
Did anyone expect the year 2020 to play out like Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion? No, me neither. I can’t speak for anyone else but after yet another lockdown I’m starting to understand Jack Torrance’s meltdown in The Shining.
The first week of lockdown way back in March felt a little bit like a snow day, the panic buying was certainly reminiscent of the days just before “The Beast from the East” hit Dublin in 2018. I think many people were enjoying the novelty of being at home with nothing to do but sit on the couch eating all their lockdown food in 3 days and catching up on that boxset you’ve been meaning to watch. And yes like many I may have re-watched a few favourites, Buffy, Hannibal, Breaking Bad you get the idea. The feeling here at least was this might last a couple of weeks and then we’d all be back in work again. This was far from true and if someone tried to tell me back in March that things would be worse 9 months later I wouldn’t have believed them.
The months in the first lockdown only made me crave the cinemas more, I mean there’s only so many socially distanced walks and zoom quizzes one can take. So when the restrictions were finally beginning to lift I wasted no time getting back to it. My first film was Unhinged, yes I know what you’re thinking but as you can imagine there wasn’t a whole lot of options. This was quickly followed by Pinocchio and then finally the much anticipated Tenet. This moment of normality was short lived and what with one thing and another lockdown 2.0 was looming. I did manage to see Tenet one more time before the cinemas and all other “non-essential” businesses closed their doors but now with everything closed again and all upcoming cinema releases either pushed to next year or moved to online streaming I’m literally counting down the minutes until I’m back sitting in the comfortable, colourful seats in the lighthouse cinema. However, I don’t know when I’ll ever get to hear live music again, see a performance in the National Concert Hall, have a drink in a bar with my friends. Hell, even just spend time with my friends again doing anything! And if that thought isn’t enough to drive one to the brink of madness I don’t know what is. I’m probably one zoom quiz away from going completely insane.
The thing I’ve done the most during this shitshow of a year is read. I may not have been able to get to an actual bookstore and I’m not one for using kindles but if you can’t get to the bookstore bring the bookstore to you. I’m not saying browsing books online was the same as going into an actual shop but it did the job and it pays to shop around. Between online bookstores, both Irish and non-Irish I was able to add to my ever growing book collection.


Pandemic
I know what you’re thinking but keep in mind this was early days during the Pandemic. Not only was this choice appropriate but I thought this might ease my fears…it didn’t. Great book though, a real page turner that I couldn’t put down and not just because I had nothing else to do. No synopsis needed, the title says it all really.

Outbreak
No not that Outbreak. Don’t expect this to be like that movie with Dustin Hoffman & the monkey, it’s so much better. I promise the virus theme doesn’t last long but curiosity got the better of me. If you’re in the market for a medical thriller you can’t go wrong with Robin Cook.

The Eyes of Darkness
A mother sets out on a quest to discover if her son really did die a year ago or if he is still alive. The theory behind this book was it allegedly predicted the Covid-19 outbreak originating from Wuhan. Spoiler alert, it doesn’t but it’s still worth a read for all you Dean Koontz fans.