The Best Escapist Books To Read During Quarantine, According To Goodreads

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Like lots of us, you might have found it hard to pay attention to a book from your shelf or get through the first page of a newly bought bestseller in the early days, weeks and months of the coronavirus pandemic.

But with summer now here, you might be ready to pick up a beach read.

You could go for a book-club-approved pick. Barnes and Noble selected “The Vanishing Half” for June, and the latest choice from Oprah’s Book Club is “Hidden Valley Road.” Book Of The Month, a monthly book subscription box, recently released its reading list for this month, too.

If “Severance,” “Station Eleven” and “The Plague” are definitely not on your to-read list, we’ve got you covered with books that are not about pandemics.

We asked the literary experts at Goodreads about the most trending escapist books right now. That is, books that’ll take your mind off things (and don’t have plot points about pandemics or quarantine). There’s a science to what makes a book trendy, too. Goodreads tallies up how many members mark a book “to read.” It’s kind of like a virtual bookmark, and is the way Goodreads helps us pick out the most-anticipated books coming out each month.

This summer, Goodreads is seeing readers dive into two genres in particular: beach reads, like “The Jane Austen Society” and horror, including “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires,” according to Danny Feekes, managing editor of Goodreads.

When the pandemic started, Goodreads saw members going for books like Stephen King’s “The Stand” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Testaments.” But now, they’re looking for “lighter fare” like Emma Straub’s “All Adults Here,” Feekes told HuffPost Finds.

What’s the No. 1 trending book on Goodreads these days? Feekes said that would be Suzanne Collins’ “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” prequel to the popular “Hunger Games” series. But the post-apocalyptic plot might not be the “escape” you’re hoping for right now.

“Escapist books can mean different things to different people,” Feekes said. “For some, it’s an absorbing story about family and relationships like ‘The Vanishing Half’ by Brit Bennett, the most popular book on Goodreads that [came] out in June. Others are seeking comfort in tried-and-true book club favorites from the last several years,” he said.

We put together a guide to 15 of the most trending escapist books on Goodreads down below. You can find them all on Amazon, but you could always support your small local bookstores and check to see if they’re taking online orders, too.

From the perfectly titled beach read called — wait for it — “Beach Read” to “Big Summer,” which is about former friends who come together for a summer wedding, these books will actually help you unplug from the world right now.

Check out 15 of the most trending books on Goodreads right now that’ll help you escape: