Four years ago I did a great big thread of books in the run up to the election to keep me going, and I’m doing it again! (Thanks, @libbyanelson for the suggestion!) That thread is here: https://twitter.com/thebestjasmine/status/760277497296543748?s=21

I’m going to recommend a book I love every day until...well I’ll figure that part out later. Today: THE YELLOW HOUSE, by Sarah M. Broom, a book I loved and that I think about constantly. About a disaster and government incompetence, but also love and family and community.

Today’s book recommendation: WE ARE NEVER MEETING IN REAL LIFE, by Samantha Irby. I read this book in the bathtub and laughed so hard I almost passed out, so do not endanger your life like me, but also that kind of laughter is just what we need right now.

Today’s book: MISS SILVER DEALS WITH DEATH, by Patricia Wentworth. I adore this series about a retired governess turned private eye in wartime and post war England who knits a lot, and if that sounds so soothing to you right now buy this asap.

BELLWEATHER RHAPSODY by Kate Racculia. Doesn’t a book set in a hotel during a blizzard that traps everyone inside with both and old and new mystery to solve sound perfect right now?

THE SNOWY DAY, Ezra Jack Keats. A comforting hug of a beloved picture book is exactly what I need right now. Doesn’t this picture make you feel at least a tiny bit better?

One of the best cookbooks I’ve ever used for figuring out what to do with that thing I bought is SALT, FAT, ACID, HEAT, by Samin Nosrat. And then watch the show for some comfort watching.

I loved INTERCEPTED by Alexa Martin so much, and it’s always one of my first recommendations for people who are starting out reading romance. Spending some time in that world would be a joyful break right now.

GOOD TALK by Mira Jacob — an incredible graphic memoir about race and America and love and hardship and I loved it a lot.

I love every single of the Agatha Christie Miss Marple books without reservation but I think my favorite is 4:50 FROM PADDINGTON. I’m rereading it right now and it’s perfect and so soothing.

HOW TO WRITE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NOVEL by Alexander Chee is outstanding: a collection of essays that are thoughtful, brilliant, joyful, heartbreaking, and teach me something every time I read them.

ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS by Jami Attenberg is a really great book for many reasons but right now I need to reread the first chapter, where a really terrible man rants and stomps around and then has a heart attack

STATION ELEVEN was an incredible book & I wish to God a) I’d never read it and b) more of our leaders had. You should NOT read it now! But you should read Emily St. John Mandel’s new book, out today, THE GLASS HOTEL, which I read in a single sitting. It’s phenomenal.

ALL YOU CAN EVER KNOW, by Nicole Chung. I used to think I didn’t like memoir; oh boy is that not true! This book pulls you in right away, and makes you feel love and sorrow and joy over and over again.

Madhur Jaffrey’s WORLD VEGETARIAN made me discover so many interesting and delicious new ways to cook vegetables. Super educational and helpful.

GHOST MAP by Steven Johnson — ok this one might hit too close to home but it’s a fascinating and absorbing story of the cholera epidemic in London in 1854 and how and why it happened.

FURIOUS HOURS by Casey Cep — three fascinating stories in one, about a man who killed a bunch of family members for the insurance money, the lawyer who represented both him and the man who eventually killed him, and Harper Lee, who almost, but didn’t, write a book about them.

I’ve found creativity to be really really difficult during all of this, but WRITING DOWN THE BONES by Natalie Goldberg is the perfect writing/creativity book for this moment. It helped me think about writing as a practice, and taught me how to let it flow.

PACHINKO by Min Jin Lee is a true epic, and once I started reading it I couldn’t think about anything else.

Classic mysteries are very soothing to me these days, and A STUDY IN SCARLET WOMEN by Sherry Thomas has that same excellent feeling of a classic, but with the best kind of updates and twists.

YOU NEVER FORGET YOUR FIRST by Alexis Coe: I learned SO MUCH I didn’t know about the revolutionary war period & George Washington as a man & a president in this book, it dealt with his relationship with slavery in an honest way, & it was also entertaining and funny throughout.

THE KEY TO HAPPILY EVER AFTER by Tif Marcelo. I come from a big, complicated, close family, and I love books that explore family relationships. Especially the ones where everyone does really love each other but drives each other up a wall. This book does that so well.

CARNEY’S HOUSE PARTY, Maud Hart Lovelace. Do you want to read about a bunch of friends hanging out and flirting and eating delicious snacks and dancing and laughing, over 100 years ago? Me too. I miss my friends so much.

BAD BLOOD by John Carreyrou — I followed the end of Theranos on Twitter and in the news, but nothing prepared me for what a scam this company really was. This book is such a page turner and so well done.

RED AT THE BONE, by Jacqueline Woodson is barely 200 pages but feels like an epic. I cared so much about all of the characters, and they all felt so intensely real to me. I sobbed at the end, which I rarely do, but Jacqueline Woodson has that kind of power.

THE UNHONEYMOONERS by Christina Lauren is laugh so hard you can’t see the pages funny, and also warm and touching and thoughtful. An excellent book to lose yourself in when you want to get away — at least in your mind — from this current moment.

The news that St. John the Divine will be used as a hospital has made me think of A SEVERED WASP, by Madeleine L’Engle all day. She really loved that cathedral, and this book is one of her books where it’s such a main character that I love it too, even though I’ve never been.

SIZE TWELVE IS NOT FAT by Meg Cabot is a mystery/rom-com hybrid and, like all of Meg Cabot’s books, is just incredibly fun.

FLOUR by Joanne Chang — every recipe I’ve tried from this cookbook has been fantastic. A good investment if you want to throw yourself into some more complicated baking projects.

THE SHORTEST WAY HOME, by Miriam Parker — I miss leisurely day trips to wine country with my friends, but this book makes you feel like you’re on one.

THORNYHOLD by Mary Stewart is perfect for you if you want to read a book about someone who inherits an old family house in the English countryside, putters in her garden and hangs out with animals, realizes she can do some magic, and oh also befriends a handsome neighbor.

BEEZUS AND RAMONA, by Beverly Cleary. It’s this great writer’s birthday, and let me tell you, if you’re worried that these books that you loved as a kid will disappoint you as an adult, stop worrying and reread them! They’re still great.

Madhur Jaffrey’s WORLD VEGETARIAN is a fantastic cookbook in general — everything I’ve ever made from it has been delicious — and excellent for this moment in particular, as we all try to do something different with the vegetables & legumes in our fridges & pantries & freezers

FULL DISCLOSURE by Camryn Garrett is smart and thoughtful and funny and heartbreaking, and a real joy to read.

THE RIGHT SWIPE by Alisha Rai was one of my favorite books I read last year: emotional, real, touching, and very swoony.

TO LOVE AND BE WISE by Josephine Tey is set in a charming English village in the late 1940s, but its riffs on celebrity culture, mocking of mansplainers and [redacted spoiler] make it feel very current. I adore this book.

THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL, by Maurene Goo is about friendship and food trucks and family and LA and summer and falling in love and did I mention the food truck because the food in this book sounds incredible and I think about it all the time.

PRAIRIE FIRES by Caroline Fraser is a fascinating and compulsively readable biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. It puts the Little House books in their proper historical context, and also gives excellent historical context to when and why and how Laura wrote the books.

I inhaled QUEENIE by Candace Carty-Williams — hilarious and smart and cringe-y and a fun ride from beginning to end.