Having only a vague recollection of Shakespeare’s sonnets from English classes, I was expecting beautiful poems about love. There is some of that, but it was quite a surprise to also find sordid poems about unfaithful lovers, stolen mistresses, jealousy, love triangles, and dirty puns.

In “The Visit” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, gender roles are reversed. Men are expected to be house husbands while their wives work. Medical research focuses on women, so men’s health issues like enlarged prostate are not funded. Male masturbation is outlawed instead of abortion. Single men who go out without a woman are harassed. This story has a very obvious message about gender discrimination, so readers who don’t like being preached at will likely bounce off this story, but at least the characters are realistically drawn.

The Outsiders is a shared-world anthology which takes place in a small gated community in the UK called Priory, home to a cult that worships a colossal squid. Five different authors each contribute stories which fit together nicely. Each of our viewpoint characters are outsiders in some way either for being largely friendless, being black in a largely white neighborhood, being an unbeliever, or being gay in a religious community that frowns upon that. I felt like each story in the collection was better than the one before.

“There’s no question of heroism in all this. It’s a matter of common decency. That’s an idea which may make some people smile, but the only means of fighting a plague is – common decency.”

During the beginning of the Covid pandemic, The Plague by Albert Camus had a spike in popularity. I’m a bit late to jump on the bandwagon, but I’m glad I got around to reading it. Quotes from it, such as the one above, speak directly to our times, in which an act of common decency, such as wearing a mask, is the best way to fight disease.