A few things (some book-related and some not) that are sustaining me during the pandemic:

Nonfiction about human history

I’ve been finding it difficult to get into fiction right now, but I have found a niche within nonfiction that has hooked me: human history, specifically history of the human species itself, not individuals or small groups within it. I really enjoyed Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari and Tribe by Sebastian Junger earlier this year, and I’m diving into Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature today.

 

Nonviolent, story-driven video games

I’m a mostly casual gamer – I succumbed to the lures of Candy Crush and Angry Birds during their heydays, and have kept one streak of Words With Friends going for 104 days so far. When I was a teen, I loved puzzle-based computer games like Myst. As an adult, I mostly stayed away from modern video games because they seemed really violent, and I’m becoming more and more like a senior citizen when it comes to violent media (no thank you). I decided to replay all the Myst games during the lockdown (they hold up!), and afterward, I went looking for similar games. Thanks to my partner, who is an avid gamer and plays extremely broadly, I discovered a treasure trove of modern games that I’ve loved playing, some for the Xbox and some for the computer.

The most Myst-like is Quern, which involves a mysterious story set in a beautiful land that unfolds as you solve various creative puzzles that build upon each other. As a fan of the Room games for mobile, I also really enjoyed The House of Da Vinci. And, most exciting of all, I found a treasure trove of interesting science fiction stories that play out in video games that involve no shooting, blood, or death (or scantily dressed women): The Talos Principle, Observation, Tacoma, and The Station. Other sci fi games that are a bit less story-driven but involve some really fun physics-based puzzles are Qube 2 and The Turing Test. These games stretch my mind with their puzzles, fire my imagination with their stories, and impress me with the graphics.

 

Vegetarian cooking

I’ve been thinking about the ethics of vegetarianism for the past few years, and after reading a brief snippet in Sapiens about the many harms caused by our dependence on meat (both environmentally and with regards to animal welfare), I decided it was a good time to try it out more seriously. I have more time to focus on cooking meals, even breakfast, and have tried out a number of vegetarian and vegan meal kits and recipes. I’m glad my tastes have expanded a lot in the past few years and I’ve found I enjoy bean, tofu, and chickpea-based meals just as much as I do many meat dishes – plus they’re easier for me to make well (I was never great at judging meat doneness), are generally cheaper, and often have more interesting flavor profiles (I’m using a much greater variety of spices, produce, and oils/vinegars than I ever did when I cooked with meat). I haven’t eliminated meat entirely, but I’ve settled into a pretty good rhythm of only eating meat when I order in or someone else cooks the meal.

 

Dogs, dogs, and more dogs

Within my immediate family, there is one dog (the light of my life and the cutest thing in the world). Within my partner’s immediate family, there are nine (seven near us and two about an hour away). Two of those nine are puppies just a few months old. The dogs are a variety of sizes and breeds; it’s like a potluck of the best dogs you’ll ever meet. Luckily, these dogs live in a house with a nice yard, so they get to run around and we get to visit them safely. They also get to visit us on occasion, and if you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see my feed is almost entirely dogs now. As it should be.

 

Schitt’s Creek

I think what I like best about this show (aside from how funny it is) is that it’s really hopeful about people’s ability to change. The Roses are selfish, lazy, entitled, and narrow-minded when they arrive in Schitt’s Creek, but by the end, they’re all more thoughtful and consciously trying to be better people. I love when stories show this happening in a believable way. I think non-fictional humans are capable of the same kind of transformation (I think I’m a much better person than I was ten years ago, for example), and it’s nice to see it play out so uncynically in a comedy.