You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

September! It's the time to come out of hibernation or to start getting indoorsy. Either way with our in-between time, lets pull out some board games and push all the bills and clutter from the dining table on to the floor and play!

This month, I would like you to read a book based on a board game. Take an aspect of the game, and apply it to you book. So as examples:

- Checkers: your book cover is only red and black
- Monopoly: one of the main characters is a real estate agent
- Carcassonne: the book is set in the medieval period
- Balderdash: there is an unreliable narrator
- Galaxy Trucker: a spaceship is destroyed in your book

Think a little laterally, I would like a little more than Cluedo = murder mystery, or Scattegories/Taboo = it has words.

Reporting:
- WoF Name
- Tell us what book you read
- Tell us what board game you are drawing from (Edit: links are good too so we can look into it!) and how the book ties in to the game
- Did you like the book?
- A couple of sentences explaining your thoughts on the book.

General Rules:

1. The book may be in any format - paperback, ebook, audiobook.
2. The book may be combined with the Year Long Challenge and the Group Themed Read.
3. The book must be read between September 1 - September 31, 2024 (based on your local time zone).
4. The challenge is for one book. You may read more books if you chose but you may only report one.
5. The book must be 175 pages or more determined by the issue you read.

In the case of ebooks & audiobooks, use the hardcover or paperback edition to determine page length. From the book page, select “all editions”, then select the first paper edition as your guide. If reading an ebook and there is no paper edition, the ebook book must be at least 250 pages. If reading an audiobook and there is no paper edition, your book must be a minimum of 6 hours long.

Oh boy! A gophering dream. I'll be back.

It must be kismet. My book There Are Rivers in the Sky just became available from my hold list, so I will go with the board game "Rivers, Roads, and Rails. Both have Rivers in the title.

Such a cool idea, Rus!

Recently I followed links posted here on YLTO that had a cool cover. It was all over graphic that looked like tear drops. I debated about putting it on my wishlist, and now I regret I didn't because I can't remember the title. I think it would have been perfect for linking with Trivial Pursuit. I have but I don't think that's as representative to TP as the other. Maybe I need to chase down another idea.

I'm thinking about Something Wilder for Jumanji.

From the Jumanji board game description: The game that pursues you! Stalking lions, charging rhinos, snapping crocodiles, and more in the wild world of Jumanji.

I decided to chase down another idea. I found a listopia - https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1.... It has books with the Clue game weapons on the covers.

I have a few books on this list. But I looked through my TBR and found Her Final Breath which has a rope on it.

Janice wrote: "Recently I followed links posted here on YLTO that had a cool cover. It was all over graphic that looked like tear drops. I debated about putting it on my wishlist, and now I regret I didn't becaus..."

Maybe it was my toppler/monthly challenge book, I love the cover .

I am a big boardgame nerd so now I feel I have to get something good. My favorite game is probably 7th continent so maybe something for that.
The first thing that comes to mind is Daughter of the Forest is the first of the Sevenwaters series.
I will have a think

Edit:

Nevermind, I already have Shady Hollow from the library so I will read that because it has anthropomorphic animal characters just like the game Everdell

I feel like I need to participate in this one! Off to gopher

Hmmm…good challenge. I am not home from traveling but will be home tomorrow with all my “stuff”. Right now, I am thinking of Parcheesi. Its root is Indian and means “five”. So something with the number 25: title, pub. date, pp. … It also originates from India’s game of Indian Cross and Circle so maybe I could play up that angle.

Another fellow board game nerd here Vicki lol. I really like Everdell! Possibilities so far:

Star Nomad - Twilight Imperium - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2... - Link: Set in space, also the game has a faction called The Nomad and the book has nomad in the title.

Dune Messiah - Dune Imperium - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3... - Link: Set in Dune world, Dune in the title

The Fated Sky - Terraforming Mars - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1... - Link: both aim to colonise Mars

The Pale Horseman - Bretwalda - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3... - Link: set in England with Anglo-Saxons and Viking invasions and the board game focuses on this

Broken Homes - Mysterium https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1... - Link: the aim of the game is to solve a murder by talking to a ghost and in the book, there are ghosts and supernatural going ons which a detective has to navigate to solve crimes (usually related to the supernatural too).

Lovecraft Country (audio) - Arkham Horror LCG - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2... - Link: Lovecraftian themes

I think I'll stop there, gives me a good range of books to choose from.

These are all games I've played, except Bretwalda which I am still waiting for on Kickstarter.

