I can’t be the only one who’s thought about just disappearing into the woods before, right? We think about what it would be like to disconnect from a fast-paced world and for me, at least, know that we’d never be able to do it. Me becoming a hermit in the woods would be a fast track to me being dead in the woods. But in The Stranger in the Woods, we learn the story of Michael Knight. A man who not only managed to survive, but thrive living in the woods for over 25 years.

Slowly, through this book we’re able to peel away the layers of what makes Knight who he is even as we grapple with what he did. Silence is a punishment for most. Solitary confinement is considered one of the greatest punishments for prison inmates. We’re social creatures, but Michael Knight was able to make it through with his sanity intact.

So what knowledge of the universe does the hermit have to give us? What advice and wisdom does he want us to hear?

None. Michael Knight didn’t do any of this for our sake.

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There’s no fight to be had in Brenda Shaughnessy’s Octopus Museum. There’s no raging against the dying of the light to be had. Humanity has already lost and there can be no resistance against a telepathic Octopus society. Shaughnessy paints a world where humans had their shot and we blew it.

Thanks to Covid-19, we’re all very stressed right now. I know that’s the understatement of this (already very messy decade). But like I mentioned in my Get Well Soon review, it always feels like humanity will make it through.

Not this time.

Welcome to the Octopus Museum. All hail our cephalopod overlords (COOs)

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Get Well Soon almost feels like a godsend in this era of the Covid-19 pandemic. Some parts feel too prescient to be real. I thought that reading a book about plagues would stress me out, but instead it made me vaguely hopeful.

Jennifer Wright tackles these topics with a wry sense of humour that helps ease the fears that come with plagues. Not to spoil everything from the start, but this is an excellent book. It has plenty of stories about death and pestilence, but told in a way that makes it fun somehow.

I thought it would be too dark, but during this pandemic, it should be essential reading for all of us.

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