At the beginning of the year, I set myself what I considered to be a very ambitious challenge: I would read 70 books in 2023. Three months in, and finishing my 36th book, I am reminded about my family’s blessing (or curse), which enables us to single-mindedly steamroll towards our priorities once we’ve decided on …
In my teens I loved nothing more than picking up a Point Horror from the school library, devouring them in bed late on a school night. Earlier than that still, I loved the Goosebumps series, and I couldn’t tell you how many times my brother and I rewatched the taped episodes we had for VCR. …
He sat in front of the small, metallic rectangle in silence. Waiting. We miss talking to you, Grandad, Hanna had said on her last visit. You should get a computer. So the day after she had left, he had driven across town to the retail park, and entered a shop that promised unbeatable prices on …
Feeling artsy recently during some annual leave, I decided to sign up to an online art journal course – ‘Lyrical’ by artist and illustrator, Roxanne Coble. The class is aptly named, as the course focuses on making art from music. Taking inspiration from lyrics, the aim is to layer scraps from magazines, building up tiers …
And the award for the coolest meeples goes to… Aqua Garden! Featuring wooden sharks, turtles, clownfish, and more, this Kickstarted game is a collector’s dream. Aqua Garden is more than the sum of its meeples though. Each player has their own aquarium, and must move around a central board to acquire new fish to place …
Goodreads // Waterstones I first heard about Jessica Pan’s book when she spoke to Emma Gannon on one of my favourite podcasts, Ctrl Alt Delete. They discussed Jessica’s introverted nature and her challenge to overcome some of her habits that were holding her back. As someone who really identified with what they was saying, I immediately ordered …
68 books read 17,140 pages read This year I discovered BookTube, and it opened up a whole new source of inspiration for reading material. Seeing how much people were able to read made me want to reprioritise, and I made sure I had a book in my bag whenever I left the house in 2022 …
Inferno is an incredible biography by Catherine Cho, following her experience of postpartum psychosis, which affected her almost 100 days after she had given birth. During her pregnancy, Cho experiences pressure from her Korean family to honour her heritage by staying inside for 100 days; this is a Korean tradition believed to protect the baby from …
Some time ago I was given the opportunity to experience Dungeons & Dragons for the first time. My friend had bought a Starter Set, and together a campaign was put together by Jack, our first-time Dungeon Master. I played as Eilaga Axeager, a Dwarvian child prodigy who had left her home in the mountains to …
A while ago, my friend brought round a roleplaying game called Fiasco. She told me it was a story-telling game based on improvisation, which has got to be one of the worst words an introverted soul can hear. Making stuff up on the spot? No one to guide the plot but our imaginations and a …
