Current Events and Reading: How are you doing?

Posted July 8, 2020 in Discussion Tags:

Do current events influence your choice in books?

2020 has been a challenge…ok, really, it’s be a dumpster fire. A big one. There have been plenty of current events-political, health/wellness, and even murder hornets. I found at the beginning of the quarantine I found myself gravitating to escapism reads-tropical locations, little to no angst, and of course, a beautiful happy ever after. Here were a few that fit the bill for me:

I avoided anything that had a political theme or where a character’s illness was the main focus of the plot. I just didn’t want to be reminded of anything remotely realistic!

Now that its summer and the quarantine is over and life is returning back to normal, I found myself still avoiding those two topics. Both are consuming the news! However, I was willing to dive back into more angsty reads and even a few darker romances. But, I also found that I am still big on the escapism part! Paranormal, magic, fantasy, and the like all provide that escape. Even if the story only includes small elements of these, it’s different enough from today that it works for me. Here are a few I recommend:

There are times when current events impact my reading because I WANT books on topic. For example, when the Olympics come around, I gobble up books with Olympic athletes! I like reading football romances in the fall, hockey romances in the winter, and baseball romances in the summer! The current Black Lives Matter protests have made me consciously seek out more BIPOC authors and stories. While 2020 seems to have made me avoid most topical stories, this isn’t always the case. I would have loved to have tons of Olympic romances this summer, but current events killed the Olympics. Sigh. 2021 has to be better, right?