Did any of you get books or book-themed items under the tree this year? I ended up with a great assortment of fun, bookish gifts.
My son and newest daughter-in-law gave me a gorgeous nativity snow globe whose base is a stack of books. Love it!
My daughter gave me a new board game called Illiterati – a cooperative game where our team of librarians work together to save the world from illiteracy, one word at a time. I love the historical flavor and cooperative play. More details to follow!
My sweet husband got me a new Kindle cover, featuring a drool-worthy bookcase (with ladder!) and a fun new bookish t-shirt.
Game Time
Our family are big board game players, especially at Christmas when we have time for day-long gaming marathons. On the third day of Christmas, we played Illiterati, and I was contantly geeking out over all the book-lover elements. If you love classic literature and puns, you would love this game even before you start playing.
First – The box, when opened, looks like a giant book.
Second – There are literary puns everywhere!
The instructions themselves start with this quote: “It was the best of time, it was the worst of times. It was the age of illiteracy, it was the age of . . . the Illiterati.” Then one paragraph down, is this quote: “And yet, it is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good book must be in want of . . . more books.”
The players of a legendary order known as the League of Librarians, the guardians of truth and knowledge whose sacred duty is to preserve books for future generations.
And here are a sample of the books we are working with:
I picked a sampling of my favorite title puns. In case it’s hard to read in the photo, here are the titles and the quotes that appear at the bottom:
- Circumnavigating the Globe in 80 Minutes – “They said it couldn’t be done, but Phineas Smog believed that with a good attitude any pizza could become a personal pizza. He saw no reason why this was any different.”
- The Accountant of Monte Cristo – “Little did the CEO know that the accountant had been biding his time, waiting to release the W-2 that would cause certain financial ruin.”
- Knights of the Hexagonal Table – “Our sequel begins with Sir Pythagoras commenting that from his angle, the damsel seemed very acute, but he was quickly chastised for making such an obtuse comment.
- Fandom of the Soap Opera – “The Fandom of the Soap Opera is there . . . inside your mind.”
- A Tale of Two Kitties – “It was the best of felines. It was the worst of felines.”
- Sword in the Scone – “And having pulled the sword from the scone, Arthur assembled his brunch companions around the fabled hexogonal breakfast nook.”
- Hubris and Haughtiness – “Eloise Pennet had a dowry that consisted of 3 acres of land, several swans, and a very large bucket of fancy spoons, and that made her the most eligible woman in town.”
- Big White Whale – “‘Whale, whale, whale . . . what do we have here?’ sneered Captain Baha as he looked in the eyes of his blubbery archnemesis.”
Third – You get to make words and work together to bind your books and survive the Illiterati attacks.
While your objective is to spell the words that are part of your book card challenge, you must simply make word to survive, for if too many letters are leftover when time is called, the library might burn down!
We played a relatively easy level as we were learning the game, but I look forward to trying the next step up. There are also optional rules for single player and junior players for kids who are young readers.
My book-loving heart enjoyed this game so well. I highly reocmmend it!
Did you receive any books or bookish items for Christmas this year?
Latest posts by Karen Witemeyer (see all)
- Karen’s Favorites - May 4, 2025
- Spring Reading Bouquet - May 1, 2025
- April in Texas = Bluebonnets - April 17, 2025
I didn’t receive any books, but did get a gift card and ordered some books for myself, including Cloaked in Beauty, and gave books to friends.
I must get Illiterati! Thanks for the detailed description. My brother has his masters in English and is quite a collector of the classics. Sounds like fun.
Happy New Year!
I bet you would really enjoy Illiterati, Betty. I hope to play it again before my daughter goes back to college. She’s the only one in the family who really enjoys word games, so it might be a while before I can play again. Ha!
While I didn’t receive any books for Christmas (gasp!), my family all came through with bookish gifts (phew!). Among them were two puzzles and a miniature house kit that is a mini corner bookstore. I’m currently in the process of making 185 miniature books that go with it. LOL That game sounds like a lot of fun so I’ll be adding that to my wish list!
185 miniature books??? That’s a LOT. But I bet the bookstore will be fabulous when you complete it. So fun!
Such fun bookish gifts1 I got two bookish puzzles which I’ll use as rewards for meeting goals. 🙂 I put that game on my wish list. Sounds like so much fun!
My husband got me a puzzle board that is like the puzzle table you posted about a while back. No legs of its own, but it has little drawers and a turntable. I’m excited to try it out. 🙂