Me Going in Quarantine

My name is Marina, and I’m addicted to books.

They’re everywhere. I stack them anywhere there is an open space. My closet holds more books than clothes. Books serve as stands for mirrors, lamps, and jewelry stands. A bench I expected to refurbish years ago has become a makeshift bookcase, with books of all kinds stacked on and arranged underneath. I do have a bookshelf in my room, but it’s full. The top shelf has all of my signed books, which is nearing capacity. Everything is haphazardly organized; if I sent someone in for a specific book, they would be hard pressed to find it. I know where everything is, though. I could find it in seconds.

I don’t discriminate on what books I enter in my collection. Fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and every cross-genre in between can hold its own place. If the title or cover intrigues me, I take it. If I’ve heard good things about an author before, I take it. Anything that remotely touches the genre of true crime or mystery automatically winds up on my shelf. Whether I’m in Barnes and Noble, a used bookstore off the beaten path, or I come across a little free library, there is no such thing as self-control.

Which is why, inevitably, my parents have begun to discourage me from adopting these new stories, especially since I recently moved in with them. Money and space are tight. I’m currently one of the more fortunate people able to keep a job where I have some sort of income coming in, even if it is only $40 a week. My part-time nannying job is off the table, and it’s still to be determined if my summer job is going to work out. The global pandemic has weaved its way into every aspect of my life.

I have many symptoms that line up with COVID-19, minus one or two. I know there are thousands like me, who are sick but have no idea what could possibly be wrong with us. The symptoms aren’t severe enough to put me in the hospital (not yet, God willing), but not mundane enough so that urgent care would even consider letting me walk through the doors. In my state, like many, we are experiencing a severe test shortage, so the only way I’d know if I have COVID-19 is if I were to land in the hospital, on a ventilator, alone.

I am locked in my room indefinitely. It’s about 15×10 feet, and most of the day is spent in my bed, about five paces from my door. There are so many things I took for granted. Sitting on the couch with my mom watching our favorite shows. Sneaking into my Dad’s office and giving him a hug “good morning” while he’s on a conference call. Sitting at the foot of the bed at night, petting the dog and talking with my parents. I can’t even say that I am “living” in quarantine; if anything, I’m just surviving.

But I have my books.

Next to my bed, there is The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson, my favorite nonfiction author. The sleek, ominous black jacket with its stark, white font screams for attention. And, it’s signed. Cue the heavenly choir. I can feel my chest tighten with excitement just thinking about it. Sometimes I’ll just touch it, feel the texture of the book jacket like a kid would a present underneath the Christmas tree. I can’t wait to tear it open.

If I look just beyond it, I can see the vivid spines of celebrity memoirs in flashy colors, like neon lights. Amy Poehler’s Yes Please, Holly Madison’s Down the Rabbit Hole, and Leah Remini’s Troublemaker, each vying desperately for my attention. Underneath those three is another book, Actual Innocence, a true crime book by three different authors, enters the fray with its metallic sheen. Above them, the bright hues of From Where You Dream, The Real Lolita, The Secret Miracle, The Murrow Boys, and How Not to Write a Novel make this column of books the most pleasing to look at in my entire room.

Just through the crack in my closet doors, I can see my collection of Agatha Christie novels. Small paperbacks with prices of 98 cents that I picked up in used bookstores up and down the East Coast. There isn’t a single cover that looks the same. Evil Under the Sun returns my gaze, a weathered woman looking tired underneath driftwood branches. Another woman in blurry shades of purple runs in fear on the cover of The Mirror Crack’d. A gargantuan and horrifically detailed fly hovers in a dining room on The Secret Adversary. Five Little Pigs is covered in art deco gold font, with a small image of a candle sitting on a palette that is far to clean to belong to an actual artist. All these and more stacked neatly, ready to be investigated.

My current read, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, is kept under my pillow, never far out of my reach. Admittedly, it’s not my favorite, but every now and then, I’ll come across a description, like “cauterized waste” to describe the Southwestern desert, that’ll make me snap my fingers in the silence of my bedroom. Even though reading that book is like trudging through mud, it’s worth it to find one of those beautiful lines. It’s a treasure hunt without ever having to leave bed.

