What book turned you into a reader?

[IDMTINP]

View attachment 25398
this book saved my ass in my economics classes

Would you be able to give me a brief summary?

 

[tropicalavera]

Whilst I do read a fair amount of fiction, I'm gonna recommend some of my favorite non-fic books bc that's usually what I gravitate towards! These are things I regularly include in my reading lists.

Fantastic collection of essays and writings about appropriation art, copyright law, and post-modernist art approaches at large. Mostly focuses on literature, music, and the traditional arts but there's lots of lessons to learn and apply to videogames!

WOW! Turns out the industry has ALWAYS been awful! But for every story of done-by artists, programmers, and other professionals there's a lot of inspiring stuff too. It's great hearing first-hand accounts from lesser-known names, to find out how they contributed to titles you've played - and others you've maybe never heard of!

Game studies is, by-and-large, a little dense to get into. And whilst it's always tempting to introduce people to Juul and Suits and Caillois and Swink etc. unless you're actually throwing yourself into the field it might be a little difficult to chew. Bo Ruberg on the other hand is remarkably readable - and this book explores the ways in which we can engage with videogame texts through a lens of queer theory to discover new things about the emergent narrative possibilties of the medium.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

View attachment 25554
WOW! Turns out the industry has ALWAYS been awful! But for every story of done-by artists, programmers, and other professionals there's a lot of inspiring stuff too. It's great hearing first-hand accounts from lesser-known names, to find out how they contributed to titles you've played - and others you've maybe never heard of!

I'm glad that there are some books that keep it real. Most books about game devs tend to romanticize the industry and make the devs seem like gods/rockstars. And they are to a certain extent, but we don't get to hear about the crunch, the weeks/months without seeing families, the sleeping under the desk and all the negatives of that lifestyle.

View attachment 25555
Game studies is, by-and-large, a little dense to get into. And whilst it's always tempting to introduce people to Juul and Suits and Caillois and Swink etc. unless you're actually throwing yourself into the field it might be a little difficult to chew. Bo Ruberg on the other hand is remarkably readable - and this book explores the ways in which we can engage with videogame texts through a lens of queer theory to discover new things about the emergent narrative possibilties of the medium.

Not sure whether I vibe with this type of analysis, but I'm not going to judge without reading it. Whether its queer theory, feminist theory, minority studies, it feels like sometimes they are reading way too much into things. One of the positives of certain genres of games is that they accommodate any type of gamer, no matter the gender, sexual preference or race/nationality. But to say games are explicitly queer because of that is weird to me. I guess I'm not sure what video games being queer is supposed to mean.

 

[tropicalavera]

Not sure I vibe whether I vibe with this type of analysis, but I'm not going to judge without reading it. Whether its queer theory, feminist theory, minority studies, it feels like sometimes they are reading way too much into things. One of the positives of certain genres of games is that they accommodate any type of gamer, no matter the gender, sexual preference or race/nationality. But to say games are explicitly queer because of that is weird to me.

I could disassemble this comment but I would just be explaining the book?? If you are worried that the author is claiming videogames are explicitly queer then ig don't worry? It's not really doing GAY ROPE style close readings of embedded elements within the games discussed - but rather applying queer theory to game studies approaches and conversations regarding play - the suggestion is that play is inherently queer. Which it is? (and again, dw - not queer as in gay but queer as in against-the-grain - Bo is not out here saying the grasshopper was trans (basedbasedbased) but that the grasshopper is maybe better understood through a lense of queer theory). It absolutely might NOT be the text for you though - and that's okay! You can find some of Bo's standalone essays via scholar and see if you vibe with their shtick. OTHERWISE, there's plenty of other cool game studies texts out there!

 

[Strategist Strategist]

I could disassemble this comment but I would just be explaining the book?? If you are worried that the author is claiming videogames are explicitly queer then ig don't worry? It's not really doing GAY ROPE style close readings of embedded elements within the games discussed - but rather applying queer theory to game studies approaches and conversations regarding play - the suggestion is that play is inherently queer. Which it is? (and again, dw - not queer as in gay but queer as in against-the-grain - Bo is not out here saying the grasshopper was trans (basedbasedbased) but that the grasshopper is maybe better understood through a lense of queer theory). It absolutely might NOT be the text for you though - and that's okay! You can find some of Bo's standalone essays via scholar and see if you vibe with their shtick. OTHERWISE, there's plenty of other cool game studies texts out there!

