Reading – the fifth directive

THE GOVERNMENT should add a fifth point to its covid19 directives. It should be telling everyone this: “Wash your hands, social distance, wear your masks, vaccinate and read.”

Reading is especially important in this pandemic because it creates a feeling of flow – just like participating in sports. Flow means you become immersed in an activity to the extent that you are unaware of anything around you. Reading becomes a great escape and a satisfying experience.

Below are some ways to immerse yourself in reading experiences.

1. Take a free online class from Yale University – This sounds too good to be true, but you can take a free course on the Spanish novel Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes at Open Yale Courses. Cuban instructor Gonzalez Echev teaches the class. Don Quixote is the story of an elderly man who immerses himself in stories about the days when knights existed and imagines himself to be a knight while he creates his own adventures throughout Spain.

You can download the syllabus for this course, the introduction and 24 lectures on YouTube. The course comes from assigned reading that includes the novel of Don Quixote plus two Cervantes short stories. Amazingly, the course, which was once US$550, is now available for free. You can find the course on YouTube. Search the words Yale University open classes + Don Quixote.

2. Tackle a book series – Book lists create fun reading challenges. In the article, 30 Books and Series to Read While Social Distancing, you will find an eclectic list of books compiled by Time magazine. There’s the magical realism classic Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the English classic Middle March by George Elliot. This list has a wide variety of genres including fantasy, dystopian and historical novels. Search for the title of the book series or use the link below:

https://time.com/5807460/books-to-read-coronavirus/

3. Immerse yourself in historical fiction – When it comes to historical fiction, the 50-page novella Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter is considered to be the definitive story of the 1918 flu pandemic. On YouTube you’ll find a link to an NBC radio dramatisation of two Porter novellas, Flowering Judas and Pale Horse, Pale Rider. This radio programme, recorded in the 1950s, provides an experience of the days when radio ruled. Type in Porter’s name on YouTube or follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrfcUTmJ-MY&t=9s&ab_channel=ManyPearls

4. Visit the world’s best libraries – Virtually visit eight extraordinary libraries including the Vatican library, the Seattle Metaphysical library, libraries in China, Egypt, Norway and Viet Nam. Follow this link or type in library journal + world class libraries to receive a virtual tour:

https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detailStory=Virtually-Visit-8-World-Class-Libraries

5. Discover book blogs – If books are the boats that keep us afloat during this pandemic, book blogs might just be the shipping routes we need to take to get to our destination. Bloggers recommend books that help us to choose our latest read. A site called booksatchel.com has compiled some of the most beautiful book blogs in cyberspace. Each blogger discusses books in a blog that is visually stunning. Visit booksatchel.com and enjoy the visual and reading experience:

https://www.thebooksatchel.com/best-book-blogs-to-follow/

6. Read celebrity memoirs – 16 Celebrity Memoirs Worth Reading This Summer, compiled by IndieWire, includes autobiographies by popular actors. There’s Trejo: My Life of Crime, Redemption and Hollywood by Danny Trejo, Just as I Am by actor Cicely Tyson, Yes I Can by singer Sammy Davis Jr and Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming, who starred in the television series The Good Wife.

Celebrity reads are fun because you can search YouTube for interviews with these famous people, excerpts from their movies and performances and watch scenes from their movies. You can marry the best of reading and movies with these books. Check out this link:

https://www.indiewire.com/shop/best-memoirs-movie-stars-hollywood-1234581017/

7. Propel yourself into the future – Check out 12 of the best books being made into movies next year. You can usually find one of these links one year in advance. Get a headstart on reading books that are being made into series or search previous years for books being made into movies you might have missed reading. This year you’ll find The Mauritanian, written by Mohamedou Ould Slahi, who served time in Guantanomo Bay after being deemed a terrorist; the novel Monster by Walter Dean Myers and Blonde by Joyce Carol Oates. Check out this web site:

https://www.russh.com/books-to-movies-2021/

There are so many reading experiences out there waiting to be discovered during this pandemic.