Books are known to be a person’s best friend. This statement is quite underrated considering how books have a solution for almost everything and we are certainly not talking about encyclopedias here!
A health worker at a regional trauma center was seeking for something which would help him reduce his stress levels after a hectic day at work.
A novelist Tim Lott, whose upcoming book “When we were rich” will be published on 27th June, came to his rescue.
He told the health worker to avoid reading anything that requires brain activity and mental effort. To which he suggested not to read any book by Thomas Pynchonor or Virginia Woolf.
Secondly, he advised not to go for anything which is written poorly or has an illogical storyline because that can upset one’s mood. For example, Jeffrey Archer or EL James and ironically reading the “Little book of calm” does no good either.
Contrary to the above genres, historical fiction is a great way to relax one’s self.
“I read Golden Hill by Francis Spufford last year and as intelligent a book I have rarely read. Or try JG Farell’s great “The Siege of Krishnapur.”
He suggested people with hard and challenging jobs to read “How to be idle” by Tom Hodgkinson. According to Lott, short thrillers can also do magic on one’s stressed state of mind. “crooked letter, crooked letter” by Tom Franklin is an example of the above-stated genre.
The author also suggests laughing one’s self back to sanity. PG Wodehouse’s “The code of woosters” is an incredible book for this cause. he also recommended William Boyds’s earliest books.
One can also read Anne Tyler’s “The accidental tourist” if they had a horrible day (because quite certainly your day can’t be half as bad as Macon Leary’s).
The novelist also believes that short stories are not that wholesome and therefore avoids them. Instead, he sticks to essays by Tom Wolfe or John Steinback.
Moreover, if a person wishes to deal with stress in the long term, they can read some Zen texts. It opens a new world view and helps a person cope up with stress.
