People are turning to books as they hunker down at home to help slow the spread of coronavirus — or at least they say they want to read more, according to the San Francisco-based app Goodreads.
The app is like social media for reading, allowing people to identify books they want to read or are currently reading, share reviews and more. Goodreads also has an annual reading challenge in which users can set a goal for how many books they want to finish that year. In March, there was a 28 percent increase in books people marked as “want to read,” and a similar jump in people setting up reading challenges for the year, according to data shared by Goodreads.
Among the most-read books in the U.S. during March, when parts of the country including the Bay Area enacted shelter in place orders, are bestsellers like Little Fires Everywhere and beloved novels like Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Here’s the full list of the 10 most read books last month:
- Where the Crawdads Sing, by Delia Owens
- Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
- The Silent Patient, by Alex Michaelides
- Educated, by Tara Westover
- Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid
- American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins
- The Dutch House, by Ann Patchett
- The Giver of Stars, by Jojo Moyes
- House of Earth and Blood, by Sarah J. Maas
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, by J.K. Rowling
For Bay Area readers hoping to pick up a new book amid the shutdowns, independent shops have started offering pick-up and delivery options. Oakland’s Walden Pond Books, for example, is letting customers call ahead and pick-up their new reads in person.
So is Recycle Bookstore, which has locations in San Jose and Campbell. Owner Eric Johnson said some customers have been finding other creative ways to support them.
“A lot of people are doing gift cards, which are kind of like microloans,” Johnson said. “They can spend that money when we open back up, but the $100 goes to paying whatever we need to pay stay open.”
During the shelter in place, he said, people have often gone two routes with their reading: Some go full pandemic mode, buying books like The Stand by Stephen King, The Passage by Justin Cronin about a government experiment with a virus that goes horribly wrong, and Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel about a post-apocalyptic world ravaged by a swine flu pandemic.
“On the other side, a lot of people are buying books about Buddhism and how to keep calm,” Johnson said.
