Episoder

  • Whether or not you celebrate love day, it can be nice to dive into some romance. In this episode, Brenna shares her top 5 romance books and Orin shares 5 boardgames themed around love. We'd love to hear your favourites as well! You can find us on social media @thehobbyshelf, or send us an email at [email protected]. And remember, keep expanding your shelf!

    Books: 

    Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker & Wendy Zu

    Saints and Misfits by S.K. Ali

    Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren 

    Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    Armorers Handbook by Heavyarms

    Strongholds and Followers by Mathew Colville

    Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

    The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

    Everything leads to You by Nina LaCour

    Love From A to Z by S.K. Ali

    The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

    Games:

    Ticket To Ride

    Dice Forge

    Wavelength

    Azul

    Fog of Love

    Love Letter

    Red Flags

    Valentine's Day

    Love Will Tear Us Apart

    Recs:

    Imaginary Friends

    Encore 

  • Evan Lewis joins us today for a deep dive into Dungeons and Dragons! If you're interested in tabletop RPGs, this is the episode for you. We discuss our favourite parts of D&D and give some insights from both a player perspective and a DM perspective. All the games and books we mention in the episode are in the show notes, along with our recommendations of the week. And remember, keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Wingspan

    Dungeons and Dragons

    Pathfinder

    Books:

    The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

    Living a Feminist Life by Sara Ahmed

    "The Lady's Dressing Room" and "Description of a City Shower" by Jonathan Swift

    The Illuminae Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

    The Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson

    Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

    Recs:

    Mythender by Ryan Macklin

    Ehdrigohr by Allen Turner

    DawnforgedCast

    MonarchsFactory

    MrRhexx

    XP to Level 3

    RuneSmith

    Go play D&D!

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  • Do you want to publish a book? Are you interested in designing or publishing a boardgame? This is the perfect episode for you! In this episode, we look at the production process for both books and boardgames. We give tips for finding editors, publishing your book, designing and play-testing a boardgame, and more. All the books and games we mention are in the show notes. And remember, keep expanding your shelf!

    Books:

    Ten Blind Dates by Ashley Elston

    Twice in a Blue Moon by Christina Lauren

    The Library of the Unwritten by A.J. Hackwith

    Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark by Cecilia Watson

    Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

    Games:

    Dungeons and Dragons

    Wingspan

    TINYforming Mars

    Wavelength

    Everdell

    Skyrise -  Roxley Games late 2020

    Gorilla Marketing - Roxley Games being announced in February

    Santorini sequel - Roxley Games 3rd or 4th quarter 2020

    Resources:

    The Boardgame Design Lab with Gabe Barret

    Board Game Business Podcast with Bryan and Jeremy

    Stonemaier Games Kickstart Blog

    5 Podcasts for Writers

    Writer Beware: Vanity/Subsidy Publishers

    Louise Harnby Fiction Writing Resources

    Why Do You Need An Editor?

    What Type of Editing Do You Need?

    Finding An Editor

    Self-Publishing vs. Traditional Publishing

  • Time for a deep dive! This is our first in-depth review episode, and we're looking at Everdell and Ninth House. All of the books and games we mention in the show are in the show notes, and we would love to hear your recommendations. You can send us an email at [email protected], or you can find us on Twitter and Insta at @thehobbyshelf. Remember, keep expanding your shelf!

    Our discussion of Ninth House begins at 40:20.

    We apologize for messing up one of the character names—whenever we say "Dean Sanderson" we mean "Dean Sandow."

    Games:

    Prêt-à-Porter by Portal Games

    Everdell by Starling Games

    Wingspan by Stonemaier Games

    Everdell: Pearlbrook by Starling Games

    Books:

    Scythe by Neal Shusterman

    Front Lines by Michael Grant

    Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

    Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

    Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo

  • It's a new year, and there are tons of new books and boardgames coming out. In this episode, we share a few of our anticipated 2020 releases.

    We'd also like some feedback so we can make the podcast even better. What do you like about our show? What books and/or boardgames would you like us to talk about? What are your top recommendations? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram (@thehobbyshelf) or send us an email at [email protected].