If he's saying games go against the grain, why not say that? Someone saying games are queer doesn't bother me, just its odd to me that someone would assign those type of qualities to video games. Perhaps I need to read the book, instead of hassling you, lol.

 

[tropicalavera]

The grasshopper was trans? I'm so confused.

If he's saying games go against the grain, why not say that? It's more that I don't get the point of this type of analysis. Someone saying games are queer doesn't bother me, just its odd to me that someone would assign those type of qualities to video games. Like I said, I don't get the point of that type of study as a concept and would like to get some insight into that.

There's a lot to unpack here! Just a quick note to say that I'm really not trying to be flippant or anything - I'm very happy to do my best to explain anything!

Bo is directly applying approaches to analysis from queer studies to game studies - this would be, like, taking critical approaches of film theory and applying them to graphic design, or post-modernist literary analysis and applying it to 19th century gothic opera. So the reason they don't 'just say that' is because? well I mean, they do!! in the book!! If you're gesturing towards the title then I don't know what to tell you - book titles are the original clickbait thumbnails; they're meant to grab your attention.
As for WHY we do this, well? That's how the humanities work - we aim to analyse texts through a multitude of lenses to make sense of them. And no one approach is the 'best' approach - like any other science we test them, we put them through their paces, apply them to as much as we can to see what value there even IS to that sort of approach. So the book is basically just "hey! there's some cool theories from this other field of study that have already been applied to film, music, theatre, architecture, art history, literature, language, and NOW i'm gonna try and apply it all to games! Let's see what we can learn!".

the grasshopper is (probably) NOT trans - but they did die happy.

 

[betterhiroto]

For some odd reason, the book that turned me into a reader i am today is the Wind up bird chronicle by Haruki Murakami when i was 13.

Yeah, bit of a heavy book for a 13 year old. Not going to lie, but i was a bit of a weeb and when i saw a japanese author (Which is rare in my country) i immediately grabbed that book and bought it. I did read a few books up to that point, but nothing that made me want to read more, they were mostly just encyclopedias and such, nothing really serious and big as this. After that i began scouting more and more of his books, and that's where it all really started! I don't really read his works that much now, but maybe i should go back to the book that made me what i am today...

 

[Strategist Strategist]

For some odd reason, the book that turned me into a reader i am today is the Wind up bird chronicle by Haruki Murakami when i was 13.

Yeah, bit of a heavy book for a 13 year old. Not going to lie, but i was a bit of a weeb and when i saw a japanese author (Which is rare in my country) i immediately grabbed that book and bought it. I did read a few books up to that point, but nothing that made me want to read more, they were mostly just encyclopedias and such, nothing really serious and big as this. After that i began scouting more and more of his books, and that's where it all really started! I don't really read his works that much now, but maybe i should go back to the book that made me what i am today...

Ummm yeah that is a heavy book for a 13 year old. lol. Well you had to learn about the birds and the bees sooner or later.

 

[SolarSpectre]

The first book I remember really liking was 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. then I read the Hobbit and have been hooked on fantasy ever since

 

[Strategist Strategist]

The first book I remember really liking was 'Of Mice and Men' by John Steinbeck. then I read the Hobbit and have been hooked on fantasy ever since

Lenny is a fascinating character.

 

[mrmoe273]

these two bad boys, not going to lie they both have confused me at some points but were good reads

 

[diapered]

I would read it but I don't really read books much anymore.

