What to Read This Weekend

Welcome. The weekend, again, and with it, time, perhaps for escape. For some, car trips, screenless forays into spaces beyond home. For others, streaming: hit-or-miss Netflix originals, dependable procedurals, maybe some carefully portioned reality. A couple weeks back, I asked you what you were reading and, as usual, the responses were thoughtful and inspired. No surprise: Many of us are reading as refuge, to get outside of the head or the house. “Some books seem like a key to unfamiliar rooms in one’s own castle,” Kafka wrote. Now, when the rooms feel all too familiar, books can open things up.

Diane Whitney of West Hartford, Conn., is reading “Dr. Zhivago.” “It doesn’t matter if you’ve seen the movie,” she wrote. “The book is different and the writing is poetic.”

“I am into distraction and “Blacktop Wasteland” by S.A. Cosby did it for me big time,” wrote Penni Wisner of San Francisco. Holly Smith Barry and her 17-year-old daughter in Irving, Texas, are reading Shakespeare. “We mispronounced everything, misinterpreted the plots and laughed about everything. Even the tragedies became comedies. Sorry Shakespeare, but we had some fun at your expense,” she reported. Jim Moher of San Leandro, Calif., recommended Josephus’s “The Jewish War.” Helen Frazer of New Meadows, Idaho, took the recommendation of our own Sam Sifton and got hooked on the Bruno, Chief of Police series by Martin Walker (Laurie Danahy in Sisters, Ore. loves it, too.)

“I just finished ‘Foe’ by Iain Reid. This is a quick read, a short but psyche-grabbing story that will keep you wondering, ‘What’s next?’ I have not been able to get into reading since the plague hit but this book has reignited my love for one of my favorite activities,” wrote George Vance from Portland, Ore.