305 | list challenges: 100 books & 100 games!

[straightforwardly]

I’ve been having so much fun with that book/lists meme that has been going around, and last night I finally finished one of my own! …And then promptly went on to make a second one that same night. And then started a third one that I haven’t finished yet, whoops.

First: 100 Books That Impacted Me In Some Shape Or Form! Deliberately excluding manga/graphic novels because I feel like that could be a whole list on its own.

I spent so much time fiddling with this list, debating on what it means for a book to be impactful, where exactly the difference between “impactful” and “enjoyed” lies, and where any particular book I chose would fall on that scale… do not ask how many hours I poured into this, lol. (And then, of course, after forcing myself to stop thinking about it and just post it, I immediately thought of like 5 more books that really should have been on this list! Isn’t that how it goes.)

After making that list (and sharing it with some people), I started thinking about making a list for games I’ve played as well. Since I do much less gaming than reading, I figured I’d make it easier for myself and aim for 50 games instead. So I opened up my backloggery, began making my way through, and… ended up with 75+ games without even really trying asdfghjkl; haha.

And thus: 100 Games Beloved By Me, featuring many visual novels and indie games, because I am who I am. I had to add so many of these to the database… But also plenty of jrpgs, because, again, I am who I am and I love what I love, haha. <3

All of these are games I really enjoyed at the time I played them; I make no promises about how they hold up now.

I would really love to hear how much overlap we have on either or both of these lists! As well as any more specific thoughts you might have on the books and games featured there <3

(As mentioned above, I have started a third list—for beloved/formative manga reads—though it’s slower going due to the amount of fan translations I read as a teenager that I no longer remember titles for… If I ever do finish it, I’ll share here! Also contemplating making another list for anime… but that will also have to wait.)

Comments

[tinkaton]

idk how you all are making lists of 100 anythings because I can't even remember 100 of anything I've been into. I wonder if I could at least scrape together a single list of media I loved as a kid. :/a

19/100 for the books oof... a little bit of overlap on the teen fantasy front, I was obsessed with Tithe and Amelia Atwater-Rhodes's stuff. also I'm glad someone else has read Heir Apparent! Also you putting the one Graceling book I didn't actually read sjdhfksjf

16/100 for the games even worse... it would've been slightly higher but you seem to have played almost every opposite Pokemon version to me sjhdfsjkf

[straightforwardly]

If you ever do make that list (or one similar to it), I'd love to see it! I'm finding this meme so fun, both the making of the lists and looking through the lists of others.

because I can't even remember 100 of anything I've been into to be fair, I am not working off of my actual memory, because no, haha. And we are not talking about how long I spent on that book list in particular... but it did take several sessions spread across multiple days, lol.

For the book list, I actually consulted my own bookshelves, my goodreads account, as well as the lists of other people who did that challenge. And even then, I keep coming across books that should have been on that list and weren't! The games list was much easier, since my backloggery had like 99% of those games already logged, so all I had to do was open up that page and scroll.

I actually don't think 19 and 16 are all that bad! Especially for the games list... I actually think that might be the highest anyone has gotten so far. (Or, at least, out of those people who have told me what their scores were.)

HEIR APPARENT MY BELOVED. I was so obsessed with that book... I even wrotea bit of fic for it, though not much, and I still sometimes idly think about the plotty longfic teenaged!me wanted to write for it.

I still have a fondness for Fae romances, but teen!me was truly OBSESSED with them. Tithe wasn't the first one I read, but it's the one that stuck with me best. Though I've still failed to read the third book in that series... one day!

Also you putting the one Graceling book I didn't actually read asdfghjkl; MY MEMORY: I had a moment of, "wait, why did I put a Graceling book on this list?" and then I remembered Fire. It's not that I forgot that it was a part of that series, but it does exist in a different part of my brain, if that makes sense, lol. It's one of those books that I only read once, but still think about regularly and would like to own a copy of one day.

it would've been slightly higher but you seem to have played almost every opposite Pokemon version to me asdfghjkl; Isn't that just the way of things, with Pokémon! You are not the first person to tell me that in relation to this list, haha.

[tinkaton]

well I did it and it was hard to do as expected sjhdfdksjdf the books were hard to come up with because I don't have most of the really old stuff logged anywhere and I feel like books especially lurk in the recesses of my mind and need prompting to remember.

Heir Apparent was so cool at the time because there weren't a ton of video game/VR themed stuff like there is now. Like I thought the premise was SO neat haha.

I would definitely read a fae romance now lol I just wish more of them were gay, I cannottt sit through all the m/f tiktok romantasy books that are coming out now.

I can't remember why I skipped Fire, it wasn't directly connected to Graceling or something?? I was like no I want more of the first book...

[straightforwardly]

I thought the premise was SO neat haha Oh, yeah, absolutely! I love "trapped in a video game" narratives (I was also a huge fan of .hack//SIGN), and they were much thinner on the ground back then. On top of that, I also love time loops (which isn't exactly what was happening, but the resets functioned similarly), and of course, I'll never turn down a fantasy setting... in short, Vivian Vande Velde did a lot to appeal to my id with that one.

Oh god, now you've got me craving f/f fae romance... do want...

it wasn't directly connected to Graceling or something Yes, you remember correctly! It actually takes place earlier in the timeline than Graceling, and in a different country. There is some mild overlap in the stories, in that Fire reveals the backstory of the main villain from Graceling, but in an imo pretty interesting way, in that (iirc), it's not the main point of the story. The main character, Fire, has her own plot & character things going on, and the villain is just an odd side-note in her life—but those who read Graceling know the impact. I was actually surprised by how much I loved that book, because (unpopular opinion) Graceling wasn't my favorite book, but then Fire really grabbed me. (Goodreads tells me that I also rated Bitterblue fairly highly, so I must have had a good time with that one too, but I don't really remember anything about it asdfghjkl;... though iirc Fire shows up briefly as a side character! At least, I remember being so excited about that... <3 I haven't read the newest books in the series, though.)

[tinkaton]

I loved .hack//SIGN too! And yeah, same re: time loops and groundhog day situations haha. Video game settings really are the perfect ground for that kind of thing...

Right??? Like where are the bad boy/bad girl fae of devious intentions seducing their stupid gay human love interests?? Get this shit into the mainstream I can't take any more Quicksilvers!!

ohhh okay I must have skipped it because it was a prequel haha. I did read Bitterblue and liked it I remember! But nothing after that...wait I can't believe there's TWO more after that?? I wish I could just instantly remember what happened in the first books so I could pick up the next one without having to reread lol.