Gabrielle Zevin

I really enjoyed this book. I'm fairly close in age to Sam and Sadie (maybe a bit younger?), so although I wasn't a gamer by any means, the gaming experiences they had felt familiar to me, as did the technology they used to make those games. My favourite character was probably Marx, because of how he quietly paved the way for Sam and Sadie to do great things with their games. We should all be so lucky to have a Marx in our lives. (If you do have a Marx, be sure to let them know you appreciate them. And if you are the Marx, I hope you receive support in return for your own goals.)

I really like books that are about people who do interesting jobs well and that explain the processes they follow and the challenges they face and the decisions they make to produce high-quality work. This book delivers on that front. I play some computer/video games, but I also like reading about how people make them, because the creativity and the mental mapping involved in creating a realistic world that accounts for a mind-boggling array of possible choices is fascinating to me.

I did spend what felt like a lot of time waiting for the title drop, but that could just be a me problem, because the Scottish play is my favourite Shakespeare play.… (más)

I discovered this novel a while ago and had it on my reading list when I saw it in a Street Library (where people share books in the community). Having a book to hand whenever you want is a nice feeling. After I finished with my library books I picked it up and enjoyed it immensely. It's about a man called A. J. Fikry who owns and runs a bookshop on a remote island in what is probably Massachussetts in the U.S. He has recently lost his wife and is a mess. Then a small child is left in his shop. What is he to do? The novel starts by introducing us to book rep Amelia who meets grumpy A. J. with his strict ideas about literature he will sell. https://readableword.wordpress.com/2021/06/19/the-collected-works-of-a-j-fikry-b...… (más)