Friday Five about books
1) Have you read more books, or fewer books, this past year than usual?
I don’t track my reading, but I think I’ve read fewer books than usual. But I do read a lot - it’s just mostly RPG books and adventures, and I might not finish them until later.
2) What book are you reading now (or what book did you read most recently)?
The book I really finished reading cover-to-cover is ‘Gouden Jaren’ (“Golden Years”), which looks at how life in the Netherlands has changed from the fifties to the nineties. It really puts boomer entitlement in perspective: they just don’t know any better than that there is this explosion of wealth and they have taken it for granted. They had bought into the system for really cheap (house prices were a joke back in the ’70s compared to today’s standards) and never felt the sting of wages and productivity being decoupled in the ’80s.
I’m also going through ‘Shinto from an international perspective’, written by a Shinto priest. It’s not objective by a long shot, which is very amusing. But it does do a good job of putting shinto in a larger context, which is very informative and accessible. If you have an interest in the subject, I recommend it.
I’m also brushing up on my knowledge of the system of ‘The Sprawl’, a cyberpunk RPG that I’m writing a scenario for. Three experienced players have signed up for a playtest, which should be both informative and fun.
3) What is the best book you read in the past few years?
Oh, wow, I can’t choose. It will probably have been an RPG book, and it would have given me lots of ideas of things to run in it. The most recent time that happened was when reading ‘Exhumed’, a pamphlet RPG based on the Dark Souls games. It unfortunately fell flat during play.
4) Do you read more than one book at a time, or just one?
At any time, I will have multiple reading projects going.
5) How big is your to-be-read pile (or list)?
…please don’t remind me.
Crossposted from my blog. Comment here or at the original post.