Life continues as normal. Well, the new normal. Well, not necessarily normal, because I'm eating more junk food and actually craving fresh air for about the first time in my life. I'm hearing that I'll be working from home this summer, too--that is, if we're not furloughed. But I don't feel unsettled by the uncertainty. Working from home was always one of my dearest wishes, and it's come true. And I know that God supplies what we need.
Reading has been good this month. I hit the 50 books read mark this month, so I'm on track with my goal of 150 books this year. When I looked over the books I read this month, although ten of the fourteen received four or five stars, there's only one I would add to my favorites list.
A couple of years ago I watched the movie Mrs. Miniver (1942) with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon and absolutely loved it. When the ebook came up on a sale a few months ago, I bought it right away. First, I have to say that the movie and book are nothing at all alike; I think they only share character names and not much else. But they do share a feeling that is hard to describe. But regardless of the dissimilarities, I love them both so much. The book is a rather contemplative character study of Mrs. Miniver, an upper-middle class wife and mother in England at the cusp of World War II. Each chapter is a short look into some part of Mrs. Miniver's daily life. What makes the book so stunning is the insight with which it's written. You'll see a part of yourself in Mrs. Miniver and her predilection for introspection. The tone of the novel, too, was perfect. Her world, as the current world situation, is uncertain and sometimes frightening, but her quiet strength and focus on home and family is what we're all experiencing now. She's also unfailingly optimistic. Give Mrs. Miniver a chance. You will be charmed by her. (And don't miss the movie!) My rating: 5 stars.
After reading the fourth Maisie Dobbs book in February (read my review here), I was eager to read the fifth, An Incomplete Revenge. In this book, Maisie is asked to look into the strange acts of vandalism and small home fires in an English village before her client buys property there. What she finds is a web of secrecy to unwind. Who's been causing the problems in the area--Roma gypsies, the nasty estate owner, the outsiders who flock to the village at this time of year, ghosts? Her investigation coincides with the hops harvest, which is interesting in and of itself. (On a side note, Mrs. Miniver, too, had a hops harvest scene.) While this wasn't one of my favorite Maisie stories, owing to the nature of the "crime" and the gypsy subplot, it was, as always, well written. And in this one Maisie must say a final goodbye to someone dear to her and repair another relationship before it's too late. I always end up loving the Maisie's life bits more than the main plot. My rating: 4 stars. 
One of the books I brought home from the library before we closed indefinitely was the new children's nonfiction book Everest about the first pair to summit Mt. Everest, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. This one is perfect for your little explorers, as it's full of facts and interesting illustrations to bring you along on the adventure. My favorite piece of information? Both Hillary's son and Norgay's son eventually summitted the mountain themselves! My rating: 4 stars.
Tembi Locke's From Scratch has been on my TBR since it came out a year ago. I was able to buy a cheap audio CD copy, so that's how I finally read it. Going in, I only knew that it was about an African American woman (she's a successful actress, though I don't know her work) who marries a Sicilian man. What isn't made terribly clear is that it's a widow's memoir, a woman going over her twenty-year marriage to a man she adored. When they married, his traditional Sicilian family was opposed to the match, and it took many years to reconcile. Along the way, the couple builds a life, raises an adopted daughter, and goes through the ordeal of his cancer diagnosis. When the husband, Saro, dies, Tembi and her daughter return to Sicily several times to feel the connection of his past and their extended family. Had I known so much of the book was about dying and death, I would have forgone reading it. I'm also not really one for sentimental love stories, and while this wasn't terribly syrupy, it was personal in a way that wasn't particularly interesting to me. She refers to their fantastic sex a lot, and I have to say that a couple's sex life is the least interesting part of a couple's marriage to me. Overall, though, if you like romance books, this would be a good real (though sad) romance. The audio is good, and it's narrated by the author (although I do wish she's look up how to pronounce the word "salve"). My rating: 3 stars. 
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's My Beloved World is a re-read for me. It was every bit as good as my first reading. This time I listened to the audio version, read by Rita Moreno, and it was very good. Instead of writing a full review, I'll refer you to my previous review. My rating: 4 stars. 
