“The Road”: An unnamed man and his son try to drive into the city. Because there are still jobs to go to and restaurants to eat at and museums to tour, traffic slows to a crawl. This book grapples with the deepest question we’re willing to contemplate right now: Will they make it to their in-person piano lesson on time?
“On the Beach”: This delightful romp, set on an Australian beach, is ambitious in scope. We follow the experiences of many tourists and locals as they decide where to set up their beach towels, ask people they don’t live with to apply sunscreen to their backs, and talk without their voices being muffled by face masks.
“Parable of the Sower”: The young protagonist of this dazzling novel has the power of hyperempathy. The story follows her as she gives people hug after hug after hug.
“One Second After”: The electricity goes out but comes back one second after the blackout. Tension builds as characters grapple with resetting the clocks on their microwaves and ovens. Exhausted from the effort, they order Thai takeout, which they eat straight from the original containers.
“The Walking Dead”: This graphic novel follows a group of aging Grateful Dead fans who’ve become avid mall walkers. Critics are raving about the vivid depictions of food-court free samples, including skewers of Kung Pao chicken, tiny cups of green smoothie, and glistening strips of Hunan beef.
“The Stand”: A band of neighborhood kids come together to open a lemonade stand in this sweeping summertime epic. At its thrilling climax, Franny suspects that the lemonade is too tart. She asks Stuart to taste it, and, without even a moment of pause, he sips straight from her glass.
“The Children of Men”: The members of a political group in England decide to try a new restaurant called Five Fishes. One of them orders ceviche. None of them notices that their waiter has seasonal allergies.
“The MaddAddam Trilogy”: In this series, our teen protagonist loudly plays a video game in his basement. His mother yells at him to go outside, which he does. A unique point-of-view shift takes us inside the mind of his mother as she pours herself a 4 P.M. glass of wine and enjoys the blissfully empty house.
“Station Eleven”: An acting troupe travels the country, performing to packed houses. Crowds sit shoulder to shoulder; the elderly breathe freely; audience members are merely annoyed by the woman repeatedly clearing her throat in the front row. A couple that does not live together holds hands. People laugh the open-mouthed laughs of anarchists and their collective noise fills the cavernous space in a raucous cacophony of togetherness.
“The Postman”: The grizzled but quirky hero of this novel is an Oregon post-office employee who does not fear for his personal safety or job security. In the outlandish but deeply comforting world of this novel, the President hasn’t threatened one of the few government agencies that is explicitly authorized by the Constitution.
“I Am Legend”: A lightly fictionalized account of the childhood of Dr. Anthony Fauci.
