liv | Books and games haul (Reply)

So it's been chanukah and Christmas and my birthday, and I have some extremely lovely people in my life, so:

Recently given:

Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver, a novel based on the slightly incredibly historical relationship between Frida Kahlo and Trotsky, for my metamour.
The amazing adventures of Kavalier and Clay, a really dense book about the Golem and the history of comic books and gay romance and being Jewish in 1940s America, for my BF.
Gobbolino the witch's cat by Ursula Moray Williams for my partners' kid who is just getting into chapter books and loves cute animals.

Recently received: So many lovely bookie presents!

Womanist midrash by Wilda C Gafney from angelofthenorth. I've dipped in to the first chapter, on Genesis, and it's fascinating. I was a bit dubious about a Christian writer using the term 'midrash' but it's deeply connected to Jewish scholarship as well as to African-American Christianity. I have some quibbles; Gafney keeps claiming there are lacunae when there clearly aren't, but her re-examining Bible stories from a subaltern perspective (sometimes women, sometimes WOC / non-Israelites) is impressive. Probably not useful if you're not pretty familiar with the Bible and Bible scholarship, though the writing is lively and personal rather than dry and academic.
Declare by Tim Powers, from cjwatson. I'm looking forward to Powers doing a spy novel, but of course with all kinds of esoteric elements as you'd expect from Powers.
Une si longue lettre by Mariama Bâ, a Senegalese feminist, from ghoti_mhic_uait. I don't know how fast I can read African French these days, but it sounds just my sort of thing, a letter from a woman to her recently widowed best friend.
On trust: a book of lies by James Womack, a poetry collection from the poet's brother. I like being the sort of person who gets given poetry books. And I heard Womack at a local poetry reading a couple of weeks ago, and I liked some of it, particularly the line: But then again, I called my penis Metonymy, a part for the whole.
Darkness at noon by Arthur Koestler, from my brother angrysampoet. I know nothing about it, but it appears to be a novelized history of the pre-war Soviet Union.

Currently reading: Paradise Lost by John Milton. This does not exactly fit my stated criteria of being non-depressing, but it's about the Fall which I don't believe in, and the extremely elaborate poetry is distancing, and anyway I didn't properly get into it until quite a while after finishing The fifth season so I felt robust enough for it.

Up next: I'm ridiculously spoiled for choice with all my lovely new books, but I think I might pick Ghost train to New Orleans by Mur Lafferty, since I enjoyed the previous volume in the series The shambling guide to New York City and I reckon something very light would be a good choice after Milton.

Recently given: Not much, a lot of the games I've wanted to give to people have not been available at the right time.

I gave cjwatson Kanagawa, because it was recommended to me by the shop that didn't have my first or second choice of birthday present. It's a relatively light, Japanese themed game about creating a harmonious print. We've been enjoying it as a family game, though I think it may be somewhat limited in replayability.
I gave my partners' gamer daughter Sagrada, a game I'm really excited about, and she likes pretty things and is good at puzzles. But I haven't had a chance to play it yet, so I'm not yet sure if it was actually the right choice.
I am so incredibly charmed by Unable, unwilling that as soon as I'd played it I rushed out to buy it. But it's not exactly available retail; I eventually traced someone who seems to have been connected to the original production run in 2011 and was willing to sell me a couple of copies, which I promptly gave to angelofthenorth and atreic.

Recently received:

Mysterium from ghoti_mhic_uait. We couldn't wait to open the extremely pretty box and start playing, and had a wonderful time with it. It's a cross between Cludo and Dixit, and a co-op game which felt really enjoyably interactive. Ghoti's eldest did an excellent job of playing the 'ghost' or GM. And it was enjoyed by a group ranging in age from 9 to 70, including people who mostly play semi-abstract games with formal, predictable rules and people who don't have a lot of gaming experience. I am not sure how well it would work with a smaller group, though in theory there's a two player version.
Kokoro from cjwatson, which didn't come out at the party, but I played it 2p with jack today. It's cute, original and enjoyable, though I have some quibbles. Essentially it's the old computer game Pipe Dream, only physical (based on a deck of cards) instead of electronic. You have to fit together path segments, which you draw on a wipe-clean board. I'm not sure it wouldn't have been better with more conventional tile-laying, but the erasable pens are certainly a novelty! It is also a pure competitive solitaire mechanic, no player interaction at all, which tends to be a kind of game I favour less. And the rules are really poorly written and completely fail to specify the key scoring mechanic.

Recently played: (since chanukah, and apart from the above):

Carcassonne, a classic and still great.
As much as I possibly can of Five Tribes, a present from ghoti_mhic_uait to jack, which is far and away my favourite recently discovered game. It has a wholly original mechanic, where you pick up a pile of meeples and drop one on each intermediate tile to reach a goal, and it does the worker placement thing really well, strongly rewarding balance between a range of different aims. And it's ridiculously pretty and deeply satisfying to play, and lots of yummy emergent strategy.

And at my games party:
UFO Alarm, definitely a children's game which partners' children were given for Christmas. It's a little more sophisticated than Ludo but only a little; the greatest thing about it is the alien spaceship which is a mini vacuum device that (intentionally unreliably) beams, ie sucks, up captured character tokens.
Apples 2 Apples, always a party or family game favourite.
Finally finally got to actually play Kingdomino, which is just as delightful as I'd expected, and a beautifully simple game which still holds strategic interest.
Skull, a game I'd been somewhat curious about for a while, which JE brought to lend. We didn't start it until nearly midnight, as it's a nice light game to end the evening with. It is absolutely the platonic ideal of the liar dice family of games, pared down to its essence and eliminating any fiddly stuff. And as pretty as you could wish for – the 'cards' are lovely thick circles with beautiful, South American-style art. I fell in love instantly.