I know that feel... I don't read books anymore either, and I used to read a lot. I don't think I have read another book after I finished undergrad. Whatever I read nowadays is either from a textbook, a journal article, or randomly reading arxiv. I kind of miss it, but I don't think I have the patience to read a novel anymore ;_;

Anyway, favorite book is probably

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

Stephen King's The Stand is the only book that's made me tear up, so that's gotta count for something

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

Lemony Snickett's A Series of Unfortunate Events.
Roald Dahl's George's Marvellous Medicine and Fantastic Mr. Fox.
The works of Paul Jennings.
The Long Walk by Stephen King got me back into reading for leisure/pleasure after a few years of reading only for academic/learning purposes.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Stephen King's The Stand is the only book that's made me tear up, so that's gotta count for something

I started reading the Stand after watching the TV series in the 90s. My sister was really into Stephen King and horror but I liked his non-horror writing the best. It was really riveting but I never finished it. Another book on my list to read. That and the Dark Tower book, sounds like my type of Stephen King work.

 

[KamakoKamako's icon]

I started reading the Stand after watching the TV series in the 90s. My sister was really into Stephen King and horror but I liked his non-horror writing the best. It was really riveting but I never finished it. Another book on my list to read. That and the Dark Tower book, sounds like my type of Stephen King work.

I bounced off of The Stand two or three times in my teens before finally burning through it in my early 20's. It was a rewarding experience. I've not watched either of the two limited series but may do in time to come.

I finished the first book in the Dark Tower series...like you I enjoy his non-horror writing the best, especially his thrillers...The Running Man, The Long Walk, The Road Virus Heads North and The Man in the Black Suits are my faves :)

 

[Strategist Strategist]

I bounced off of The Stand two or three times in my teens before finally burning through it in my early 20's. It was a rewarding experience. I've not watched either of the two limited series but may do in time to come.

I finished the first book in the Dark Tower series...like you I enjoy his non-horror writing the best, especially his thrillers...The Running Man, The Long Walk, The Road Virus Heads North and The Man in the Black Suits are my faves :)

Don't forget Shawshank Redemption and the Green Mile. Although, I've only watched the movies, I'm sure the novels are bangers too.

 

[Ikagura]

Too many books to read. I feel I'm still needing to read more.

I liked reading Soylent Green, 2001 and Do Androids.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Too many books to read. I feel I'm still needing to read more.

I liked reading Soylent Green, 2001 and Do Androids.

I read "Do Androids dream of electric sheep?" and watched Blade Runner for my film studies class. I feel like reading it adds a lot to the film. Same with 2001: A space odyssey and its source material.

 

[PhaseJump]

Dark Tower was great, up until King was hit by the van and he rushed through V-VII. He turned into a different writer altogether back then. He lost his edge.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Dark Tower was great, up until King was hit by the van and he rushed through V-VII. He turned into a different writer altogether back then. He lost his edge.

I feel like that is one of the reasons why George Martin hasn't finished a Song of Ice and Fire. He's rich and famous now and doesn't have that hunger in him anymore. He knows he can't finish the series in a way that will satisfy the fans and is content to just let it sit.

 

[PhaseJump]

I feel like that is one of the reasons why George Martin hasn't finished a Song of Ice and Fire. He's rich and famous now and doesn't have that hunger in him anymore. He knows he can't finish the series in a way that will satisfy the fans and is content to just let it sit.

Saying GRRM doesn't have a hunger is too rich. The man ran out of ideas, was stuck with writers block in a continuity time skip he never really intended to sort out, and his writing is now heavily focused on food descriptions.

If he isn't meandering around a fictional food banquet, he is over on his live journal describing his experience watching football and eating hot dogs.

The guy writes easy to read stuff, but he will never finish it. Same as Patrick Rothfuss and his unfinished crap.

 

[Strategist Strategist]

Saying GRRM doesn't have a hunger is too rich. The man ran out of ideas, was stuck with writers block in a continuity time skip he never really intended to sort out, and his writing is now heavily focused on food descriptions.

If he isn't meandering around a fictional food banquet, he is over on his live journal describing his experience watching football and eating hot dogs.

But those fictional food banquets he describes are incredible! I can just remember the way he described the food at Joffrey's wedding. He writes about food like I expect a fat man would. lmao.

 

[PhaseJump]

The guy took a decade to get through his writers block, splitting the book into two. The first half being "A FEAST For Crows." The man needs to put down the chicken drumstick and finish the story.

 

[Bonkers225]

Bill O'Reilly's Killing series are phenomenal