I was reading "Catastrophe," a nonfiction book about a super volcano eruption that led to the bubonic plague reaching the Mediterranean for the first time as we went into shelter in place. I have yet to pick it up again. Instead, I turned to my old friend, Jane Austen, and my husband to his, John Steinbeck.

Mary Ann Troness, White Bear Lake

Quarantine Reads are recommendations of soothing books in fraught times. Send your suggestion, with your name and city, to books@startribune.com