Let's Play!
Board games, gothic fiction and long tongues
Hi all!
Hope you have all had a lovely couple of weeks!
Reminder, it’s the Big Garden Birdwatch this weekend! Running Friday to Sunday, all you need to do to take part in one of the biggest citizen science projects every is watch the birds in your garden for an hour and count the number of birds you see at any one time. The perfect weekend activity with a cuppa, I’d say!
More info can be found on the RSPB website.
Back to the newsletter, this week we will be discussing one of my favourite nerdy hobbies - board games! We will also be chatting about an excellent gothic thriller and fun facts about a wonderful bird who we have somehow seen a couple of times now in the garden - a greater spotted woodpecker!
Let’s grab a cuppa and take 5 minutes to focus on the little things! ☕
Let’s Play!
We sit around the table at home, a cabin or a café, watching the lid being prised off the chosen box. Whether it’s an old classic, or something completely new, the feeling is always the same: a mix of excitement and anticipation.
The pieces are distributed and we marvel at the art of the beautifully crafted tokens or cards, illustrating the world of the game that will be our home for the next while or so. We could be building a town, hatching fish or gaining properties around the board. The box itself is also often filled with memories, brought back when it comes out of the drawer: of first games, most recent games, or the time when someone did something funny.
When we start to play, of course I want to win, but it’s about so much more than that. It’s the togetherness with others that I love the most, laughing around the table and enjoying that experience together, transported to somewhere new.
When the game has been played, there is only ever one question: “What shall we play next?”
If you’d like to get those around you into board games, I wrote an article on great ways to get friends and family into gaming on Zatu Games’ blog: read it here.
What little things are you enjoying?
I want to hear from you!
It could be anything, from something you saw on a walk, to that great cake you had, to that amazing book you need to tell everyone about!
If you’d like to share yours, then comment below or send me a message!
Can’t wait to see what you all are enjoying!
What I’ve been reading
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafón is the second of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books series, but the story stands alone. This tale follow David, a writer building his career by writing sensationalist novels in early twentieth century Barcelona. However, when he buys an abandoned tower in the heart of Barcelona and falls ill, he makes a deal with a secret publishing admirer that changes the course of his life.
A mix of gothic fiction, thriller and hints of the supernatural, this novel wouldn’t feel out of place being written in the Victorian era in the best possible way.
If you want a chunky narrative to lose yourself in in the colder months, this could be the one for you.
Perfect for fans of:
📚 Dickensian-style sweeping narratives
📚 Gothic fiction
📚 Fiction where lots is left unsaid - you decide what is really happening
And finally….a weird animal fact!
Did you know that a woodpecker’s tongue is so longue it has to wrap around its skull when not being used?
Woodpeckers, as their name suggests, hammer the bark of trees to feast on insects and beetle larvae among other things. However, this task needs an incredibly long tongue, which can’t just sit in the mouth. That means it curls around behind their skull when not in use!
An extra fun fact, woodpeckers have been studied by scientists to help improve protective helmets for humans, trying to learn from a woodpecker’s shock-absorbing skull!
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed-let me know what you think, and what you’d like to see in future editions. If you know someone else who would like it, please share and let’s grow the newsletter!
Can’t wait to hear from you, and have a great day! ☀️