Five Rainy Day Reads
The perfect books for a day spent on the couch
I love a book that takes me out of my comfort zone, especially on a rainy day where I won’t be traveling very far physically. I hope you do pick one of these up when Mother Nature decides she needs a cleansing. Everyone needs a good cry (or laugh). I tried to get an assortment of genres on this short list, just because I know everyone has different taste. Happy reading!
1) The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. The only novel written by Plath, who most know as a poet. This story navigates a semi-autobiographical story of a narrator descending into mental turmoil. Esther Greenwood, the book’s protagonist, earned the opportunity to be a summer internship at an esteemed magazine. She grapples with trying to attain success in the writing world and dealing with the various disappointments that accompany trying to attain any sort of recognition. A tragic but beautiful read that will add both gloom and sunshine to your rainy day.
2) The Man Who Couldn’t Stop: OCD and the True Story of a Life Lost in Thought by David Adam. I had a memoir streak a summer or two back, and this is one that I picked up and read, and still sticks with me. David Adam is a humorous, relatable narrator that delves into the complicated illness of OCD. Although Adam uses humor throughout the memoir, he does so in a tasteful way that does not undermine the pervasiveness that OCD has on his life. Taking narrator’s on a journey from when his OCD started to present day, it gives readers an intimate insight into the self-awareness and struggle someone with OCD faces every day.
3) Loose Woman by Sandra Cisneros. One of my absolute favorite collections of poetry, found by chance at a Half Price Books. Cisneros’ writing is as sexy as it is raw, as intimate as it is dangerous. Not afraid of taking risks or being brutally honest, Cisneros has something to teach every reader about their personal relationships, and their own celebration of the self. Sometimes mixing both Spanish and English, Cisneros crosses borders and defies expectations in an artistically gratifying way: a reflection of the range of poems readers find within the pages.
4) Harlem Duet by Djanet Sears. A play that comes to life even through simply reading it. The characters and story draw from Shakespeare’s play, Othello. Billie, living in Harlem, deals with her husband, Othello, leaving her for a white woman. The play moves through Billie’s interactions with various characters, but focuses on the complicated relationship of Billie and Othello. Dealing with the complications or race, status, and gender, the play is sure to not only make readers self-reflect on their own relationships and privilege, but also complicates the grey area of love, power, and desire.
5) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I almost feel guilty putting such a classical pick on my list, but I’m prepared to defend my choice to do so. As a college graduate, I’ve spent plenty of time reading the “classics,” and sometimes felt unfulfilled. Maybe, in some cases, I just wasn’t prepared to comprehend the complexity that made them beautiful. That said, this is one of the “classics” that I do regard as a great work of literature, not just due to the writing itself, but to the problem it contemplates. The novel presents a future American society where books are outlawed, and the firefighters actually burn books rather than putting fires out. The dystopian world begs readers to question what censorship means, even in today’s world.
