As the weeks continue to pass in quarantine, restlessness is beginning to set in. With eLearning’s new challenges, and the unknown forever looming, we are still looking for things to pass the time. There is some good news, however: Entertainment will never go away and can help us escape or just keep the boredom away.

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Something new to try is listening to audiobooks. They are much more accessible than physical books right now with the help of apps like Audible, Libby, and the GCHS online library. One audiobook that makes walks and destinationless car rides just a little better is A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman. This book follows a crotchety old man named Ove who is planning to commit suicide after his wife’s death. However, the young family who moved in next door begins to open his eyes to reasons why he should live, and his impact on people’s lives, whether he sees it or not. The audiobook is phenomenally narrated, where the narrator captures the essence of a hopeless old man searching for solace. This book is the definition of heartwarming; it is sad, but always with a twinge of hope. Ove, although he is much older than high school students, is an incredibly relatable character in the aspects of loss and taking out our hurt onto the world. It implements the idea that one’s hurt doesn’t define them, and reaching out for help is never a bad thing. This realistic fiction is a great read or listen.

If more adult realistic fiction is not your thing, there are some great young adult novels that aren’t surrounded by a ton of hype. With Malice by Eileen Cook is a YA mystery/drama, and you will fly through this novel. With Malice tells the story of high school senior Jill on her trip to Italy. However, she wakes up in the hospital with the last six weeks wiped from her memory and her best friend dead. The book flips between Jill’s time in Italy before the accident, and her recovery in America. Jill’s battle between the truth her amnesic mind believes and what her lawyers are trying to get her to believe makes this book have an interesting version of what the truth means if revealing it isn’t for the greater good. As the stories in Italy and America begin to meet in the middle, the plot twist slowly reveals itself until it hits you in the face on the last few pages. The ending is unsatisfying in the best way possible; it wraps the story up but leaves you open-mouthed with a plot twist that could not have been what actually happened. This book is a complete page-turner and will keep you constantly wanting to figure out what happened along with Jill.

Keeping with the mystery theme, one of the great mystery writers of our time had to graze this list at some point. Agatha Christie has written numerous books, all mysterious and full of amazing unexpected turns. If you’re not sure where to start, And Then There Were None is a great beginning. One of her most famous novels, And Then There Were None tells the account of ten strangers locked on an island, only with each other. However, as time goes on, the guests begin to die one by one. The remaining guests point fingers and search for answers, but anyone could be the culprit. This is an amazing book with a plot twist that you will never see coming. Agatha Christie masterfully writes the characters to make them blame each other and you, the reader, begin to point fingers as well. The book shows true human nature and the need for survival when the enemy could be hiding within anyone. The characters use their fear against each other and blackmail the only allies, and possible enemies, they have. The suspense written into each line as the guests arrive on the island is sustained until the very end when the culprit is revealed. This book, for lack of a better cliche, will keep you promptly at the edge of your seat the whole time.