With a worldwide crisis forcing people to quarantine, everyone is trying to figure out how to entertain themselves with the much time they have. Here is a list of the Top 5 books to read to help pass the time.

1. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins:  American Dirt tells a rapid pace, devastating and heartbreaking story. After a drug cartel kills her husband and 15 family members, Lydia must take her young son on a dangerous journey from Acapulco, Mexico to the U.S. border. 

2. Long Bright River by Liz Moore: Even though Philadelphia police officer Mickey may be estranged from her sister Kacey, she always tries to keep her eyes on her as she patrols the streets. When Kacey goes missing and the cops dismiss her disappearance, Mickey goes looking for her alone. Long Bright River is a shocking and a compassionate novel about sisterhood, addiction, and family secrets. 

3. Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey: The story is about an unnamed narrator that follows over two decades of her life through conversations she has with other women about relationships and motherhood. 

4. Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid: Such a Fun Age follows through big issues of race, class, and employer-caregiver tensions through an interesting story. Emira is a black caregiver who is confronted by a security guard for holding a white toddler. The toddler’s mom, Alix, a wannabe mommy influencer who was shocked at the confrontation, tries to step in to help but it is unwanted.

5. A Long Petal of the Sea by Isabel Allende: A Long Petal of the Sea is about Victor and Roser who are fleeing from Spain as the Spanish Civil War ends in 1939. Victor was a soldier and Roser is pregnant with his late brother’s baby. They fall in love as they try to build a stable life in Santiago, Chile. After 34 years, trouble starts brewing when Chile's democracy ends. 

Happy Reading!

Citations-Information:

“The Best Books of 2020 (So Far).” Real Simple, www.realsimple.com/work-life/entertainment/best-books-2020?slide=f04f080f-7370-43c2-afd1-a9f8beda1478#f04f080f-7370-43c2-afd1-a9f8beda1478.

Citations-Pictures:

Gault, Matthew. “Millions of Books Are Secretly in the Public Domain. You Can Download Them Free.” Vice, 6 Aug. 2019, www.vice.com/en_us/article/kz4e3e/millions-of-books-are-secretly-in-the-public-domain-you-can-download-them-free.

Emily Nagin. “The Underground Group Supplying Pittsburgh's Prisoners with Books.” Literary Hub, 22 July 2019, lithub.com/the-underground-group-supplying-pittsburghs-prisoners-with-books/.