Sort of a random question about current fiction

[rosarugosa]

In Billy Summers which takes place in 2019, Stephen King at one point says something like "who would believe that in a year, much of the world would be closed down due to a virus?" I realize that sometime soon, I'll read a novel that is set against the backdrop of the actual pandemic, much like there are now plenty of novels where 9/11 is part of the background. I'm not talking about books about the pandemic, just books where that is part of the background. Has anyone encountered that yet?

[bae]

I just read "Our Country Friends":

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/02/b...y-friends.html

[Yppej]

I started one, forgot the title. It was too chick litty and I dropped it quickly. One character was I think on a barrier island off the Southeast and another character was trying to get there from England but there were travel restrictions.

[jp1]

This reminds me of a tweet I saw the other day: "Wordle is the sourdough starter of Omicron". Someone who hasn't lived through the pandemic wouldn't know about the brief moment where bread making was a big thing during the pandemic, nor would they likely know about wordle since wordle is likely a flash in the pan thing.

I've been reading a book about steam heating systems, "The Lost Art of Steam Heat" by Dan Holohan. At one point he's discussing sizing replacement boilers and in the middle of that topic he says something along the lines of "you probably never learned about this in school but during the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 - 1920 people would leave their windows open all night so systems got sized to be able to keep the house warm with the windows open on the coldest day of the year because they were concerned about ventilation." I just laughed, thinking, "you're right, I didn't learn that in school, but I DID learn it from a NY Times article sixth months ago during the current pandemic..."

[ApatheticNoMore]

Seems like they would be very boring novels where noone does anything because ... pandemic.

[hana]

Song for a New Day by Sarah Pinsker. Takes place about 20 years after a global pandemic, the government passes draconian laws that severely limit the ability to interact with someone in person. The story features Luce, a young musician on the verge of stardom when everything happens and Rosemary who was a young child at the time. Some of the opening chapters are slow since Pinsker is showing the first few months of the pandemic from Luce's point of view and how the new laws have affected Rosemary's childhood and opportunities

The book was released in late 2019 and a lot of things that happened in the book actually happened like Jon Legend hosting an instagram concert in his living room. A restaurant in Amsterdam using greenhouses to serve customers so they can stay open. If you heard anyone reference the before times when talking about something that happened pre pandemic, it's phrase used by the characters. 2020 was full of people sharing news articles of the pandemic on social media and pointing out how Pinsker predicted it.