Suggested Reading : Ready Player One

   You know, it has been a long time since I have immersed myself in an honest-to-god pager turner, but when I walked into the library yesterday afternoon and checked out Ernest Cline's debut novel Ready Player One, I had found myself just that. In just a few short hours, I finished the book, drawn ever onward by the concept, the characters, and the breadth of imagination that made this novel possible.

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  The author, also the screenwriter of 2009's Fanboys, brings geekery to a whole new level, and the reader finds themselves completely drawn in to the futuristic world of Ready Player One. I saw, smelled, tasted, and felt everything experienced by the main character, a high school senior named Wade Watts, as he makes his way through the tangled plot both in the rapidly degenerating post- Energy Crisis North American Midwest of 2044, as well as through a computer-generated alternate reality far more expansive and realistic than people of today could dare to dream of. While society spends their days forgetting the turmoil and destitution of their day-to-day lives by "living" through the greatest video gaming system the world has ever seen, the ever expanding and ever evolving OASIS, the main characters learn the value of their real lives when they are suddenly faced with a race against time in which their very lives hang in the balance.

 Referencing everything 80's and everything in geek counterculture, from Billy Idol to Blade Runner, JRR Tolkien to Pac-Man, Godzilla to Monty Python, all the hidden cultural tidbits in Ready Player One are sure to delight and amuse anyone with a penchant for geekery or nostalgia from the neon decade. Although, I must add, anyone without a working knowledge of ANY of the above could still enjoy this story, and will learn a thing or two in the process.

For a synopsis of the novel, to order a copy, or learn more about the talented author, Ernest Cline, I implore you to visit the novel's website: http://www.readyplayerone.com/ . Or, you could just TAKE MY WORD for it, and check out a copy at the library nearest you. Trust me, it is worth the read!

Happy Reading!