I don’t know about you, but when I don’t know what to read, I turn to the world around me for inspiration. A few weeks ago, I found myself googling ‘books about pandemics’, wanting for reason to read about a pandemic – but not the current one!
Reading is an escape from the world, so it might seem strange to want to read about pandemics at a time when the coronavirus has consumed us. But I think these books suspend your disbelief, and by offering “worst case scenario” storylines, might even make you more grateful for our reality.
I am sharing the best books about pandemics that I have read lately.
I deliberately chose books from different genres for this book recommendation list, so we have a science-fiction novel, a historical romance, a satire novel, and a short read!
Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
This is, in my opinion, the best science fiction book about a pandemic. Other people might agree with me – it was listed for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2003, and the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2004. I love the way the story is told, and how intense the ending is.
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[Atwood describes this novel as speculative fiction, saying her writing is different from sci-fi because the events could actually happen. For the purpose of this post, I classified it as science fiction, because sci-fi actually does encompass stories that could happen!]
Oryx and Crake is about a global pandemic caused by genetic engineering that sweeps across the world and ends humanity as we know it. It tells the story of ‘Snowman’, who is all alone, encountering creatures but no humans. The book alternates between Snowman’s present day, and pre-apocalypse past.
My favourite thing about this book was the way everything ties together at the end. Everything is neatly concluded, with no loose endings. The ending is logical, but not too easy to guess, allowing the suspense and mystery to continue for as long as possible.
Love in a Time of Cholera by Gabriel Marquez
A historical romance about a pandemic, I loved this because it’s a romance (which is my fav!) but has some serious depth. Written originally in Spanish, it is now widely available in English (although if you can speak Spanish, I’d recommend you read it in its original language!).
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Set in Colombia, on the Caribbean Coast, in the late 1800s, Love in the Time of Cholera tells the complicated story of two lovers, Florentino and Fermina, as they draw together, drift apart, and find each other once more. It’s a romance, but not a typically ‘happy’ one! It focusses more on the jealousy, anger and unrequited sides of love.
My favourite things about this book are its conversational writing style, and its complex themes.
The complexity of the novel is clear as soon as you think about the title, which is actually a play on words! Cholera is first and foremost a disease. However, cholera in Spanish, cólera, references also passion or rage. This is similar to the English word choleric, meaning bad-tempered. Considering this, the title plays on two meanings, and could mean ‘Love in a Time of Disease’ or ‘Love in a Time or Passion’.
This raises the book’s central question: is love helped or hindered by extreme passion?
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
Station Eleven is the best ‘easy read’ book about a pandemic that I’ve found. It’s engaging and interesting to read. Also – I think it would probably fit into the YA genre in terms of difficulty and content.
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In Station Eleven, a pandemic sweeps very suddenly across the world, and kills 99% of the population. It follows the story of characters who seem at first unrelated, but are revealed to be intertwined. There is a strong focus on character development, and just like Oryx and Crake, there is a flash-forward/flash-back narrative style.
I really enjoyed this book because I liked getting to know the characters, and really felt myself compelled to root for them. I also liked how Mandel managed to bring such unrelated characters together first geographically, and then relationally.
I think this is the kind of book nearly anyone could read and enjoy to some extent.
Severance by Ling Ma
Severance is a satire novel about a pandemic. This is probably my least favourite on this list, but I included it because it’s something a little different AND it’s shockingly similar to the current coronavirus.
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It’s set in the US during the fictional pandemic of Shen Fever, which originated in Shenzhen, China. In this book, the fever turns people into drones without choice or emotional response. It particularly follows the story of a woman named Candace, who lives and works in New York, the pandemic’s epicentre (could the parallels to covid-19 get stronger?!). She survives the pandemic, but has to figure out how to live in the new world. It’s written in a flash-back/flash-forward writing style, with connecting storylines.
If you’d like to read Severance, you should know that it is that it is quite bleak. For example, whereas Love in a Time of Cholera has a more uplifting end note, Severance has a theme of hopelessness running throughout it. However, it is still excellently written, and really enjoyable!
My YouTube video, books about pandemics:
Leave any book recommendations you have for me in the comments! They can be pandemic related, or not! I appreciate them all.
Note the amazon purchase links in this post are affiliate links. This means that, should you purchase the books through my link, I earn a very small commission! You don’t pay any extra!