This is gorgeous. It's not so much a game as interactive graffiti/photography, sort of creepy sometimes, sometimes just incredibly beautiful.
There are five more books to go into the list for the year.
There's the last of the Dark Materials Trilogy, the Amber Spyglass. It went by *very* quickly, and was pretty much exactly what I had expected of the ending, given its inspirations. No more can be said on that, as it's still part of a series, and thus, well, if you want to read it, I don't really want to give things away.
Next is Hardcore Zen, by Brad Warner. He's a punk who lives in Japan and makes monster movies and Ultraman, and is a Zen priest. Needless to say, it's full of funny, anarchy, and meditation, which aren't quite as far removed from each other as one might expect. It's also very down to earth, insightful, and easy to read.
Bleak House by Charles Dickens was a hell of a lot funnier than I had ever expected of Dickens, especially with a title like that. It's richly sarcastic, and presents an excellent satire on -- well, pretty much everyone in every level of English society. Except the main character, who actually got to be rather annoying on occasion. I realise this is because I don't live in the sort of society that appreciates a proper middle class Victorian female, but the depth of her self effacement was infuriating at times. I know there's supposed to be modesty, but she took it to extremes. I know I'm too spirited to live like that, but really, there's practically no one who lives like she does, and those that do are some of the most singularly annoying people in existence, when you actually talk to them. THey're all well and good on paper -- provided they stay firmly there. Going back to Jane Austen for a bit, Esther and Fanny (Mansfield Park) are for too similar for my liking either of them -- I much prefer a female like Lizzie Bennet, who is still modest and middle class, but has some fire to her. Much better role model there.
Oh Harry Potter, how I am addicted to you. Yes, I read the seventh book. Yes, I loved it, and yes I cried, and that's all you'll get from me. Even at this point, I'm sure some people have not read it. There are those who say that it isn't all that great, but you know, it got people reading. Maybe not all people, and maybe those seven books are the only things some of those people will read. But it also encouraged more YA fantasy, and caused re-prints of older stuff, like the Young Wizard series. And some of the people who were reading HP will be going on to those as well, which means even more of them. Heh, this is good for me. For that matter, some of the YA fantasy seems to be written on a higher reading level than some of the adult stuff, and has far more interesting variations on plot. There's really only so much sword and sorcery you can read.
Err, I seem to have wandered. Point is, I can find no fault with books that make large segments of the population pick up books. And lead them to more books, and more, and yes, I do happen to think literacy is a good thing, thanks.
I'm missing a book here. Wonder which it was?
Currently almost done with Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It's brilliant.