issue 3: now with 100% more shark
Hello and welcome (back). This is Issue 3 of “a bit of bird words” and we are joined today by my new friend, SURHAJ the lemon shark (name pending).
Anyway, let’s talk games! And books!
Game of the month: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom
Nintendo, 2024 (Switch)
If you know me, this might have been predictable! I wrote a review of the game on my blog, so I won’t say too terribly much here, just to say that I had a very enjoyable time playing through it.
I also had a great time talking about it! It was of course fun to talk through the puzzles with my partner, but I also took time to talk to a colleague about it as well, who played it with their kids. That particular experience is absolutely fascinating to me; I wonder what sorts of solutions people younger than me are dreaming up in this game.
If you play this game, let me know what your favorite echoes are! I was personally very fond of the crow and the shark.
Plus: there are so many cats. So, so many cats, and they are all the peak of cuteness.
Games finished this year: 39 (+4)
Book of the month: The Ersatz Elevator
Lemony Snicket, 2001
I’m not a new reader to the world of A Series of Unfortunate Events; I found these books as a preteen and was in love with the way the mysteries of the series unfurled like flowers. Hints about the grander history of the world—and its many mysteries—trickle in at first, but The Ersatz Elevator is the first full book to take place after the Baudelaires first become aware of the mysterious “VFD” and is the first time they return to their home city after the mysterious death of their parents.
The Ersatz Elevator has always been my favorite of all the books. It leaves breadcrumbs very early for the reader—much like the Baudelaires leaving breadcrumbs in the apartment in their search for Gunther—to catch on that things don’t quite add up in 667 Dark Avenue. It was the book that made me smile when we learned about conspicuous consumption in a class and I recognized the name of the person who coined the term. (Veblen Hall in the book is presumably named after him, and it’s quite appropriate given what happens within that building.)
It’s also the first book that made me gasp, gave me a chill, and made me realize that the medium of books still had so many interesting places it could go.
I’ll borrow Snicket’s words from that very book: Sometimes words are not enough. The series is a very fast read, so I wholeheartedly recommend reading it that way to get to The Ersatz Elevator, but it is perfectly possible to read this one without having read the previous five.
Books finished this year: 74 (+14)
What else?
Not too much honestly! My partner celebrated his birthday, which was most notable for the fact that the place we’d booked for dinner was suffering from a complete power outage at the time.
Early in the month I hacked my 3DS and have been very pleased with the results, so I’m hoping to play through Dragon Quest on that next month. I’ve been thinking a lot about all the various emulation devices out there and…honestly, as cool as some of them are, I kind of prefer having the 3DS (and maybe a future Vita) be that device rather than something from Anbernic or Analogue or whoever.
My recommendation for you is to watch Transparency Boo’s latest video on Aquanaut’s Holiday and make your favorite soup sometime soon. (Also if you have a name suggestion for the lemon shark, let me know. BLÅHAJ and SMÅHAJ eagerly await your emails.)
Thanks for reading. You can check out what games I’m playing on Backloggd and what books I’m reading on The Storygraph.