“What if you walk along and everything that you see is more than what you see—the person in the T-shirt and slacks is a warrior, the space that appears empty is a secret door to an alternate world? What if, on a crowded street, you look up and see something appear that should not, given what we know, be there? You either shake your head and dismiss it or you accept that there is much more to the world than we think. Perhaps it really is a doorway to another place. If you choose to go inside you might find many unexpected things.”

—Sigeru Miyamoto (creator of the famous video game character, Mario)

When I was buying a copy of Game Over, I didn’t know it would become one of my favourite books. I was just scrolling through the shelves of an old book shop, and this book caught my eye. It was about a Japanese company, Nintendo, and told the story of its success in America’s video game industry. I am not a ‘regular’ player of video games. I like them, but I like making them more (read: dream about making them. Well, someday I might join this field professionally, who knows. But they also say that if you want to make good video games, you have to play good video games first. I say that that would suppress my creativity! But anyway, I didn’t want to talk about my dreams when I started writing this).

I still don’t know what made me buy this book. I bought it about two years ago, and still remember the details. I had held the book in my hands, read the author’s name (David Sheff), checked its binding, skimmed through some of its pages, guessed about its weight, and decided to buy it. It costed me Rs. 75. (The book’s back cover says U.S. $13.00, though). I had thought that it would make a good decoration-piece for my book shelf. It sure did, but when I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s almost as absorbing as a great video game, and for me, a great source of information and entertainment.

Now this seems like I am writing a review. Actually, I was thinking about what to write, when I decided to post some of my favourite lines from some of my favourite books. I started with Game Over, and then ended up writing about it. I guess it proves that I am a great mind-changer. But even if it’s a review I am writing, it’s a bad review. Doesn’t say much about the book.

Or perhaps it does. But I don’t want to figure out. I have an apple to eat.