What I’m Reading on Legible This Month, January 2021

It’s gray and cold here in the American Midwest, and with the pandemic still raging and political turmoil a daily reality, I’m finding myself primarily wanting to read for escape — and in this I’m reminded of my adolescent self, the girl who read mainly in order to escape the stress of school and other teenage trials. As you can see from the photo, Star Trek books were some of my go-tos for this purpose back then.

Since I’m no longer into Star Trek books (though I still enjoy bingeing the various series on Netflix), I tend now to gravitate toward children’s and young adult books, chick lit, graphic novels, and travel books for escapist purposes. Sometimes even a self-help book will do the trick — perhaps thinking about self-improvement feels more doable than pondering the gigantic problems of the world, which I can do nothing about. So one of the books I plan to read this month on Legible is the first self-help book ever published: How to Live on 24 Hours a Day, by Arnold Bennett. I’ve read this little book before, and it’s the perfect escape! It’s short and humorous and also contains some advice that still works for today (though not all of it does. Some of the advice is quite hilarious when viewed from our time period!).

Another book on my escapism list is the young adult book Ancient Appetites, by Oisin McGann. (Read a Legible review of the book here.) It’s a fascinating sounding steampunk book full of excitement and adventure! And speaking of excitement and adventure, since I’m not able to have any travel adventures myself for the time being, I also plan on doing a little armchair travel with the book The Happy Ant-Heap, by Norman Lewis. We’ve got a whole travel category on Legible now, where you can find some great classics from authors like Mark Twain and Henry David Thoreau.

What are your favorite books to read when you need to escape? Comment here and let me know so that I can check them out!