Mojo asked some game writers about good books they've recently read

[Thrik]

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Hey, psst, want a book recommendation? We asked pretty much every writer and designer who’s worked on a LucasArts, Telltale, Terrible Toybox, Double Fine, Autumn Moon, etc. game on here for good recent reads, then added a few of our own.

 

News post: We asked some game writers about good books they've recently read

 

Article: What do Game Devs Read?

 

…

 

But screw those guys, what books do you recommend? Are you still reading On Stranger Tides?

 

[Thrik]

I’m enjoying a couple of fresh ones at the moment.

 

Firstly, I’m Too Young To Die, my latest purchase from the reliable Bitmap Books. I love their books as they’re always so lavish and get my nostalgia engine going. This is the first-person shooter fan’s equivalent of the adventure game book I mentioned in the article — a wonderful trip through history with lots of developer involvement.

 

 

On a more philosophical note, The Courage To Be Disliked is essentially an introduction to Adlerian psychology. There’s a lot to it and I’m not really that into this sort of thing, but I have found some of its principles intriguing, such as challenging the notion that our pasts define who we are (notably the opposite view of his contemporary, Freud). It has made me think differently for the better about how I see myself and how I interact with others, so has been a worthwhile read thus far.

 

[Gins]

2 hours ago, Thrik said:

Are you still reading On Stranger Tides

 

🥲 Maybe we should revive that. I think most of us lost the streak during the multi week outage. Up to resume @TimeGentleman (most active reader)?

[TimeGentleman]

Yeah, I wasn't sure what was going on with that thread so I continued reading it! Am happy to slow my roll a little and resume the book club

[Kroms]

Since finishing that article, I've read Bảo Ninh's The Sorrow of War. I think the old-fashioned, gauche title has different connotations in the original Vietnamese, and, worse, does not hint this book will be leaving you with nightmares; at least, I had a few. I say that as a huge compliment. It's a clearly autobiographical story about a Vietnamese veteran who goes through life in a haze, desperately trying to put the ten years of war and the very real price he paid in that war behind him, but experiences the war with clarity. The storytelling structure is interesting and efficacious, and I'd need to reread it to understand how it works.

 

All the chest-beating of American narratives on the war contrast with this one's depiction of the US forces as an inescapable, unbeatable, bloodthirsty, invasive force driving a merciless civil war; Vietnamese shoot, strangle, and execute other Vietnamese, often as a response to their own savagery. It's a patchwork of stories a film like Platoon (or, laughably, Rambo) wouldn't dream up, channelled through the experiences of one veteran who would like, very much, to write about life instead, but has demons to work through. From what I understand about Ninh's other books, he seems to have succeeded. I want to read them.

 

Highly recommended.

Edited July 24, 2023 by Kroms

[LuigiHann]

Something charming about the idea that Ron Gilbert is in the middle of reading three different books at any given time. Relatable.