Bookmark: This fraught summer has changed the way you read

You read to avoid news of pandemics. Or you read to learn about pandemics.

You read to soothe yourself. Or you read to immerse yourself in new, enormous worlds.

Recently, I asked readers if this crazy year — the pandemic, lockdowns and social upheaval — was changing what you read. You said yes. You said yes to everything.

David Bornus, Shoreview: I had been accumulating a pile of books to read in retirement, but when libraries and bookstores closed it became a lifesaver. I've read down my piles several feet since March, including several series — the Ruth Ware novels, political biographies, novels by Anthony Quinn and a five-volume set of lectures on Martin Luther. I am feeling a great deal of satisfaction clearing away those piles.

Ian Krouth, St. Louis Park: I have a large to-read shelf so I thought myself well-equipped when lockdown began. Then I realized that half of my fiction pile was dystopian or post-apocalyptic, and a good chunk of the nonfiction books were prison memoirs. I found myself diving into comforting rereads like "The Lord of the Rings." After the murder of George Floyd, the comfort food yielded to a search for discomfort through books like "Between the World and Me."

Peter L. Steiner, Mankato: I am nearly finished with Albert Camus' "The Plague." What has struck me most are the uncanny parallels to COVID-19: issues of randomness, denial, fear, death, quarantine and the vast changes it brings to daily life. Next up: "Love in the Time of Cholera."

Carol Sherwin, Eden Prairie: When this pandemic started, I discovered Agatha Christie's autobiography. She was adventuresome, curious, creative and intriguing. After that, I couldn't stop reading her. Besides being mysteries, her stories are travelogues. They are moral tales where good triumphs over evil. They are an escape to a civilized time I wish I had lived in.

Heidi Holtan, Grand Rapids, Minn.: I pulled out "Excellent Women" by Barbara Pym. Now I'm working on reading all of her clever tales that have me wishing for a vicar next door I could invite over to tea. These women she wrote about are indeed excellent.

Jerry Kohl, Grand Marais: Courtesy of John Le Carré, I have traveled — England, France, Switzerland, Russia, East and West Germany, and pretty much all of Eastern Europe. I feel transported from my worries of today by the espionage and intrigue of that era.

Walter J. Roers, Bloomington: I'm a little over 100 pages into the 600-plus page "The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant." His work is surprisingly readable and provides a very human and unique perspective on cultural and ethical issues that are still with us today.

Linda Eckman, Plymouth: I am fixated on books and films about dystopia, novels of pandemics and epidemics, and nonfictions about disease — "The End of October," by Lawrence Wright; "Epidemics and Society," by Frank M. Snowden; "Moloka'i," by Alan Brennert, and I have a lot more on reserve from Hennepin County Library.

Lisa Von Drasek, St. Paul: Since the pandemic, I am reading cookbooks, short stories and nonfiction. Right now I am reading "Becoming a Teacher," a profile of LaQuisha Hall by Melinda D. Anderson. It is not just about teaching but also about growing up in a marginalized community with scarce resources. Ms. Hall's journey is a compelling one.