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cell in Louisiana, which he was
allowed to leave for only an hour
each day.Settle into a long,
ambitious readThe Wolf Hall trilogy
At a combined 2,000-plus pages,
Hilary Mantel’s novels will provide
reading material for weeks.
Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and
The Mirror and the Light are first a
deep character study of Thomas
Cromwell, who rose through the
ranks of Tudor society to become
King Henry VIII’s chief enforcer—
but the series is also a vibrant
political drama.The Toni Morrison canon
Few authors have provided more
immersive reading experiences
than the late Morrison: her visual,
aural and olfactory details are
startlingly evocative, while her
narratives unfurl over decades
of tension with epic climaxes.
All of her novels, published over
45 years, deserve to be read
and reread as testaments to
American pain, perseverance
and joy.1Q84
As with most Haruki Murakami
novels, 1Q84 is a strange brew
of hard-boiled detective fiction,
nonchalant surrealism and
melancholy. It involves parallel
worlds, malevolent religious cults
and metaphysical sex. But the
plot isn’t really the point. Reading
this book is more about sinking
into a dreamlike mood where
the mundane can shift almost
imperceptibly to
the fantastic.War and Peace
A book on everyone’s
I-feel-like-I-should-
read-that list, War
and Peace is a
sprawling story
about fundamental
change. Through
war and the
political and
social upheaval
that follow, Leo
Tolstoy’s 500-
plus characters
transform intoThe IQ series
Joe Ide delivers a fresh update
to the hotshot- detective genre.
His protagonist is Isaiah
“IQ” Quintabe, a high school
dropout who lives in Long
Beach, Calif., and uses
deduction and ingenuity to stay
one step ahead of the city’s
cutthroat underworld.The Crazy Rich
Asians trilogy
No number of mansions,
fancy cars or designer
gowns can solve
familial strife or cure
romance woes for
the moneyed elite
of Singapore—and
it’s a testament
to Kevin Kwan’s
measured humor that
he can turn rich-people
problems into a fun and
humanizing romp.The Harry Potter series
When Harry Potter fans are in
crisis, they turn to the wizarding
world for comfort and moral
direction. After all, an entire
generation grew up learning
the differences between right
and wrong, bravery and fear,
acceptance and bigotry from
J.K. Rowling’s stories of a great
wizarding war. The series can
function as pure escapism
and thrilling entertainment—
but also a lesson on how to
support and empathize with
the vulnerable.
—TIME Staffcompletely different people. Their
growth captures humanity in the
way that novels told from a single
point of view cannot.Escape into
fantasies, thrills
and simple
pleasuresMy Sister, the
Serial Killer
How strong
are the
bonds of
sisterhood,
really? In
Oyinkan
Braith waite’s
electric
comedy, Korede
is wondering.
Her younger sister Ayoola has
just killed off boyfriend No. 3,
and Korede, a nurse, again helps
her clean the crime scene and
move the body. But she’s getting
frustrated with Ayoola—her
prettier, probably sociopathic
counterpart—especially as she
narrows in on her next target.I Feel Bad About My Neck
Writer and filmmaker Nora
Ephron’s mother once told her
that “everything is copy,” an
adage that she took to heart with
her treasured collection of witty
and hilarious essays about
the challenges and triumphs of
being a modern woman who’s
growing older.TREAD.indd 99 3/25/20 4:10 PM