I was feeling the need for a little poetry lately, so I picked up a copy of Billy Collins's Nine Horses, one of his older books that I haven't read yet. It was old enough that I was familiar with many of the poems in it, which I love in a poetry book. This is one of my favorites of Collins's work, and I highly recommend it. My rating: 5 stars. 
Other than eliminating my access to audiobooks, the public library's closure (no curb-side pick-up for us) has meant no access to my nightly reads, usually decorating books, poetry, children's books, and cookbooks, things I often try from the library, and if I like them, I buy for myself. But this is also a blessing, because I have the perfect opportunity to re-read some old favorites. So I picked up Pioneer Woman's first cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl (2009). It was such a fun trip back in time. Mostly, I was reconnected with recipes I've wanted to try for several years now: Iny's Prune Cake, Penne alla Betsy, and Chocolate Sheet Cake. This re-read made me want to immediately begin another PW cookbook, especially since Amazon does not think that mailing the latest Joanna Gaines cookbook, which I purchased April 8, should have any kind of priority. (Tell me why liquor stores are considered essential business but online books are not. It's not like they have any Lysol spray to mail out anyway!) Innywho. Suffice it to say, I love this cookbook as much as her others and as much on the second reading as the first. My rating: 5 stars. 
I was an Ann Patchett holdout for a long time. I kept hearing how good her books were, but when I tired her nonfiction book on marriage and was so disappointed I'd written her off. But I'm here to say her fiction is better than I found her nonfiction. The Dutch House was fabulous. And State of Wonder was quite good, too. I listened to this on audio, and that was a good way to go for me (especially since I can only find paperback copies of this book, and the print is so tiny). Patchett's gift is in writing fascinating stories with characters that are always a bit aloof from the reader but still knowable. In this book, a pharmaceutical research scientist is sent to the Brazilian rainforest to check on the progress of another scientist, as well as investigate the death of the last person the company sent to check on the scientist's progress. In the process, many wonderous things are revealed to her. In a less gifted author's hands, this plot would have been woefully bungled, but Patchett was able to weave all the threads into something wonderful. While the plot summary may not interest you, I'd advise against writing it off, as the journey of this one, the unfolding of the plot, is what makes it good. My rating: 4 stars. 
Okay, I just have to say it. I'm always skeptical when the famous (and the children of the famous) decide to start giving the country reading recommendations. Oprah has been doing it for years, and she kind of has a knack for it (though I don't always enjoy her selections). Reese Witherspoon is doing it, and although I think Reese is adorable, she's rather hit or miss with recommendation, in my opinion (my favorites are Daisy Jones and the Six, The Library Book, The Giver of Stars, and Little Fires Everywhere), but so many others left me cold or uninterested). But Jenna Bush Hager consistently surprises me by selecting things that aren't necessarily mainstream fiction and nonfiction. I'm intrigued by so many of her titles that her book club pics are close to becoming an automatic buy; they are at least an "automatic consider." The Dearly Beloved has some of my favorite elements, a slow plot, well-fleshed characters, and a deep, introspective quality. Anne Bogel says this is not a book about faith, but it most certainly is. The trouble is, I'm not sure the author knows that it is. It almost felt like the book wanted to explore faith in a deeper and more complete way, but the author kept wanting to make it about social advocacy. This is the story of two couples in the 1950s-1960s. The husbands are both clergymen asked to co-pastor at the same church. One is more traditional and experiences a crisis of faith. The other isn't sure if he believes or not, but he uses the pulpit to address social injustice. There isn't a lot more plot than that, but that doesn't matter because it's enough. The trouble is, as deep as the book goes, it could have gone so much deeper. If you like contemplative historical fiction and themes of faith and tradition vs. progressivism, this is a good one for you. My rating: 4 stars. 
