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Actually I just wanted to drop a note regarding using Libby/OverDrive and my Kobo  device and the little journey it sent me on over the past hour or so. Basically, I had checked out a book  from the library but it simply would not sync onto my device, which had been working fine for as long as I could remember. Long story short, after much resetting, rebooting, and Googling, it turns out that the Kobo won't show you books that are not in Kobo library, regardless of whether the public library has them or not. I would've minded less if Kobo had at least informed me of this restriction so that I could avoid reading old Reddit posts for the answers. With that off my chest, I can give some quick reviews of my latest reads, in reverse chronological order. - The Unseen World (Liz Moore). While I had problems with the ending and the glossing over some of the technical details, I really enjoyed this story, a mystery of sorts. The relationship between father and daughter, of the father ...

Ontario has begun phasing the opening of businesses, and certainly it seems like people are going back out there in search of the new normal. Combined with the lack of contact tracing, I think we can expect a second wave of cases and deaths in a couple weeks. I've read that the modest drop in the rate of new cases can be attributed to institutions - their wave has passed but the broader public's still going up . Not much new to report from our household as I continue my parental leave/quarantine. The ants are back. Our bird-feeder is very popular and I've seen some cardinals and rose-breasted grosbeaks. Sora is basically crawling, and her first two teeth are peeking out. My health is coasting along -- not great, not terrible, some nights better than others. Quality sleep still manages to escape me, there being so much to do all the time. I have been getting a fair bit of reading done, mostly fiction. The Golden Compass/The Subtle Knife/The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman....

Forgot to mention that I finished I Am Legend a while back. The book that is, which is made up of 11 short stories, written from 1951 to as recent as 1987. I hate to sound like a broken record but this collection of Richard Matheson's writings was excellent stuff. I especially like the tales that get well into the head of the protagonist, who is often so human, so fallible, so full of doubt. They speak loudly to me. I'm not really a big fan of horror, written or in film. As a kid I was easily spooked by the prospect of spirits and the unexplainable. Now that I'm older there is little place for spooks and monsters. I have enough tangible problems to haunt me, thanks. What I like about I Am Legend and the other stories like it is that the horror aspect (the undead or whatever) is actually secondary to the conflict in the hero's mind, their inner dialogue as they attempt to deal with the problem thrust before them. It's actually difficult to categorize the I Am Legen...

Minor spoilers follow. Huh. I am now basking in the glow of I Am Legend (careful as here there be spoilers at the very top!), the story which recently was remade into a movie for the third time. I spent much of yesterday enjoying the story and today I am digesting it, the beauty that I was only vaguely aware of as I hurriedly read one suspenseful sentence after another. I even went so far as to use two sheets of paper to cover up parts of the page that I hadn't read yet as my eyes have a nasty habit of skipping ahead, seeking out the juiciest plot points. I related a lot with the main character, Robert Neville, who spends his time alone, constantly questioning why he goes on, his mind stuck in the past, nagging and admonishing himself for giving into vice and laziness, his soul eroding away with the grind of his daily, joyless routine. I love reading books that are as influential as I Am Legend (written in 1954), to recognize and admire its long fingers at the center of so many bo...