Play Book Tag discussion

This is an oddly compelling memoir that I absolutely did not intend to read. I was planning ahead, looking for a book for the games tag in steeplechase. I recognized the author, so I decided to give it a short try to see if might be interested in reading it later on. The introduction by Joss Whedon hooked me. The next thing I knew, 2 hours had gone by and I was still interested, so I just had to keep going. I enjoyed her quirky engaging style, and her growing self awareness throughout the book. She described how she cobbled together a totally unique and satisfying career for herself involving acting, writing, and creating online videos about computer games. It was far from a smooth process, but I think it represents how more people will live with new technologies. I recognized her from a sci-fi show I used to watch, but I wasn’t familiar with her other work. It was a fun read overall, and a nice break from more serious books.

The author came from a talented and unconventional family, and I enjoyed reading about her family and education. While living in the deep South, she was homeschooled, but she found friends by playing computer games online. She was a child prodigy in violin and math, and went to college without getting a high school diploma first. She got degrees in both (with close to a 4.0 average), but she didn’t have a career plan. She really wanted to be an actress. It was interesting and sometimes sad following her progress along the way.