The Folio Society’s Top 10 Books For Social Distancing
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As the UK continues in this unprecedented period of social distancing, Tom Walker, Publishing Director at The Folio Society, has pulled together his top 10 books to read whilst in self-isolation.
The Folio Society has been publishing beautifully illustrated editions of the world’s greatest and non-fiction books for over 70 years. So Tom knows his stuff!
How many of these have you read? And how many are now on your list?
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Image by The Folio Society.
“The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”
Being stuck at home and only allowed out to go to the shops seems a good time to read about feminism. And this is arguably the first feminist novel.
Wildly surprising in its modern sensibility, Brontë’s novel rages against a society that held women shackled to men and the home.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“The Little Prince”
I can’t help thinking of how the Little Prince would respond to our world right now.
An enigmatic, compassionate but sad creature of the stars, I sometimes imagine the weight of his judgement on us all for the job we’re doing of keeping our little planet safe.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“The World Turned Upside Down”
The English Civil War shook the nation to its core.
But from it scattered a legion of radical ideas and philosophies which have formed the national identity ever since. Read all about them here.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“Dr Zhivago”
What better time to re-engage with this great Russian epic?
The recent translation by Boris Pasternak’s nephew returns the lyricism and colour to this beautiful novel of love, war and the Russian soul.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“Moby-Dick”
What an opportunity to read this leviathan of a novel.
From the first pages in Nantucket, where Ishmael befriends trusty Queequeg, Melville loops his crazed tale of ambition and revenge, culminating in scenes of terror on the high seas.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“His Dark Materials”
Pullman might be the purest storyteller of our times, and “His Dark Materials” is his masterpiece.
A truly addictive adventure story which leads us into other worlds.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“The Handmaid’s Tale”
Turning to Margaret Atwood in times of trouble is always a good decision.
Prophetic or not, she is wise and compassionate, and laces those qualities with a killer wit.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“Maigret”
If all else fails, pick up a Maigret.
With plots as light as a feather and a stripped-down style, Simenon’s thrillers are beautifully evocative of the underground tensions of a mid-century Paris.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“Persuasion”
It’s always a good time to re-read Austen, to get lost in that luscious prose and arch wit. Persuasion is her last-completed, and perhaps her most mature novel, and a joy to revisit.
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Image by The Folio Society.
“I Am Legend”
In the current circumstances this is not a book for the faint-hearted.
Matheson’s vision of a post-pandemic future doesn’t contain many people, and even fewer who are not zombie-vampires.
But there is a glimmer of hope at its end . . .
“The Mirror & The Light”
My eleventh choice is not yet available as a Folio Society edition. But I do hope that it will be one day!
This 900-page masterwork of astonishing delicacy and intelligence draws one back through the eyes of Cromwell to a Tudor London infested with plague and political instability.
You won’t regret reading it!
Click here to read the “Friend” team’s own book recommendations for social distancing. It’s not quite a top 10, but it’s close!
Or follow this link to read some of our most recent reviews.