• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

POPULAR: What Did You Read Today?

@Snuggle Tier List - may I ask why writing your fanfic depends on understanding gaming taxonomies?
It's nonfic fanfic. Battle With Me: Pokémon XD's a critical analysis of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. It's my attempt to do a text-based Level With Me, an analysis/Let's Play hybrid run by Robert Yang. Robert Yang actually teaches game design at NYU game center; thus, I'm studying up. CH4 in particular involves a swerve in the narrative; the designers start appealing to a different type of player, and I was hoping gaming taxonomies would help me demonstrate that. I was wrong.

(Robert Yang also made, IMO, the best game ever made. It's called "We Become What We Behold", it's hosted online, 100% free, takes about fifteen minutes to beat, and benefits from knowing as little as possible going in. But it's not for kids, so no link. I don't have a point for this paragraph; I just want to gush.) MAJOR CORRECTION: I mixed up my developers. "We Become What We Behold" is made by Nikki Case, not Robert Yang. Complete brain meltdown on my end, Robert Yang's games are completely different.
 
Last edited:
Fan-nonfiction, then?

I checked out that game you recommended — it's okay, but I don't think it's especially brilliant.

The thing about this one is that it doesn't further inform people who are already aware of the nature of toxic news media, and it's sufficiently simplistic/exaggerated/reductive that it won't necessarily help people who don't understand the problem to develop a rational perspective. It also lacks a proposed solution to the problem it identifies and fails to reflect the nuance of reality. That's judging it for its efficacy as a rhetorical piece. Judging it as a game, it lacks choices or objectives and forces the player into a linear progression with a single outcome. I've played games that have entertained me for hundreds of hours, educated me thoroughly, and brought me to tears of joy or sorrow, so I was expecting something spectacular here. No personal criticism intended, games are a matter of taste after all.
 
Annie On My Mind by Nancy Garden. This one was really good! I can definitely see why this LGBT novel made such a big impact when it was first published in 1982. But even with that, the characters are all intriguing and likeable (Save for the two homophobic teachers. They were just cliche), the romance was well developed and subtle, the story was nice, and the writing was very good, too!

The first two books in Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic series, Sandry's Book and Tris's Book. I like it so far! I love that Pierce isn't afraid to give all of her characters huge flaws and make them go through immense changes, and although there are some things about the setting I don't really understand, the series does tell you enough to let you get the gist of what's going on. I plan on reading the rest of it when I can.

See You on a Starry Night by Lisa Schroeder. I wouldn't call this book anything special, but I like it well enough. It's a cute little slice of life book about a girl whose parents divorced and she has to experience moving to a new town and meeting some new friends and trying to find some stability in her rocky life. It's a light hearted read, and the characters are likeable and sweet, though some twists in the end felt kind of tacked on. I am looking forward to the sequel coming out soon!
 
Finished Endeavour: The Ship and Attitude that Changed the World, Peter Moore. It's ok for what it is, but the author's determination to tell the story of HMS Endeavour from start to finish means there's a lot of filler in there.

Fighting at Sea in the Eighteenth Century: The Art of Sailing Warfare, Sam Willis

The Book of Dust Volume One: La Belle Sauvage, Phillip Pullman

The Story of the Jews: Finding the Words, Simon Schama
 
Been reading like a maniac these past few days. Finished The Book of Dust Volume One: La Belle Sauvage, Phillip Pullman (Feels rather rote and uninspired, and frankly can't decide who its audience is), and re-reading Nation, Terry Pratchett

Still reading The Story of the Jews, Simon Schama, and working my way through Templars: The Rise and Fall of God's Holy Warriors, Dan Jones
 
Recently read Follow Me To Ground, by Sue Rainsford. Wrote a short review for the proof club.

A horror story with a vivid streak of magical realism. Ada and her father are the local healers in a remote town, reaching inside people's bodies and singing out their sickness. Neither are human, although they appear human if you don't examine them too closely.
Ada is training to replace her father as a curer of sickness, but there's something wrong with her that she neither can nor wants to cure. So too is there something wrong with the human boy from the town who catches her naïve interest.
The delicious, deft prose and the revealed truth of Ada's nature makes this story an intriguing, gripping read. I read this book inside 24 hours, and loved every page.

It's deliciously weird. It does that worldbuilding thing I love where it drip-feeds the weirdness and leaves you to draw conclusions. It never quite explains why or how the magical elements are the way they are, and it provides just enough detail to render one horribly unsettled.
 
Bungo Stray Dogs manga, volumes 3-10. Yeah I kinda binged on this one. Big time. I do like this series, and it's pretty fun and action packed. But I do feel it's a bit too fast paced for its own good, and many of the characters are hard to keep track of. Plus, I feel like some of the chapters could have ended differently.

Cinder and Scarlet by Marissa Meyer. I've been wanting to read these books for a while, and only just now got around to them. I'm normally not a fan of sci-fi, but Cinder is very good! I only just started Scarlet so I'm not too far in, but I really liked Cinder and its take on Cinderella. The characters are all interesting, the worldbuilding is very fascinating, and the story progression is very well done.
 
Not today, but I wrapped up Great Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe yesterday. I'm not the hugest fan of Poe's works, but reading the book (again) did spark some story ideas that I'll hopefully get to writing one of these days.
 
Finished Mythos, Stephen Fry - a charming re-telling of Greek myth, one I enjoyed more than I expected. Fry doesn't try to avoid the essential weirdness of the myths, or to somehow make them more noble than they were. The anthology is written with obvious affection but not reverence
 
Audiobook so not explicitly reading, but I started re-listening to Name of the Wind. It’s still lovely.

Actual reading, bingeing Flying in the Dark. Also quite lovely.
 
We've started re-reading Holes, which we're both very fond of. We'll get through it in no time, I expect. cx
 
Please note: The thread is from 1 year ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom