12 Novels About Pandemics

If you haven't already heard enough about the growing COVID-19 crisis and pandemics in general, then you may be interested in an article I came across on Electric Literature's website titled, 12 Books About Pandemics. In the article, I read the following:

As the world struggles to come to terms with the growing COVID-19 crisis, many of us are turning to fiction as a way of understanding the scope of the danger—and, perhaps paradoxically, a way of finding comfort. If the last thing you want to think about right now is global epidemic disease, we get that! But novels can also help people wrap their heads around something that may seem too big and scary to process. If you feel like you’re living in the first pages of a post-apocalyptic story, these books about historical and speculative future pandemics might help you feel less alone. Pick one up, and then wash your hands.

I have not read any of the novels mentioned in the above Electric Literature article. However, I do have a copy of Pandemic by Robin Cook in my 'tbr' pile waiting to be read. I've thought about making this medical thriller my next read... On the other hand, maybe not as my energy has been too zapped from the endless COVID-19 media attention. I need a distraction from the sheer idea of a 'pandemic' by reading some other subject matter altogether.