When Charles Krauthammer passed in the summer of 2018, conservatism in America lost a guiding light. While I wasn't smart enough to understand more than a quarter of what he said, and while I sometimes disagreed with him (he didn't seem to appreciate President Trump's foreign policy, for instance), he was a lion among men. I read his first book, Things That Matter, when it came out (read my review here), and when his second, The Point of It All, came out posthumously, I kind of assumed I would not even try it. I prefer nonfiction with a little more personal connection and seldom settle in for a book about straight politics (or theology or science). I enjoy intellectually rigorous books, but I do like it packaged in a certain way, and his first book wasn't quite that. But something, and I can't remember what, made me re-think that recently and buy a copy of the second book. I got the feeling that it was more personal than his previous book, and since it was edited by his son, Daniel, I knew it would still be true to Charles's vision of his work and life. I did find this book a little more palatable, though, true to form, my favorite parts were the personal essays and the wonderful and touching introduction and eulogy by Daniel, who is very much his father's (beloved) son. There were a number of essays on medical ethics (stem cell research, abortion, euthanasia), liberty, and domestic and foreign policy. The essays, generally just a few pages long, are previously published newspaper columns, ranging from about 1985 to 2018. The man's intellect was astonishing, and yet his thoughts were always exceedingly clear and articulate, and even when I wasn't interested in the topic of a particular essay, I was always fascinated to see the argument coming together, to see what he included and what he didn't and how the two made the scales even. It's a remarkable thing to know you're in the hands of a genius, and these books put you there. My rating: 4 stars.
I had heard such wonderful things about Diane Setterfield's The Thirteenth Tale. It has fantastic ratings on Amazon, and Anne Bogel is always extoling the virtues of it. I had enjoyed her Once upon a River (read my review here) so much that I just knew I'd love her earlier book. But I really, really didn't. I have a low tolerance for fantasy in books, and this one was just too fantastical for me. I also didn't care for the main character, and I hated the "crusty older woman telling her story at last to a young journalist" structure. So many folks love this one, so I won't go on about why I didn't. And to tell you the truth, my desire to will myself to forget it is so successful, I've almost forgotten what it's about. I will give it this: it's a story well told. So if you like fantasy and dark elements, and you don't need lovable characters (or find the non-loveable loveable), you'll probably love this one. It's not bad, it's just not for me. My rating: 3 stars.
I listened to the ninth book in Jan Karon's Mitford series, Light from Heaven, and it was wonderful. The books, even upon completion, all blend together, so I'm having trouble even remembering what happened in this one, but it doesn't matter. Best read in order, they just flow into each other, and I wish I'd never get to the end of them. My rating: 4 stars.
I was really looking forward to reading Anne Glenconner's memoir about her days as lady in waiting to Princess Margaret (the Queen's sister), called, appropriately, Lady in Waiting. I was expecting a story of dignity, punctuated with by little bit of Princess Margaret's naughtiness, as well as a good dose of royal drama, pomp, and pompousness. But that isn't what this is at all. This is less about the royals and more about Lady Glenconner's tumultuous life. Married to a philandering weirdo (sorry, there's no other word for the oddness of this man's behavior), with children who elevated family drama to a new tier, this was very much a story of the degradation of the English aristocracy. It kind of turned my stomach. It you're looking for stories about the royal family, you won't find much (other than a wonderful description of the Queen's coronation--Lady Glenconner was an attendant in the procession). This is more a story of family drama, and if you like stories of family dysfunction, this one's for you. My rating: 3 stars.
I was so looking forward to Apsley Cherry-Garrard's The Worst Journey in the World, ever since I read about it in 1,000 Books to Read.... This is the first-hand account of Robert Falcon Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the South Pole. Because the book is 600 pages long, I bought the audio version of this to listen to. I was sorely disappointed. I think this would have been a better experience for me had I read the book--but only marginally. I had a very hard time following the action, and I constantly wondered do I have these CDs out of order? The book doesn't seem to be told chronologically, and I had a really hard time following it at all. At one point a man's death was described and then a few hours later he was alive again participating in the story. I was so confused by the telling. I can't give you one concrete fact about his adventure nor the people involved. It was never disclosed in the beginning of the book why they had even set out on the journey! I feel really stupid writing this review, because I can't believe all things that seemed to be wrong with the book really were wrong--at least part of it must be me, but I was absolutely flummoxed by the whole experience. Still, it was something to listen to, and the book was written in such an overwhelmingly positive way though the journey was tragic. That was remarkable. My rating: 3 stars (because it must be my fault...).