I’m not even sure which week of lockdown (or supposed “partial lockdown”) the UK is even in now… 10-11? The weeks and days are all blurring into one and life is currently an endless stream of mind-numbing repetition.
Personally, I am finding it particularly hard at this stage. I have been furloughed from work, and I have now run out of ‘improve the house/car/garden’ jobs… I realise how incredibly lucky I am to live a totally independent life: I don’t need any medical rehabilitation or help at this stage, but I understand so many people who have had brain injuries do not have this luxury. Every time I want to complain, I always remind myself that it could be so much worse. I have always believed it is important to always focus on and cherish what you still have.
Reading books is honestly the only thing currently keeping me sane, so that is all I can advise everyone else to do if they are looking for something to ease the hours of relentless monotony. Reading is the ultimate escape.
I don’t know what on earth possessed me to read Stephen King ‘The Stand’ at this particular moment in time: the story of a virus which wipes out most of the human population is arguably not the most uplifting read for right now…
‘[He] passed the sickness to more than forty people that day and the next. How many those forty passed it to is impossible to say – you might as well ask how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. If you were to make a conservative estimate of five apiece, you’d have two hundred. Using the same conservative formula, one could say those two hundred went on to infect a thousand, the thousand five thousand, the five thousand twenty-five thousand.’
The Stand, Stephen King
However, I have read that King himself has stated that he doesn’t want his novel compared to the coronavirus outbreak; he has also emphasised that his story is work of a science fiction. I’m sure he still sees why people can still draw at least some comparisons between the situations; at times they can be quite chilling.
I think King is such a beautiful writer; he has such a vivid, enthralling way of sculpting words and descriptions, which I think is quite unlike anyone else. The book is not all doom and gloom either, as King also does highlight moments of stark reality and truth through the despair; perhaps this is something we should all try to learn from:
‘Love didn’t grow very well in a place where there was only fear.’
The Stand, Stephen King
I think I now might go back to something a little more light-hearted and nostalgic. I grew up with the Harry Potter series, and I think I even had the same school year and age (or very similar) to Harry. These books remind me of my childhood, and the utter joy each story gave me. I still remember getting copies as soon as the books were released, then sitting in my room for the next however many hours to read it all in one go! I never once had a spoiler.
So, although we are in dire times which I hope we never experience again, I believe that nothing can beat the joy of reading. Books will always be a way of providing escapism, hope and delight to all of humanity, no matter how bad a situation may seem.
“Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J K Rowling
