Fiction, by Gabrielle Zevin (link)
Cosy but captivating, the narrative about the creative process within the reality of technology and capitalism touches on gender, race, and disability.
I found the book described a human experience through a parallel with game design, both in how they are alike and not. The book left me both heavy-hearted and relieved at the same time.
And this is the truth of any game it can only exist at the moment that it is being played. It's the same with being an actor. In the end, all we can ever know is the game that was played, in the only world that we know. 82
The story speaks to more than game design, tying the work of an artist to a way of moving through life, through failures and tests of perseverance it brings.
This was William Morris's garden. These were his strawberries. Those were birds he knew. No designer had ever used red or yellow in an indigo discharge dyeing technique before. He must have had to start over many times to get the colors right. This fabric is not just a fabric. It's the story of failure and of perseverance, of the discipline of a craftsman, of the life of an artist.
The charaters go through major changes in their life, and the story speaks to how these points of tranisitions can be oppotunities to re-invent oneself. The idea of opportunities to re-invent oneself in the face of failures or challenges is one that brings me hope.
She realized what a gate was: it was an indication that you had left one space and were entering another. [...] A doorway, she thought. A portal. The possibility of a different world. The possibility that you might walk through the door and reinvent yourself as something better than you had been before.