PixlBit

The book that tells of Master Chief's origins and is most relevant to all the games through Reach is Halo: Fall of Reach by Eric Nylund, the first Halo novel.

If you're really into the alien races that make up the Covenant, Halo: Contact Harvest was really cool because it told about humanity's first contact with them.

If you're really into Halo 4 though, I would say the Karen Traviss novels, Glasslands and The Thursday War are really fun because they tell of events going on right before Halo 4.

And if you want to know all about the Forerunners, read the Greg Bear books, Cryptum, Primordium, and Silientium.

I would say Greg Bear's books are more technical and historical and less full of action than the others. I guess 'cause we're dealing with Forerunners who are super far advanced in technology and not at war with anyone other than themselves and the flood during the time the novels take place. There's no armored space marines flying in to save the day or Covenant armadas glassing planets like there are in the other books. There's a lot of history, and strange technology, and discussions over how to deal with the coming Flood invasion. It's cool though. I enjoy the different take on the Halo story.

Yea, 12 books. One of them is a collection of short stories, Evolutions, but it still counts. Ah what the heck, here's the list in chronological order: 

Fall of Reach, The Flood, First Strike, Ghosts of Onyx, Contact Harvest, The Cole Protocol, Evolutions, Cryptum, Glasslands, Primordium, The Thursday War, and Silentium.

It's still confusing even after reading the books. It's a history across millions of years, so it's going to be complex. When I'm playing the games, I don't think about the story much until I come across a terminal. Then I think about it, get confused, and then go back to shooting. 

I did actually like my assigned reading. The Dostoyevsky I actually read on my own. It was the Brothers Karamazov. It's just sometimes you want to read a page turner like The Three Musketeers.

I have both Operation Darkness and Spectral Force 3 on my list to buy. I know Operation Darkness has some issues because I played the demo, but I just have to have the only game that approaches the gameplay of Valkyria Chronicles on Xbox. As for Spectral Force 3. SRPG means that I want it.

The good thing is you never really die, as you know. A bunch of your studs pop out of you and you have to go pick them up again. It's kind of a relief to not have to worry about a game over screen.

I find achievements fun. They've creeped into my gaming here and there. For the serious games I play, I always follow the pattern of: story first, then achievements. However, I've started to consult an achievement guide when I start a game just to suggest to me what difficulty I should start on and what long term goals I should be working towards. Like for instance in Lego Star Wars it was suggested to play the story first and be mindfull of the achievements for 200 light saber and 200 blaster blocks. I've been working on my blocks the whole time and it's a good skill to learn in the game. It's very cool when you block multiple shots and they all take out their shooters. Then it says to use free play mode to go after all the collectibles. I'm finding the guide actually improving my experience of the game rather than cheapening it like you would think.

I'm starting to get back into photography. I've started reading about it again anyway and put all my equipment in an easy to reach spot. I now need to think up a Pokemon Snap type adventure in the real world.

Its a party every weekend for me and my bud at the gaming lair.