What's on your bookshelf?: Borderlands, Life Is Strange, and Horizon Zero Dawn actor Ashly Burch

Hello reader who is also a reader, and welcome to Booked For The Week - our new Sunday feature where we ask a selection of cool industry folks questions about books! The very first book was famously written in the 1200's by notable scholar and six-time wrestling world champion Booker T, a fact you'd know if you simply read more books. This week, it's voice of Horizon Zero Dawn's Aloy and many others, writer, singer, and endless other cool stuff, Ashly Burch! Cheers Ashly! Mind if we have a nose at your bookshelf?

I'm currently reading Klara And The Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I've never read his work before and I'm really enjoying it. Ha - is "enjoying" the word? It's pretty heart-wrenching. I'm very moved by it.

I last read The Price Of Salt by Patricia Highsmith. It was the first of her books I'd read as well. It was less dark than I expected, which I was relieved by since it's a sapphic story and we've got enough bleak ones to last a lifetime. I'm curious about her more psychological books, though. I might try Edith's Diary or The Talented Mr. Ripley as my next Highsmith venture.

I'm either going to finish the Red Rising trilogy and read Morning Star or begin The Three Body Problem. Yep, I'm one of those "they-made-a-TV-show-better-read-the-book(s)" bandwagon jumping bitches. Drag me if you must.

I rarely pull direct books from quotes but I think of concepts or scenes pretty frequently. I think about the statement Yuval Noah Harari makes in Sapiens a lot - that cows are both the most evolutionarily successful and most miserable species on the planet. I think about the end of Grace And Grit a lot and how it makes me consider my relationship with death. And I think about the end of Everything Matters! An old friend gave that book to me during a hard time and it still helps to think about it.

I'm always trying to shill Me And White Supremacy, Crying In H Mart, and anything by Octavia Butler. In particular, I think the Lilith's Brood series is wild, ambitious and fascinating. It was my first introduction to her and it's still my favorite of her work.

I think the Broken Earth trilogy would make a hell of a game franchise. I don't know if some of the reveals in the novel would really work in a game context, but ooooh those gameplay mechanics would be juicy and narratively rich!

Once again, Ashly did not succesfully mention every book in existence, so pop back next week for another cool person telling us about their favourites. And remember: A book in the hand is worth two in the foot (I will invent a good sign off soon.)