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July 29, 2008

Summer Reading Blog: Video Game Reads

Video Game Books At UGL

This blog post was originally supposed to focus on video games. After dying for the zillionth time in Capcom Classics, it became obvious that summer would be long gone long before enough video games had been played in full. Instead of the video games themselves, this post will point out some books in the UGL’s collection whose characters are shaped by them. Sound not as cool as video games? Read on and learn otherwise.

Feed by M.T. Anderson
813 An2375f

M.T. Anderson is a professor of creative writing with a focus in youth literature. If you don’t put much stock in those credentials, you will if you read even one chapter of Feed. This book is fast-paced, original, and scary as h-e-double-hockey-sticks. Its characters live in the not-too-distant future, and have computers implanted in their brains from the time they are children. The feeds (hence the title) advertise to them, show them where to find the coolest video games, and try to predict what they will want to buy, from cargo pants to trips to the Moon. What happens when a feed breaks down? I won’t give it away, but it’s not pretty.

One caveat is that the slang in this book makes its world more believable, but it also takes some getting used to. Don’t be discouraged if the first couple of chapters are slow going: Feed will be worth your time. Seriously. If this book was a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer, I’d offer to give you a full refund if you weren’t madly in love with your first glass of mango-kiwi-carrot goop.

Lucky Wander Boy by D.B. Weiss
813 W43622l

Imagine a video game that parallels real life so perfectly that if you can find your way to its final level, it will show you your own face, followed by your personal vision of heaven. Adam Pennyman believes he has played such a game, but just as he was ascending to the last level, somebody pulled the machine’s plug. Now, years later, he may have a chance to play it again. What will he sacrifice for that chance?

Lots, it turns out. Pennyman will make you cringe, repeatedly, as he plows through jobs and relationships in pursuit of his goal. Along the way, though, he offers insights into life, video games, and the connections between them that are intelligent and disarming.

If you’re interested in metafiction (or meta-anything, really), this book was written for you. Weiss’s self-conscious form and voice never let you forget that you are reading something deliberately crafted. The ending alone should send meta- fans into comatose bliss.

Here are some more video game-themed books in the Undergrad’s collection:

Fiction:
Ender’s Game
813C178e1985

Attack of the Bacon Robots (graphic novel!)
741.5973H718pa

Snow Crash
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Nonfiction:
Everything Bad Is Good For You: How Today’s Pop Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter 306.0973J637e

Grand Theft Childhood: The Surprising Truth About Violent Video Games And What Parents Can Do 302.231K969g

Masters of Doom: How Two Guys Created An Empire And Transformed Pop Culture 794.80922K

Posted by undergrad at July 29, 2008 11:21 AM

Comments

nice post nd blog i really appreciate it, good work!

Posted by: Billy at January 24, 2009 12:30 PM

Finally something I would actually like to read!

Posted by: Acai Berry at February 27, 2009 8:21 AM