I’m relaxing. Do not point me to any horrific videos of violence.
Let’s talk about less weighty matters.
Music: The Third Annual “Lick My Love Pump” Award is upon us. Each year, this award goes to the catchiest single with the raunchiest lyrics. Previous winners have been Bruno Mars for Gorilla and Beyonce for Blow. I’ve been listening to Hozier and Florence and the Machine since Brook went off to seek her fortune at an institution of higher learning. So, I don’t really know who the contenders are this year. Any suggestions?
Games: I’m looking for a game that’s as beautiful as Monument Valley for my iPhone. Also, does anyone have any experience with Eurogames like Settlers of Catan? I see Eurogame groups popping up all over Pittsburgh but it usually involves hanging out at a Crazy Mocha with strangers. So, I need a gateway game in this genre that I can sink my teeth into.
Books: My newest favorite author is Kate Atkinson whose Jackson Brodie detective novels are hilarious but are also deeply human. I’m looking for more good books. Preferably historical fiction, political intrigue, light on the bodice ripping. Bernard Cornwell’s Saxon series comes pretty close but can be a tad too raping and pillaging. Suggestions welcome.
What are you up to?
Filed under: General Tagged: | Bernard Cornwell, Kate Atkinson, Lick My Love Pump, monument valley, music, settlers of catan
iPhone- machinarium.
Music- no idea
Book- the girl with all the gifts or (jasper Fforde’s) Shades of grey
Up to? Attempting to parent 1 week old noisy chicks.
Thanks for the game rec. I read The Girl With All The Gifts. Not really into the Grey books. Not my thing.
Do you raise chickens?
Jasper Fforde has only written one grey book so far- The road to high saffron. You really didn’t like it? *sniff*. I raise 4 children but my wife convinced me to put some eggs under a broody chook. It’s the first time we have done chicken babies. Sadly, the broody chook lost interest so we are trying to figure out adoptive chook parenting…
Oh, my stupid fault for speed reading. I’ve never heard of Jasper Fforde. My mind went instantly to 50 shades of grey.
LOL!
Wife recommends Hild. Also- Julia of ‘here be Hippogriffs’ reads your favoured genre so have a squizz through archives?
If you liked classic Star Trek, you’ll probably find John Scalzi’s book Redshirts an amusing parody.
I love the biographies of powerful Medieval queens written by Nancy Goldstone. They’re not novels but, often, read like them because Goldstone is witty and, like most historians today, she takes a few liberties of the imagination.
Goldstone has written about the four sisters who became the most powerful queens in Europe; Johanna, the Queen of Naples and Jerusalem; Isabella of Aragon and a dual biography of Catherine de Medici and her daughter, Marguerite d’ Valois.
Don’t blame yourself if you’ve only heard of one of them (because her uncle was a Pope) for as Goldstone writes “there is no more effective camouflage in history than to have been born a woman.”
Have you explored Lindsey Davis’ ‘Falco’ series? Set in ancient Rome, Falco the Informer’s wry, sardonic view of several emperors and their politics, not to mention those of his own dysfunctional family, is a treat not to be missed. I always feel I’m in good hands, reading Lindsey Davis.