    All of the books and boardgames we mention in the show are in the show notes. And remember, keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Black Angel

    Everdell

    Everdell: Pearlbrook

    Kemet: Blood and Sand

    Mariposas

    Ride the Rails

    Return to Dark Tower

    Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef

    Tekhenu: Obelisk of the Sun

    Wavelength 

    The Great Wall 

    Hunted

    Almanac: The Dragon Road

    Books:

    Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray

    Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

    The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson

    The King of Crows by Libba Bray

    The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

    Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

    Sadie by Courtney Summers

    Of Curses and Kisses by Sandhya Menon

    The Subtweet by Vivek Shraya

    Out Now: Queer We Go Again ed. Saundra Mitchell

  • It's the first episode of 2020! Since it's a new year, we decided to set some book- and boardgames-related goals. What are your goals? Share them with us on our Twitter or Instagram (@thehobbyshelf) or send us an email at [email protected]. All of the books and game we mention in this episode are here in the show notes. And remember, keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Everdell

    Santorini

    Black Angel

    Wingspan: European Expansion

    7 Wonders

    Gloomhaven

    Frosthaven

    Books:

    Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

    Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin

    Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

    Vengeful by V.E. Schwab

    The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

    Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

    Nevernight by Jay Kristoff

    Recs:

    Focus on your Mental Health, we recommend Headspace

    Orin's Goals:

    Play 30 new Boardgames

    Keep diversity in mind when choosing new boardgames

    Finish the base game of Gloomhaven

    Run at least 12 tabletop roleplaying sessions

    Create 10 new CG models

    Create and playtest a boardgame

    Read 10 books alone

    Support Brenna's writing by doing NaNoWriMo with her

    Brenna's Goals:

    Read 50 Books

    Read more books that I own

    Support local libraries and bookstores

    Read more diversely 

    Keep track of all books that I read on paper

    Participate in NaNoWriMo & Preptober

  • 2019 is almost over, so it's time to review the year. We share our favourite books and boardgames of 2019, and we discuss how our years went in general. You can find all of the books and boardgames we mention in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Terraforming Mars

    Keyper

    Snowdonia

    Gloomhaven

    On Tour

    Welcome To...

    Wingspan

    Clank! In! Space!

    Dice Forge: Rebellion

    Scythe

    Splendor

    Tiny Epic Zombies

    Wavelength

    The Final Flicktier

    The Island of El Dorado

    Frosthaven

    Books:

    The Paris Seamstress by Natasha Lester 

    The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A Flynn

    The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin 

    Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

    How Long ’til Black Future Month by NK Jemisin

    Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

    The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

    The Tea Dragon Society by Katie O'Neill

    The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley

    The Library Book by Susan Orlean

    Recs:

    Wyrmwood

    Rosalynne Love (@rosalynnelove)

  • Looking for something wintery to read or play? We have a list of great recommendations for you. All of the books and boardgames we mention in the show are in the show notes. And remember, keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Dead of Winter: A Crossroads Game

    Champions of Midgard

    Reavers of Midgard

    Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries

    The Final Flicktier

    Flip Ships

    Risk: Game of Thrones

    Books:

    Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

    The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

    Highway of Tears by Jessica McDiarmid

    Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

    The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

    The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

    Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

    East by Edith Pattou

    Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

    Beartown by Fredrik Backman

    Scion of the Fox by SM Beiko

    The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

    Front Lines by Michael Grant

    The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

    The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

    Recommendations of the week:

    Do a puzzle

    Cheg (chai latte with eggnog)

  • It's the holiday season, so we're sharing our 2019 wish lists! What's on your wish list? You can find all the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Clank! In! Space!

    Edge of Darkness

    Smash Up

    Sleeping Gods

    Above and Below

    Brass: Birmingham

    Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

    Root

    Tapestry

    Everdell

    Dice Throne

    Books:

    Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

    The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

    Pressure Cooker Love Bomb by Sharanpal Ruprai

    Some Great Thing by Lawrence Hill

    The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

    Highway of Tears  by Jessica McDiarmid

    Summer of Salt by Katrina Leno

    The Library of the Unwritten by AJ Hackwith

    Semicolon: The Past, Present, and Future of a Misunderstood Mark by Cecelia Watson

    The Jane Austen Project by Kathleen A Flynn

    Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys 

    The Broken Earth Trilogy by NK Jemisin

    Recommendations:

    Roxley Game Laboratory

    Food Network Baking Championships

  • *Some spoilers* We love gushing about our favourite things, and on today's episode we talk about our favourite game mechanics and book tropes! You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Quirkle

    Clank! In! Space!

