The pandemic, in a peculiar way, has been a blessing to me. It has transformed my daily life: I now work from home, heavily relying on technology, and, in the interest of our collective safety, my venturing outside has been significantly curtailed. This has presented me with an opportunity to assess my priorities and proclivities; and an abundance of time to indulge in one of my favourite pastimes – reading.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that I might have doubled (or even tripled) the amount of time I spend reading books since the pandemic erupted in March 2020. I read mainly for pleasure, and these memoirs were among those that had kept me entertained during the lockdown.