Friday, March 20, 2020

A Coronavirus Reading List

I'm not sure whether it's the imp of the perverse that put the idea into my head, but I've ordered four books that I hope will give me some perspectives on the current crisis:

The Decameron  by Giovanni Boccaccio

A Journal of the Plague Year  by Daniel Defoe

The Plague  by Albert Camus

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Epidemic in History
by John M. Barry

I welcome other suggestions.

9 comments:

Tim said...

Omitting Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror was obviously an oversight.

Fred said...

Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks?

Anonymous said...

Year of Wonders, by Geraldine Brooks?

DCSteve1441 said...

Yes, a major one! Though I did reread it last year, so perhaps I can be forgiven for the omission.

Tim said...

And of course Thucydides (the shortest read). Ancient Greece's most famous epic and most famous tragedy both begin with plagues.

DCSteve1441 said...

Thank you both!

Ernie said...

The group read " The Medici Boy", by John L'Heureux, about gay Donatello, life in early renaissance Florence, and the imagined story behind his bronze David. There were outbreaks of plague, and deaths in the storyline.

I am currently enjoying "The Heart is a Full Wild Beast", by L'Heureux, a wonderful collection of his short stories, which had received a vey good review in The New York Times.
Ernie

PS- Hello to all. I am going to miss our regular meetings with all of you during this present health problem.

DCSteve1441 said...

Thanks, Ernie. I miss you all, too!

Thoth said...

Death in Venice, of course. (Patrick Flynn)