    Charterstone

    Lords of Waterdeep

    Dice Forge

    Dominion

    Legendary

    Scythe

    Small World

    Villainous

    Gloomhaven

    Final Flicktier

    Root

    Carcassonne

    Catan: Seafarers

    Betrayal at House on the Hill

    Books:

    Women of the Dunes by Sarah Maine

    The Truth About Magic by Atticus

    The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

    Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

    The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

    Harry's Trees by Jon Cohen

    Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

    To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

    Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

    The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

    The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

    Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

    The Outsiders by SE Hinton

    The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

    Recs:

    Black Sails

    Not Too Deep by Grace Helbig

    Divinity Original Sin

  • Looking for some games to play or books to read with large groups of people? We've got you covered! This episode was requested by one of our listeners, @threecrownsbooks on Instagram. You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Outer Worlds

    Dice Forge

    Cards Against Humanity

    Two Rooms and a Boom

    Codenames

    Telestrations

    Fog of Love

    Wavelength

    On Tour

    Welcome To

    Sushi Go Party!

    Books:

    West by Edith Pattou

    East by Edith Pattou

    The World on Either Side by Diane Terrana

    The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

    Emergency Contact by Mary HK Choi

    Front Lines by Michael Grant 

    Recommendations:

    The Emotion Thesaurus: A Writer's Guide to Character Expression by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi

    The Mandalorian

  • Everyone gets annoyed at things, and today we share our pet peeves about books and boardgames. We have some strong opinions, so brace yourselves and be prepared to laugh. You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Gloomhaven

    Final Flicktier

    Scythe

    Wingspan

    Charterstone

    Mysterium

    Pandemic

    Unbroken

    Books:

    The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow

    Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

    City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab

    Vicious by VE Schwab

    Vengeful by VE Schwab

    The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

    Song of the Lioness series by Tamora Pierce

    A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket

    The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare

    Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

    Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

    The Illuminate Files by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    Recommendations:

    Hunted

    BoardGameDesignLab

    Book Riot

  • Game time! We challenge each other to find books and boardgames that match in theme, concept, or execution. Let us know if you think our matches actually match! You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Gloomhaven

    Phase 10

    On Tour

    Welcome To

    Railroad Ink

    Ticket to Ride

    Betrayal at House on the Hill

    Pandemic

    Escape Room: The Game

    Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

    Sheriff of Nottingham

    Fog of Love

    Books:

    The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

    The Copyeditor's Handbook by Amy Einsohn and Marilyn Schwartz

    City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

    The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys

    The Maze Runner by James Dashner

    Wanderers by Chuck Wendig

    The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer

    If We Were Villains by ML Rio

    The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

    To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

    Recommendations:

    Calgary Public Library

    Outer Worlds

  • Sometimes we miss our childhood, so in this episode we talk about the books we read as kids and the games we used to play! Bring on the nostalgia. You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Gloomhaven

    Catan

    Sushi Go!

    Nertz

    ChickenFoot

    Monopoly

    Trouble

    Sorry!

    Game of Life

    Phase 10

    Skip-Bo

    UNO

    Books:

    Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft ed. Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe

    His Hideous Heart ed. Dahlia Adler

    Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

    The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

    Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish

    Junie B. Jones by Barbara Park

    Warriors by Erin Hunter

    Storm Thief by Chris Wooding

    The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes by Anne Mazer

    Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne

    Animorphs series by KA Applegate

    Dear Canada series

    Bone by Jeff Smith

    Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

    Soul Eater by Atsushi Ohkubo

    Alanna: The First Adventure by Tamora Pierce

    Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

    Recs:

    Currently Reading Podcast

    YETI Miniature Printing

  • If you could step into your favourite fictional setting, where would you go? On this episode, Brenna and Orin discuss their favourite book and boardgame settings! You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    D&D

    Wingspan

    Sagrada

    Dice Forge

    Tidal Blades

    Terraforming Mars

    Tang Garden

    Ishtar: Gardens of Babylon

    Gloomhaven

    Black Angel

    Deja Vu: Fragments of Memory

    Books:

    Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

    Handling The Truth: On Writing of Memoirs by Beth Kephart

    Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women and Witchcraft ed. by Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe

    Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo

    Harry Potter by JK Rowling

    The Night Circus by Erin Morgernstern

    How Long 'til Black Future Month? by NK Jemisin

    The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

    A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab

    Strange The Dreamer by Laini Taylor

    Other:

    Witch Please

    Pokemon Ruby

    Pokemon Sapphire

    The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

    God of War 4

    Recommendations:

    Hollow Knight

    Lara Jean’s Cowgirl Cookies from To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han

  • Sometimes we like to read books together and play games with just 2 people. On this episode, we talk about our experience reading books and playing boardgames together as a couple. You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Tsuro of the Seas

    Sushi Go Party!

    Wingspan

    Gloomhaven

    Abyss

    Clank! In! Space!

    Dice Forge

    Small World

    Terraforming Mars

    Splendor

    Books:

    Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

    A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

    Lair of Dreams by Libbra Bray

    The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

    Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

    Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

    Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

    The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

    Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

    Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

    The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

    Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

    The Fifth Season by NK Jemisin

    Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

    Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

    Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    Recommendations of the week:

    Critical Role

    PARKS

  • Halloween is our favourite event of the year, so it’s time to talk about spooky books and games! You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Welcome To

    Wingspan

    Eldritch Horror

    King of Tokyo

    Mysterium

    Last Night On Earth

    Tiny Epic Zombies

    Zombicide

    Betrayal at House on the Hill

    Tang Garden

    Dread

    Nyctophobia

    Books:

    The Diviners by Libba Bray

    The World on Either Side by Diane Terrana

    Undead Girl Gang by Lily Anderson

    Pumpkinheads by Rainbow Rowell

    The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins

    The Woman in the Window by AJ Finn

    Pet Sematary by Stephen King

    On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King

    The Devouring by Simon Holt

    Soulstice by Simon Holt

    Malice by Chris Wooding

    Havoc by Chris Wooding

    Skeleton Creek by Patrick Carman

    Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft ed. Jessica Spotswood and Tess Sharpe

    A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

    Other:

    Unplugged Book Box

    Recommendations of the week:

    Hilda

    Vindication

  • On this episode, we talk about how we experience stories. We talk about what stories are, what we find interesting in stories, and how stories are important for creating empathy. You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Scythe

    Abyss

    Underwater Cities

    Dungeons and Dragons

    Gloomhaven

    Pathfinder

    Books:

    Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling

    Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

    The Diviners by Libba Bray

    Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

    The Night Circus by Erin Morgernstern

    Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

    The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

    Other:

    Critical Role

    Recommendations of the week:

    Untitled Goose Game

    Erin Servais: @GrammarParty on Twitter; NaNo Survival & Success: https://www.dotanddashllc.com/nano-survival-success

  • Excited for fall? We give our fall book and boardgame recommendations. You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Contact info for our amazing cover art designer, Stephanie Limb:

    Twitter: @Stephaniel_Arts

    Instagram: @steph_is_the_stove

    Games:

    Fire Emblem: Three Houses

    Root

    One Night Ultimate Werewolf

    Takenoko

    Catan

    Keyper

    Tokaido

    Groves

    Photosynthesis

    Books:

    The Kingdom of Copper by SA Chakraborty

    Love From A to Z but SK Ali

    The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

    Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl

    Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

    Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

    The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

    The Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

    The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien

    The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde

    The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

    Recommendations of the week:

    What Should I Read Next

    Secret Feminist Agenda

  • Welcome to The Hobby Shelf, a podcast where we discuss books, boardgames, and sometimes other hobbies. On this episode, we introduce ourselves and talk about the podcast. You can find all of the books and games we mentioned in the show notes along with our recommendations of the week. Keep expanding your shelf!

    Games:

    Scythe

    Snowdonia

    Terraforming Mars

    Dice Forge

    Gloomhaven

    Wingspan

    Tapestry

    Keyper

    Books:

    Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin

    Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling

    Burnout: the Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski

    The Kingdom of Copper by SA Chakraborty

    Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

    Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

    Inkheart by Cornelia Funke

    Inkspell by Cornelia Funke

    Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke

    This Is All by Aidan Chambers

    Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

    Recommendations of the week:

    Rahdo Runs Through

    He Read She Read