What's on your bookshelf?: Supermassive and Niantic narrative designer Anastasia Dukakis

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome back to Booked For The Week - our regular Sunday chat with a selection of cool industry folks about books! As is customary, I must jam my new cat into every article. I’ve tried to offer her several books, but she’s failed to turn even a single page so far. What a big dumbo. The best dumbo. The sweetest, smartest dumbo in the world, yes she is. Ahem. This week, it’s Supermassive, Niantic, and Sensible Object narrative designer and Limit Break mentor, Anastasia Dukakis! Cheers Ana! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

I’ve recently started Stephen King’s Fairy Tale. It’s a bit of a slow burn, but it lends the text this almost oral quality I love – it really feels like you’re meandering through Charlie’s thoughts with him, wading from 2010s Illinois into dark fantasy.

The story takes your classic fairytale elements (the old shoemaker, buckets brimming with gold, creatures that lurk in the dark), and refreshes them by visiting them through the eyes of a down-to-Earth, suburban teen.

He’s also accompanied by a very charming dog who’s guaranteed to steal your heart. I really hope she makes it through the rest of the tale unscathed…

Doing Good Better by William MacAskill, on effective altruism. It makes a facts-based case for why – and how – we can take care of the world and our fellow humans. A very teacher’s pet answer – but as a motivator to make practical, positive changes in your everyday life, it’s solid.

Our very cool, very goth Game Director Alejandro Gallardo recently recommended Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire (along with The Vampire Lestat). When he described the characters, their moral conundrums grabbed me instantly – what do you do when you’ve lived for decades trapped inside a child’s body, perceived entirely differently to who you are inside? And also by the way, you’re a vampire? Guess I’ll have to read to find out!

Spoilers ahead for Never Let Me Go (Kazuo Ishiguro):

The scene where Tommy and Kathy make their ‘deferral’ case, only to get shut down immediately. It’s something the characters and reader suspected was coming, but it crushes you all the same. The moment is simultaneously polite and brutal. And the whole book is drenched in this poignant, yearning syrup, so by the time you get to this point you want to run into a field and scream, just like Tommy (complimentary).

Skippy Dies by Paul Murray. Spoiler alert: Skippy dies. From there, events sprawl in all directions – before the death, after, from multiple points of view. It’s got a brilliant sense of humour, yet still manages to handle the characters with tenderness… it’s beautiful.

I’m also an advocate for Ted Chiang, in particular his short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others. Given his numerous Nebula awards I’m not sure he’s in desperate need of advocates, but I love the way he tethers Universe-scale concepts to human-scale stories.

Again, I'm cheating and adding two contenders:

I think Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi would be cool. The book contains multiple slice-of-life stories, all beginning in the same coffee shop. It’s weirdly like a marriage of Edith Finch’s retrospection and inter-connectivity, with the cosy atmosphere of Coffee Talk.

Alternatively, a modern-day adaptation of Emma would be fun. Jane Austen’s works are constantly being adapted… And I’m here for it! I’ve seen Emma (2020), Aisha, Emma Approved, and Clueless… it’s the videogame version that’s missing!

Another great list for my retirement recommendation haul. Although, as you might image, I’m absolutely distraught that Ana couldn’t see her way towards going the extra mile at the end there, continuing to add contenders until she'd met the very secret goal of this column and named every book in existence. A predictable outcome, but not entirely unpleasant, since it does mean the recommendation pile gets yet another new list next week. Book for now!