Vicki wrote: "Maybe it was my toppler/monthly challenge book, I love the cover..."

Yes, that's the one! No wonder I couldn't find it. I was looking for a title with "Marriage in it". I love the cover as well. The teardrops make me think of the little coloured game pieces in Trial Pursuit.

Sarah wrote: "I feel like I need to participate in this one! Off to gopher"

I thought this would be perfect for you.

Love this!

I am thinking black and white book cover for Othello/ Chess.

Shatter Me

I think I’ll go with The Black Bird Oracle with the connection to chess. The lead character is Diana Bishop- bishop being a chess piece.

Fun challenge!

Marnie wrote: "I think I’ll go with The Black Bird Oracle with the connection to chess. The lead character is Diana Bishop- bishop being a chess piece.

Fun challenge!"

That's a great connection.

At the moment I’m reading The Briar Club. It reads like Clue. Bodies in rooms of the house (bedroom, parlor), weapons (knife, baseball bat), suspects in the kitchen. If someone is looking for a book/game connection I think this could work.

I decided to go with Lovecraft Country which is an audio book, started it yesterday. It's good so far.

Sarah wrote: "Another fellow board game nerd here Vicki lol. I really like Everdell! Possibilities so far:

Star Nomad - Twilight Imperium - https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2......"

I am going to steal one of your ideas! I have The Fated Sky on my fall TBR and I also love the game Terraforming Mars!

Steal away Katrisa. Terraforming Mars is a firm favourite of mine. I hope you enjoy your book. I really need to get back to that series sometime soon.

I still haven't played it. Need to push it up the list.

I bought Lexx Everdell for his birthday during lockdowns, and that is another we haven't gotten to yet. But also pushing it up the list, Vicki. It looks at me every time we watch TV.

I did think it was a challenge that might pique your interest, Sarah :)

Fantastic ideas in here!

When you get a chance, the reporting thread is “Frozen by the moderator.”

This is such a fun challenge and I’m getting stocking stuffer ideas with the games being mentioned. Multitasking ftw.

The reporting thread is now unlocked.

Marnie wrote: "...This is such a fun challenge and I’m getting stocking stuffer ideas with the games being mentioned. Multitasking ftw."

That's great, Marnie! Can't believe it's already time to start thinking about those things, but it really is if you don't want to end up stuck not knowing what to get later.

Ooo sorry about that. I have no idea how I did that. Thanks Janice!

Edit: I know exactly what I did, and this is why you do not do important things before coffee.

Marnie wrote: "This is such a fun challenge and I’m getting stocking stuffer ideas with the games being mentioned. Multitasking ftw."

On this, I would recommend Citadels as a good stocking stuffer being cheaper and much smaller than a lot of games, and able to be played with 8 or so people. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4...

Also recommend, but are a little bigger for santa sacks instead of stockings:

Codenames - we play the pictures version with two large teams with Lexx's family where the teams can get up to 10 players on each side. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1...

Bohnanza - played this easily with all the niblings when they were 11-14. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1...

Escape: The Cursed Temple - played this the other day at a birthday afternoon and it was very chaotic, yelly, and has a stress inducing soundtrack to keep time. We completely forgot there were another 15 people in the house as the 4 of us NEEDED TO GET OUT OF THE TEMPLE! https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1...

I really like Citadels, it's good fun. I played it lots on my snowboarding trip as there were quite a few of us there.

I've decided to pick up The Raphael Affair based on the game "Fresco" https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6...

The game involves you having to restore a renaissance fresco for the bishop, and it's a resource management game of gathering materials, negotiating apprentices, managing time, etc to restore the artwork.

Raphael, as well as being a ninja turtle, was a renaissance painter who painted a lot of frescos as well. The book is a mystery involving art historian police in Rome. The Collections Officer in my team recommended it to me when we were joking about her running away and studying to be the art police in Venice (a real thing!).

I read Blood Countess. based on the game checkers as the cover has black and red. The story also had characters like chambermaids, cooks, and others who were just pawns to the cruelty bestowed upon them by the countess.

The countess was a very cruel woman but she had two very different sides to her. She was calculating. The ending I didn't see coming at all.

I couldn't read the book I originally chose because I decided to use it for the yearly challenge and it would be out of order. Instead I decided to go with The Sunflower House for Monopoly because you need to buy houses to put on your properties in the game. Almost done, but not quite there yet. I've been trying not to read it right before bed because it keeps me up thinking, but I may have to keep going with it tonight.