Scott Ruble of Santa Cruz, California asks, “My supernal significant other and I have adopted your and your bride's practice of jigsaw puzzling whilst absorbing an audio book. As aspiring masters of literary puzzling, we'd like to know what types of audio books you and the Mrs. prefer for this activity, how large a puzzle size you attempt to tackle, and a particularly enjoyable book/puzzle pairing? Bonus inquiry: do you employ a jigsaw in your shop and do you prefer top handle or barrel grip?”
Scott, thank you very kindly for these questions, and from Santa Cruz, no less, a small, groovy AF town on California’s central coast. We shot most of our exteriors for the exquisite and under-seen Alex Garland series DEVS there, at the University of California-Santa Cruz that you have tucked tantalizingly up into your redwoods. I spent a lot of my time off running along the coastal bluffs and mountain biking in the gorgeous parks surrounding the joint, so you can imagine my fondness for your hamlet of cool vibes.
Now, to your questions. First and foremost, I must inform you that one of the ways in which I am spoiled rotten resides in the fact that Megan Mullally is an avid curator of all consumable culture. This means she keeps a vigilant eye on what the smart kids are watching, reading, listening to, eating, and so forth. She then takes these overviews and applies to them her exquisite discernment, winnowing the selections down to a result that has been pretty damn consistently enjoyable over the 22 years I’ve known her.
That said, we have no real guidelines to puzzle selection or book selection beyond “looks fun” and “sounds good”. We love doing any puzzle, really from some very stupid ones (pictured) like muscle cars or hyper-cute babies or weird, sexy fantasy black magic ladies in the woods. We have also recently been doing some great puzzles from the Colorado company Liberty of artworks, such as paintings by Monet or Egon Schiele.
We have listened to excellent fiction, like The Crimson Petal and the White, and actually right now we’re besotted with the second volume of The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman. Murder mysteries are very gripping to keep us keen during long sessions of puzzling. We loved the Magpie Murders as well.
Pairing book and puzzle subject matter such as you have suggested sounds really nifty, and perhaps we’ll look into that, thank you. We usually don’t go bigger than 1500 pieces in our puzzle choices, but we have tackled a few 2000 piece, and I think one 3000 piece, but that was when we were younger, before I herniated my disc.
For an added goose, we have oft enjoyed reenacting the puzzles we have just completed, usually art and costume designed by Megan, with props by me. She put together a robust representation of these in our book The Greatest Love Story Ever Told (The website says sold out but we’ll have more ready soon).
As for your bonus question, the jigsaw has always been a favorite tool of mine, especially in my early years of scenery work. It’s the wood-cutting tool that allows an aspiring joiner to cut curves and whatnot. I suppose I have happily and successfully used both top handle and barrel-grip over the years, but if we’re going for sharp accuracy, say cutting out a tree full of maple leaves in 1/4” luan, I’ll reach for the top handle, please and thank you.
Speaking of meticulous engineering, I have from the get-go (1988 or so) always preferred the Bosch jigsaw on my bench. They have recently hired me to voice over some commercials for them, so I’m not sure what the legal implications are for me to freely and factually compliment a tool that I have loved using for over 30 years, but I guess if you are inclined to come after me for that somehow, do please couch your summons in the comments below in the form of a question, and be sure to let me know from where you’re writing. I’m not about to endorse a shitty tool, so there’s also that.
Love,
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