I’m surrounded by my loves, by the entire world kept in the pages of these books. When I’m craving a hug from my family, I lie on the floor, my shoulders and hips against the spines, trying to absorb their sensation through osmosis. Any reader knows that sensation I’m talking about, but it’s rarely described. It’s a calming excitement, a reassuring temptation that wraps you in the experiences of the universe.

It’s easy to feel like I’m drowning in the dread and uncertainty of my current situation. Even though the pandemic is infecting everything, when it touched my books, it did not cause them to wither. Rather, it amplified their presence, made them shine more, like pearls at the bottom of the ocean.

Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

IMG_0038Marina Lindland is an MFA candidate in Fiction Writing at Fairfield University. She is a private tutor residing in Maryland, and loves recommending new books for her students to read. Her spare time is often spent with stories, whether it is writing down her own, or discovering the stories of others in her hometown.

166 thoughts on “Surrounded: How Books Are Keeping Me Going in Quarantine”

  1. blackgirl46 says:
    Reply

    This is beautiful and so true. I myself can relate. I’ve always loved reading, it keeps me going but because of college schedule and all I find it difficult but this quarantine season made me realize how much of a reader I can actually be, not to bluff but I’ve read about 60 books starting from day 1 of the lockdown period. The only thing that keeps me going is God and my books❤

    Liked by 1 person

  6. margotallen says:
    Reply

    I used to have books, books, and more books like you I don’t discriminate. My hubby would cringe every time I brought a book home. It had to be hardcovered, 1st edition before it could come through the door. My rules, only because I would buy anything and everything. Now I have a tablet or my phone and I don’t know how many books I have on it. I read a lot of ebooks from the library. I just like the fact that I can now carry all my books with me without breaking my back lol. It’s great to read about someone with the same habit of mine, reading. Keep safe.

    Liked by 1 person

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  30. Jon says:
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    Wow you described it vividly that I feel like I’m inside your room while reading this. I hope you’ll feel better. Good thing, your books are there to keep you company. I understand the feeling…that strange happiness and contentment you feel just by looking at your collection….

    Like

  31. nicksyd says:
    Reply

    I am an avid reader myself and reading has really helped me during this pandemic as well. I am a lover of John Grisham and Tom Clancy novels. Sometimes it became unbearable to watch the news and therefore I just travelled into a book. Remember books take you places

    Like

  32. dabeholder says:
    Reply

    Hi I’m Nikki and I’m a bookaholic. I read your post and smiled. I have books everywhere too. I read all genres mainly fiction. As I matured I now welcome self help books, business and personal finance. I go into a bookstore and I feel like a baby in a candy store.

    Like

  35. Zacharia says:
    Reply

    Reading has certainly helped me during these strange lockdown months. While I do love books, you’re probably going to hate me for saying this, but I was finally convinced to buy a Kindle last year whilst travelling, and I love it. I had refused to give ebooks a try for the longest time, but finally gave in through convenience. It has been especially useful since going to book shops has not been possible for a while.
    I don’t think the way you access the written word is as important as ensuring that reading is as much a part of your daily routine as for example exercise or healthy eating.

    Like

  42. Ria Gupta says:
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    What a great read! I’ve spent the entire quarantine immersed in old books and new, and I don’t know how else I could have survived this time.

    Like

  47. helena says:
    Reply

    This was a great read. You truly do write beautifully. I hope that you continue to find solace in your books but that you also find healing and some breakthrough with your situation.

    Liked by 1 person

  48. joebrunostl says:
    Reply

    I have been reading digitally lately. I can most classics online and a surprising number of textbooks and a steady stream of new titles from my library. It took a while but I don’t mind it as much as I first did. I divest myself of any books I am reasonably certain I will never read again. I wrote about it in my blog. The books are just things, the ideas are what is important, what they say.

    Like

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