Love in the time of Corona

I've seen this sentence reemerging in social media playing with Marquez's famous book title and it gave me the idea for this post. As you know, usually I express myself in pictures and rarely write longer excerpts here, but in fact, I really love writing. I have a bullet journal (very much unlike those with carefully composed pictures and calligraphy, mine's a complete mess ) and I like to capture my ideas and highlights of my day there. I write poems regularly (for your sake I won't share them) and I've always been an avid reader, be it books, magazines or online articles. Therefore I thought I'd share some things that helped me get through this emotionally challenging period. I hope you'll enjoy this little selection!

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Books

Deborah Harkness' All Souls' Trilogy A Discovery of Witches

Shadow of Night The Tree of Life

Conveniently, there is also a series of the first book: the second season is about to be released. I must confess that I started to read the first volume because of the adaptation. It's a curious mixture of fantasy and historical fiction: not your usual vampire story. I've just finished Shadow of Night during the quarantine and it was a welcome distraction.

Philip Pullman: The Book of Dust, Volume I and II

I've read the His Dark Materials series before as an adult, but it enchanted me the same way some books did during my childhood. Pullman's new volumes are connected to his original series: the first book is set before and the second one after the events of the trilogy. I've just started the second volume and am curious of the continuing story. In Lyra's world people's souls accompany them as daemons in animal form. It also explores a lot of social, psychological issues and the description of the Magisterium (the bureaucratic, dictatorial religious organisation) sheds a very interesting light on church hierarchy and the anatomy of totalitarian systems. Add the exciting plot and the mystery of Dust (read the book, and you'll know:)) and you've got a cliffhanger. Oh yeah: did I mention there is a 2019 TV series as well?

I also have these books with me (in the hope that I'll be able to read them during quarantine):

Salman Rushdie: Midnight's Children

Joanne Harris: The Gospel of Loki

Leigh Bardugo: Ninth House

Films/series

Outlander

I have never been one for historical fiction: still this series has really grown on me. It has its highs and lows but if you battle through its many seasons you'll find it's quite addictive and I just love the Scottish accents in it! It was adapted from Diana Gabaldon's books.

Westworld We've been watching Westworld since the first season: it has always been a bit too brutal for me (prepare yourselves if you can't stand violence), but the storyline is so good it held me captive. This season (03) is my favourite as it revolves around man's relationship with technology and the question of what makes us humans.

The Flash

Gulity pleasure which we started watching again in March despite stopping earlier: quarantine changes your perspective and the characters are easy to love (although the storyline is a bit faulty and often generic).

Killing Eve OK, this is cheating because so far I only watched one episode: it's interesting how they can make a crime series funny - I like the style and humour. (Again, if you can't stand violence have your hands ready in front of your eyes).

Mr Robot

One of the perks of HBO GO (just like Westworld) - which I conveniently forgot to cancel after the trial period. (Yes, I'm terrible of keeping track of these things.) Again, the topic of technology vs humans and a good dose of social criticism: by the end you'll be rooting for the hackers, too. Clever, dark and exciting.

Magazines

Frankie As an illustrator, my iPad is my primary work tool and I recently discovered that even if my favourite magazines (e.g. Flow, Mollie Makes) are not available in Hungary some others have digital versions to subscribe to, like Frankie. Frankie is a bi-monthly Australian indie magazine that features art, crafts and culture. Now I have beautiful pages at my fingertips whenever I need a light break.

New Yorker

Since Gilmore Girls we all know how young journalists dream of having their article featured in the New Yorker. Since I started following them on Instagram I found some really interesting in-depth articles in various topics. If you have a taste for longer articles which make you think twice about a certain topic, it's perfect. (Especially after reading the Hungarian news loaded with claptrap and political swings). You have a limit up to which you can read for free without a subscription but it's worth using it up even if you don't plan on being a regular reader.

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That's all folks: I hope you enjoyed my selection and let's hope we all come out wiser and stronger on the other end of the Covid crisis. Take care!

Ennek a posztnak a fejléc képe a https://pixabay.com/- ról származik, free licensszel.