During the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were cooped up inside their homes to protect themselves and others around them. Although this was a necessary precaution to stop the spread, it became very monotonous, and people began to run out of things to do in the house by April. Many got tired of staring at a screen and wanted something with more substance. That was when people turned to new hobbies, like baking and gardening. People also turned to apps like Animal Crossing: New Horizons to escape the real world for a moment. But what if one cannot bake, or one lacks a green thumb? What if one’s Animal Crossing island is finished, or there is no incentive for improvement? These types of people subsequently turned to, or reconnected with, reading! Reading has become massively popular over the last several months, and regular bookworms are happy about the recent spike in popularity of their favorite pastime.

One of the main reasons people are getting back into their favorite books is that they finally have enough time on their hands. Many individuals are trying to challenge themselves and pass the time by reading books with more pages. Bea Carvolho of the Waterstones Book Store noticed a demand for longer books, as she told the Guardian, “Our best-seller is Hillary Mantel– those 900 pages aren’t going to seem daunting anymore and it’s doing well.” According to the Guardian, book sales had gone up a staggering six percent from the first weeks of the pandemic to April. A very popular section was young adult (YA) fiction novels and fantasy books. However, the interest in non-fiction has dwindled since the emergence of COVID-19. This displays that people wanted to escape the world and find refuge in another, less damaged, one. 

Students at LHS have been doing more reading than usual over the quarantine. Amelie Duch, a freshman, has read a number of books, and took a great liking to them: “I had reread The Hunger Games series over the summer and quarantine. I think the most popular [books] at the moment are the Harry Potter books. They are an oldie but a goodie!” Freshman Vanessa Gonzalo also noticed the resurgence of popular novels amongst her peers during quarantine from another standpoint: “I didn’t read, but I think they went up because [quarantine] was a very long time that we had to spend by ourselves and we all found new hobbies to do.” Senior Jason Huffine enjoys how many people took up new skills and ignited the flame of a new hobby, since they had an overstock of time on their hands: “I think one of the very few, cool things that have come from this pandemic is that it has sparked a renewed interest in solo activities. Some people chose to take up running, and many others discovered, or in some cases rediscovered, their love for reading. I, for instance, finally got around to finishing the collection of classic dystopian novels, with Brave New World and 1984. I also revisited a few books that I read when I was younger for a nostalgic reminiscence of a simpler time in my life.” 

Books tend to immerse us into a world that no other piece of modern technology can. And once inside the pages, the possibilities are endless. Sometimes, everything goes wrong, and one questions why that book did not resonate with him/her. Other times, they are just perfect. So perfect that one might never want to leave. So, if ever feeling down, or looking for a break from 2020, find a good book, and be reminded of the joys of literature.