You’ve watched (and re-watched) all of your favorite shows and films, you’ve had enough Zoom “happy hours” to make it almost feel like you have a raging social life, and you’ve babbled to yourself about everything from COVID-19 to your cat’s behavior to the weather outside the window.

It’s time for a new escape. It’s time to pick up a book.

Instead of refreshing the homepage of your local newspaper every six seconds or experiencing existential dread every time you hear the words “toilet paper,” you can lose yourself in true stories of passionate love affairs or fictional tales of sex, scandal, and female friendships. Plus, you can support your local indie bookstores when they need it most by ordering books online.

So, turn off your news alerts, ignore the sounds of your kids or roommates or partner (if you can), and allow yourself to escape into the pages of one of these worthy page-turners.

Ballantine Books Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America; Essays amazon.com $17.99 SHOP NOW

Thomas is one of the funniest and most insightful pop culture writers around today, and his debut book of essays mixes heartfelt and humorous stories about his life with sharp cultural commentary about celebrity, politics, and the Internet. From discussing his struggles to reconcile his religion and his sexuality, to being the black kid in a wealthy, mostly white high school, to covering the 2016 election for ELLE, Thomas has a gift for wrapping tough topics in his unique style of humor. These essays make for a breezy, fun read that’s not short on substance.

Random House Fleishman Is in Trouble: A Novel amazon.com $27.00 $20.93 (22% off) SHOP NOW

New York Times contributor Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a master of writing the modern celebrity profile, and her first novel was often cited as the book of the summer when it debuted in 2019. The book follows newly separated New Yorker Toby Fleishman as he tries to take care of his kids and not lose his mind while attempting to track down his missing soon-to-be ex-wife. The beauty of the book — which dissects marriage, divorce, and the misunderstandings within — is a twist of perspective that deepens the story and makes you want to reread it immediately once you finish the last page.

Queenie is a Jamaican Brit who has been called a “black British Jones,” maybe because she’s a reporter who is unlucky in love — but that’s where the comparisons end. Yes, Carty-Williams’ book is laugh-out-loud funny and Queenie is impossible not to love, but the book touches on topics like the struggle to find your true self and the ways that low self-esteem can lead you down the wrong path when it comes to love and relationships. It’s easy to lose yourself in Queenie’s story as she navigates drunk texting, dating, and relationships in south London.



Harper Perennial Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and the Marriage of the Century amazon.com $16.99 $9.29 (45% off) SHOP NOW

If it’s celebrity love affairs you’re after, the story of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton’s legendary, tumultuous relationship is the perfect distraction while you’re confined to your couch (or bed or floor). Kashner interviewed the late, great Taylor several times and he’s the only journalist who was granted access to her personal letters, so this is a true deep dive into one of history’s most romantic and scandalous couples (they loved each other so much they married and divorced twice!). It’s worth it just to read Burton’s wildly poetic letters to Taylor. These two make Romeo and Juliet seem boring.

Grove Press Valley of the Dolls amazon.com $16.00 $11.49 (28% off) SHOP NOW

If the quarantine lifestyle has you desperate for escapist tales of retro feminism and pill popping ambition, get yourself a copy of Jacqueline Sussan’s cult classic soapy novel immediately. It’s about three female friends struggling to “make it” in New York, eventually discovering that fame might not be all that. The book was a cultural sensation (and scandal) when it was published in 1966, and even though part of the pleasure of reading it comes from its seriously dated perspective, it still touches on issues that women are battling today. Once you finish reading, you can double your escape time by checking out the equally campy movie it inspired.

Dina Gachman is the author of Brokenomics, and her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Marie Claire, McSweeney’s and more.

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