Books (update)

It’s not been a great year so far.

I’ve started to read quite a few books which i then gave up on, hoping that another time would be more suitable. For Crime and Punishment the last attempt was my second and i definitely need to be at a completely different state of mind to be able to read it.

Out of those i did manage to read there were only a few standouts unfortunately. My current preference for more contemporary books is not paying dividends but here are a few which i can highly recommend.

A Life Too Short: The Tragedy of Robert Enke, by Ronald Reng is an outstanding non-fiction book and i can’t sing its praises highly enough. It’s the story of a professional goalkeeper fighting depression. Worth reading even if you are not a football fan or haven’t heard anything about Robert Enke before.

A ficiton book i highly recommend is The Garden of Evening Mists, by Tan Twan Eng. The story takes place in Malaya (Malaysia) under Japanese occupation and British colonial rule. A beautifully written story that is revolves around a Japanese garden. A love story. A war story. A treasure hunt. A breath of fresh air.

Finally, Far North by Marcel Theroux is another one i recommend. A sci-fi novel with a sort of post apocalyptic setting and which was enjoyable to read.

 

Solitaire board games

How it started

Until a year ago i refused to even consider the idea of playing solitaire board games. The beauty (and also the beast) of board games is other people. A board game is only as good as the people it play it with and why would i ever want to play board games solo anyway? Why not just play video games instead?

Well, my opinion started to shift last year. Every time a new game arrived, I’d set it up to play a few dummy turns in order to learn the rules. I enjoyed that quite a bit. The physicality of the board, cubes, cards and me sitting there going through the rulebook. A filled coffee mug or a wine glass always nearby. Although my time spent was basically an investment towards playing the game with others i also started enjoying the moment. The idea of sitting at a table playing a board game on my own suddenly did not appear so ridiculous, so i decided to test the waters and made my first purchase of a solitaire only board game, Zulus on the Ramparts.

Why solitaire?

Since then I’ve continued to play more and more games with other people but also added solitaire games to my play time. I will write about a few I’ve been playing and enjoying recently. Games like Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island, currently my favourite game to play solo, but also others like Freedom: The Underground Railroad, The Sentinels of the Multiverse, Circus Train, K2 and Onirim.

Between the two ways of enjoying the hobby i still prefer playing with other people. However, both ways provide me with something that I’m really grateful for nowadays. I’m so involved in what I’m doing and because the game demands my concentration, I’m “forced” to immerse myself completely and forget about everything else that’s going on in my life. With other activities such as exercising, watching movies or reading books my mind can drift off sometimes. Board games on the other hand provide me with some peace. With solitaire games i can now have more of it.

 

Movie of the week – Metro Manila

Seeking a brighter future in megacity Manila, Oscar Ramirez and his family flee their impoverished life in the rice fields of the northern Philippines. But the sweltering capital’s bustling intensity quickly overwhelms them, and they fall prey to the rampant manipulations of its hardened locals. Oscar catches a lucky break when he’s offered steady work for an armored truck company and gregarious senior officer Ong takes him under his wing. Soon, though, the reality of his work’s mortality rate and the murky motives of his new partner force Oscar to confront the perils he faces in his new job and life.