All the books, movies, TV and music our authors consumed in quarantine
During three months of widespread lockdown, we asked 17 writers to offer diaries of their time in isolation. As stay-at-home measures eased and protests proliferated, The Times compiled their experienced into a meta-narrative of this unprecedented period in their lives and ours. For writers (or artists of any kind), it was a time of not just creativity and contemplation but also consumption and absorption (and sometimes procrastination). In the short windows of time they shared with us, these authors collectively read 55 books, listened to 20 musical artists, watched 25 shows and saw 18 movies. We’ve gathered them together as a document of escapism, consolation, mourning and creative ferment — and not necessarily a list of recommendations. Many of these are widely acclaimed works of genius; others are not. Proceed at your own risk.
Over the last three months, 17 writers provided diaries to the Times of their days in isolation, followed by weeks of protest. This is their story.
The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org if you buy these books through links on our site. They were independently selected.
Books
“American Salvage,” Bonnie Jo Campbell
“The Babysitters Club,” Ann M. Martin
“Baja Oklahoma,” Dan Jenkins
“Beany Malone,” Lenora Mattingly Weber
“Because of Mr. Terupt,” Rob Buyea
“Behold the Dreamers,” Imbolo Mbue
“The Bell Jar,” Sylvia Plath
“Betsy-Tacy” books, Maud Hart Lovelace
“Blessing the Boats,” Lucille Clifton
“The Blinds,” Adam Sternbergh
Novels of Edgar Box (Gore Vidal)
“Burning Province,” Michael Prior
“The City in the Middle of the Night,” Charlie Jane Anders
“D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths,” Ingri and Edgar Parin d’Aulaire
“Dead Astronauts,” Jeff VanderMeer
“Dragon Hoops,” Gene Luen Yang
“Either/Or,” Soren Kierkegaard
“Finding Sanctuary,” Abbot Christopher Jamison
“The Furies,” Janet Hobhouse
“From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,” E.L. Konigsburg
“The Galleons,” Rick Barot
“Girlhood,” Melissa Febos
“The Glass Hotel,” Emily St. John Mandel
“Godshot,” Chelsea Bieker
“Golden Gates,” Conor Dougherty
“The Good Thief,” Hanna Tinti
“Heaven, My Home,” Attica Locke
“Heavy,” Kiese Laymon
“Interior Chinatown,” Charles Yu
“The Last Picture Show,” Larry McMurtry
“Madame Bovary,” Gustav Flaubert
“Middlemarch,” George Eliot
“Minor Feelings,” Cathy Park Hong
“The Need,” Helen Phillips
“The New Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone,” Deborah Madison
“The Night Fire,” Michael Connelly
“Percy Jackson’s Greek Heroes,” Rick Riordan
“The Poisoned Chocolates Case,” Anthony Berkeley
“Postcolonial Love Poem,” Natalie Diaz
“The Power Broker,” Robert Caro
“The Power,” Naomi Alderman
“Rift Zone,” Tess Taylor
“September 1, 1939,” W.H. Auden
“Slouching Towards Los Angeles,” ed. Steffie Nelson
“The Song of Achilles,” Madeline Miller
“Spirit Run,” Noé Alvárez
“Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber,” Mike Isaac
“There Will Never Be Another You,” Carolyn See
“These Women,” by Ivy Pochoda
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” Harper Lee
“Toothless Wonder,” Barbara Park
“Treasure Island,” Robert Louis Stevenson
“We Lived Happily During the War,” Ilya Kaminsky
“Weather,” Jenny Offill
“White Fang”; “The Call of the Wild,” Jack London
“Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older,” Douwe Draaisma
11 authors, from Laila Lalami to Jonathan Lethem, on the books they might finally read in quarantine
Including Lawrence Block, E.M. Forster, Dostoyevsky and lots of “Middlemarch”
Movies
“28 Days Later”
“Bringing Up Baby”
“Chungking Express”
“Crocodile Dundee”
“Desperately Seeking Susan”
“Edge of Tomorrow”
The movies of Jacques Demy
“Independence Day”
“Key Largo”
“Lawrence of Arabia”
“Paris, Texas”
“Pierrot le Fou”
“Quiz Show”
“Red River”
“Shattered Glass”
“The Shop Around the Corner”
“Thor: Ragnarok”
“Walk the Line”
From apocalyptic despair to restorative joy, here are just a few titles for your at-home viewing marathon chosen by film critic Justin Chang.
TV
“The Barchester Chronicles”
“Brideshead Revisited” (1981)
“Come Dine With Me”
“Country Music”
“Curb Your Enthusiasm”
“Devs”
“Fleabag”
“Gentefied”
“Gunsmoke”
“Hillary”
“Little Fires Everywhere”
“Love Is Blind”
Kenneth Clark’s “Civilisation”
“Kitchen Nightmares”
“Naked and Afraid”
“The Office”
“Ozark”
“The Plot Against America”
“Quiz”
“Ronny Chieng: Asian Comedian Destroys America!”
“Seinfeld”
“Six Feet Under”
“Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”
“Wild North”
WrestleMania
We polled more than 40 TV critics and journalists, inside and outside The Times, on the best TV show to binge while stuck at home.
Music
Alabama Shakes
Allman Brothers
The Beatles
Beethoven (performed)
BennY Revival
Patsy Cline
Sam Cooke
Steely Dan (performed)
Bill Evans
Gregorian chants
Jimi Hendrix
Alicia Keys (to Stephen Colbert)
Knower
Led Zeppelin
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Norah Jones
John Prine
Puff the Magic Dragon
Bill Withers
Yo-Yo Ma on Mr. Rogers
We polled more than 30 music critics, inside and outside The Times, on the best albums to listen to while you’re stuck at home (and kind of freaking out).
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