Now weve got time on our freshly cleaned hands,The Spectators literary luminaries are lubricating the wheels on times wingd chariot andseizing the chanceto boost their morale and brainfunction, reflect on the meaning of life and catch up on a good book or six. Each day, the Lockdown List carries ourbibliophilic recommendations.

Jacob Heilbrunn

What could be more timely and liberating than Stefano Mancusos The Incredible Journey of Plants? In this exhilarating new book from Other Press, the eminent Italian neurobiologist shows that plants are an unstoppable force, the greatest colonizers of all as they travel to every nook and cranny of the globe, intent on setting up shop wherever and whenever they can.

Then there is Adam SismansThe Professor and the Parson, a riveting tale about Robert Parkin Peters, a gifted imposter in the tradition of Baron Corvo and Trebitsch Lincoln who crossed paths with scholarly luminaries such as Hugh Trevor-Roper. He invented lofty scholarly credentials and wriggled his way into a series of academic and religious positions in America, Canada and the United Kingdom. Exposure always came sooner or later but he achieved a kind of immortality that he could never dreamed of achieving had he been a conventional academic. Sisman tells this delectable tale with such flair that it is almost impossible not to savor his account of Peterss exploits in a single sitting.

When it comes to Trevor-Roper, I find myself dipping into hisWartime Journals, expertly edited by Richard Davenport-Hines. Davenport-Hiness suave introduction alone is worth the price of admission and Trevor-Ropers entries, by turn gossipy and bitchy, illuminating and profound, are always a treat to peruse.

Bonus entries: Judith Cherniaks superb biography of Robert Schumann, Oliver Sackss On the Moveand an oldie but goodie, Alan Jeffersons biography of Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.

Jacob Heilbrunn is editor of theNational Interest and a contributing editor to The Spectators US edition.

The rest is here:
The lockdown list: books to read during quarantine - The Spectator USA