It’s autumn. Around here the trees are turning into yellows and reds that make you notice the dark lines of limbs and the blue of the sky. Walking has gotten louder as I crunch through fallen leaves and acorns. The nights are starting to get chilly, and it’s a great time to stay indoors with books.
I recently found a book I’d almost forgotten, Quag Keep by Andre Norton. Not the best book in the world, but a very early example of writing about role playing games. If you run across it, give it a read. It won’t take long.
But that book got me thinking about other books—novels, usually—with games in them, especially when games take center stage. Sure there’s Jumanji and The Westing Game (more of a mystery, but a bit like a giant Clue game with a challenging puzzle at the center). Through the Looking Glass has a chess game hidden in the narrative. The Glass Bead Game in Hermann Hesse’s novel of the same name is more of an intellectual pursuit, but the example might work.
My bookshelves are jammed with books, but that won’t stop me from reading more. Bruno Faidutti has his Ideal Game Library, but I’d like to start, well, just a library. And I need your suggestions. What have you read and liked? Or not even liked, necessarily. Let’s get a list of fiction—or poetry, for that matter—going so we can settle down with something interesting when the gaming group’s gone home and you still have a little bit of time left with the fireplace.
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7 Comments
There is the Apprentice Adept series of 7 books by Piers Anthony. A much less silly series than his "Xanth" series of books. Games play a huge part in the Proton half of the books (2 worlds in phase with each other, Proton which is a science fiction world, and Phaze which is a fantasy world). The main character joins the "Tourney", in which he must face other players in a series of games. The reward for winning the tourney is citizenship on Proton. The first 3 books in the series are the best, and are great fun to read.
Here is a description from Wikipedia:
"The main pastime of Proton inhabitants is The Game. When two persons want to play a round, they proceed to a Game console. There, one player chooses one of four categories: 1. PHYSICAL, 2. MENTAL, 3. CHANCE, or 4. ARTS. The other player chooses among A. NAKED, B. TOOL, C. MACHINE, or D. ANIMAL. (In this context, naked does not necessarily mean unclothed but rather unassisted by external tools.) Once the grid is completed, players continue on subgrids until they select a particular game to play. For instance, in the books, Stile plays a Naked/Arts round in interpretive dance, while later on the same category produces extemporaneous poetry. Chance/Tool covers board and card games, among others. Most sports are under Physical, but so is Tiddlywinks. Due to the wide variety of contests available, any given round could take any one of thousands of forms."
"In choosing categories for the Game and then particular contests once the main category is selected, the intelligent player uses his knowledge of his opponent, trying to play to the opponent's weaknesses and his own strengths. Of course, his ability to do so is limited because half the grid is in the opponent's hands."
I remember those books! Or at least the first two or three. I admit that I couldn't even get past the titles of the Xanth books. Good call. I need to see if the library has the rest of the series.
Andrew Looney wrote a book called “The Empty City” the game icehouse is a prominent fixture in the story’s narrative. Not to mention the story was pretty neat, the icehouse game family has a lot of games to offer. you can check out the story at Mr. Looney’s website. Here is a link for convenience sake.
http://www.wunderland.com/WTS/Andy/EmptyCity/emptycity.html
A really fabulous series is the Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian. There are 21 books in the series about Napeoleonic-era sailing, all meticulously researched when it comes to naval actions (often written directly from the logs of the ships involved). Probably the best when it comes to re-enacting an entire campaign is “The Mauritius Campaign”. In addition to being scrupulously accurate, they are extremely well-written, with character development, subtle humor and beautiful descriptions. And, the “recorded books” version narrated by Patrick Tull (www.recordedbooks.com or CD’s I was able to get at my library) is really well done.
Chip,
They look quite good. Thanks for the tip!
Hi, the very best book I’ve read lately with at gaming theme is “The Player of Games” by Iain M. Banks.
It is part of his “Culture” series but any of the books in that series can really be read alone and enjoyed. I cannot recommend this book enough. Who wouldn’t love a post-scarcity world where professional boardgame players are their rockstars?
http://www.amazon.com/Player-Games-Iain-M-Banks/dp/0316005401/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1294941016&sr=1-1
Matt,
Sounds great. And…Aha, it’s in at my local library, and in the branch I pass on the way home. Sweet!