39 - A book revolving around a puzzle or game

[Laura]

Cat wrote: "I was thinking The Da Vinvi Code might work for this? But I'm not entirely sure..."

Yes - puzzles and codes are a main plot point of this book.

[Arlene ⁑☾⁑]

Just finish reading The Maze runner because I want to watch the movie, so I will use this book for this prompt.

Am I the only one who reads the book before the movie??

[Tania]

The Last Move features the game of chess in an unusual way - has anyone read it that is willing to venture an opinion on whether it fits this prompt?

[Leona]

Arlene wrote: "Just finish reading The Maze runner because I want to watch the movie, so I will use this book for this prompt.

Am I the only one who reads the book before the movie??"

I like to read the book first. Sometimes it does not seem to be the same as the book.

[Meg]

I’m almost finished with Pachinko, which I intended to use for this prompt. However, I don’t really know if it fits anymore, since the game doesn’t play much of a role in the story. Could anyone else who has read Pachinko share if they think it still fits this prompt after finishing it? I’ve already read a book by an author from Asia and a book about a family so I don’t think it fits into any of my remaining categories.

[Meera]

does throne of glass count for this, it has a hunger games type of competition?

[Drakeryn]

I haven't read Throne of Glass, but I would count a fighting tournament, or a Hunger Games-type competition. To me, it falls under the broad umbrella of sports, which IMO are definitely games. (Your mileage may vary because I've heard other people saying they prefer not to use sports for this prompt.)

[Dcbk]

I just read ‘Never Have I Ever’ by Jocelyn Jackson - i enjoy her books and this was a great mystery/domestic thriller that revolved around a game of sorts.

[Stephanie]

Would Nine Perfect Strangers fit this prompt? Trying to find a place for it since I read it for a book club!

[Booknookie]

Do you think a book, where the main character, is searching for the truth about his parents deaths (25 years earlier), his family history and the truth about some "treasure" qualifies as "a puzzle"? Not sure if I can tick that prompt of.

[Samantha]

if anyone is a fan of the McElroy brothers, their graphic novel 'The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited' would work for this. It's a based on a game of D&D and they also have to solve a murder puzzle :)

[Zoe]

I'm almost done with Never Have I Ever which is a bit of a different take on the prompt - this was an unedited proof that I won and I've really enjoyed it!

[Lizzy]

I read The Westing Game.

[Melinda]

Stephanie wrote: "Would Nine Perfect Strangers fit this prompt? Trying to find a place for it since I read it for a book club!"

You could use it for a book told in multiple P.O.V?

[Melinda]

I went with a literal game (ice hockey) and used Cold Day in the Sun for this because it's one of my favourite YA reads this year and I needed to find a prompt for it

[SadieReadsAgain]

I read Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. The more I read, and the more diverse that reading is, the more I realise how very ignorant I am. This book is a case in point - I didn't know even a tiny bit of how Korea came to be separated, or how it had been colonised by the Japanese before that. I also couldn't have imagined the treatment of Koreans in Japan, both at the time of colonisation right through the 20th century (and, I assume, beyond). And even though this book has opened my eyes and taught me so much more than a school history course ever did, I know there is so much more to know. However, this book is a pretty deep dive into how it was to live as a Korean in colonised Korea, as a Korean immigrant in Japan, and as multiple generations of Korean-Japanese, as it follows four generations of the same family through the majority of the 1900's. But it isn't dry, mainly because history is the context rather than the focus. The family is the true topic of this book, and it is a family that will stay with me for a long time. It's funny, because my one real criticism of this book is that I never felt I really knew a majority of the characters. The timescale of the novel and size of the cast meant that few individuals were allowed the space to fully develop. But now that I've finished the book, that seems less of a key factor for me, because the bigger picture of the family struggles, strength, heartache and bonds is much more satisfying than drilling down on any one person. I felt the deaths of many of the characters throughout the novel were handled in quite emotionless ways (he died, he never saw her again), which jarred me considerably. But now I can appreciate that this is the way of family trees. We do see the impacts of the lives more than the deaths on the other characters and surely that is what a person should be - their life rather than their death. This novel is more like a series of snapshots of pivotal moments in the history of a family, like going through the photo album rather than reading the journal. But it absolutely works.