Ready Player One by Ernest Cline *spoiler warning*

Original Fan Poster by Harlan Elam @harlanelam on Twitter

I only recently heard about Ready Player One, but once I heard of it I started seeing it everywhere. I took this as a sign form the Book Gods that this was a book I needed to read soon. My husband and I got it for our April Audible download and he zipped through it. I did not start it until last week. I listened to it in 3 chunks. The first night I listened to half of the 15 hours. It was just so good!

Let me start this by saying that I finally am thankful to my father for what I previously considered useless knowledge of 80s pop culture. Thanks to him I actually knew and geeked out over the many, seemingly random, tidbits of 80s music, movies, and games mentioned throughout this novel. That made me feel pretty cool.

I did not grow up in the 80s but still have an appreciation for that decade in my own way. Ready Player One actually takes place in the future but most of the world is plugged into a virtual reality game called the OASIS. Much of the Oasis is inspired by 80s pop culture because the creator grew up during that time. When the creator, James Halliday, dies he leaves a video stating that hidden within the game is an Easter Egg. Whoever finds this easter egg will win a huge prize. I loved the nod to Willy Wonka with this plotline.

The main character, Wade, or Percival as he is known in Oasis, is someone I immediately liked. He was not annoying like I anticipated. I worried that since he is a know it all to an extent that after a few chapters I would end up hating him, but I just kept on enjoying Percival. Art3mis is my next favorite character. I enjoyed her badass-independent woman vibe. Us gamer girls need good representation and Ernest Cline gave us that. He did so as well with an unexpected twist when the reader finds out that Aech is actually a girl, and a lesbian at that. My inner womamly sisterhood did a dance when I read that scene.

What I loved most about Ready Player One, aside from the fact that it was basically one big nergasm, was that Ernest Cline takes the reader on such a journey. I began the novel thinking it would be lame and predictable. Guy wins contest, guy gets girl, nothing exciting happens, the end. And...that is what happens, except there is definitely excitement. By the time the climax happened it did not matter who got the egg, so long as IOI didn't. I got so involved in the whole world of Oasis that I just wanted the true fans and gamers to win the prize. And when the book ends on the boy gets girl scene, it did not feel cliche because Percival and Art3mis had been through so much I just wanted them to be together. Even the tiny bit of cliche-ness felt more like a nod to classic 80s films than a cop out ending.

Overall, Ready Player One was a very textured novel, dealing with themes of reality, creativity, nostalgia, where we come from, and what defines who we are. I am sad that I listened to this as an audiobook, but it has just convinced me to go out and buy a physical copy to read again. This has become a Top 10 favorite. I am anxiously awaiting the film (directed by Spielberg) which I know will be amazing. And I went out yesterday to buy Cline's newest novel Armada. Both of his books are being turned into films and Cline is writing the screenplay for both, something else that I think is pretty awesome.

If you know and love anything about 80s pop culture, if you love gaming of all kinds, if you are a nerd of even the smallest kind...read this book. It might not change your life, but it will make you excited for life.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou is a book I have had for awhile but never actually sat down to read. While I was in bed last week I pulled it out because my husband and I are doing a 2016 Reading Challenge and "autobiography" is one of the categories. I did not know much about Maya before I began the book, other than having read some of her more popular poetry, so it was exciting to get to know her more through her first autobiography.

The book really took me out of my element and into a world I am not familiar with. I could not relate to much of what she went through, but what I loved was that Maya's writing made me still care about what she was going through. My heart broke when she described her sexual assault at a young age. I was elated when she got the job as a trolley conductor in San Francisco. And at the very end as she describes sleeping with her newborn son and having him cuddled up against her I melted. The most striking thing about this whole book is that Maya is, essentially, alone. So there is not really anyone else to root for and those people who are around are not the most likeable people, aside from maybe her brother.

Maya Angelou looks at her life and describes it in such a way it is difficult to believe you are reading a book about the person it is written by. For her to be able to really look at elements of her life in a social, as well as personal, context and relate them back to racism and sexism and ageism was profound. This book felt like not only a reflection on Maya Angelou's early life, but also an examination of the life of someone living in a world full of oppression. Most of all, this book is a lesson and a gift. I hope to soon continue reading through Maya Angelou's autobiographies.

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling

I told my whole Harry Potter life story here, so I am going to jump into this review. This is the first HP book I have not read all the way through as I always struggled to finish it. Once I got past the world cup this time I knew I'd complete the novel. I was actually surprised that I ended up loving this book as much as the third book!

I loved Hermione's obsession with saving house elves via S.P.E.W. (I've been scouring Etsy for spew pins because I need one!). I really enjoyed how much more in depth this novel was with Hogwarts education and how much more Sirius Black is in this book than in the fourth movie. The other schools were interesting to learn about, even if the knowledge was minimal. And of course I loved reading about the tasks of the Tri Wizard Tournament. The second task in the lake is my favorite, visually in the movie, and description in the book. (Although I hated that they changed who gave Harry the gillyweed. I always loved that Neville did it in the movie and even though I love Dobby, was kind of sad he was the one instead. Oh movie adaptations...sigh). I loved the Weasley's involvement in the book as well and also lamented the many scenes left out of the movie. Especially because the scene in the beginning when they come pick Harry up from the Dursley's was one of my favorite scenes I've read in any of the books so far!

I am really enjoying the unfolding of this world. Rowling has done a good job of pacing everything. Book 1, you meet everyone and get acquainted with wizarding customs. Book 2, expands on that a bit and the history of Hogwarts. Book 3, we see more of the world via Hogsmeade. Book 4, the world expands further and new schools are introduced. As a fellow writer I admire this slow and beautiful explanation of a world so vast I know Ms. Rowling hasn't written half of what is probably in her head. I can't wait to begin the fifth book as that is one I haven't even touched. Even though I have seen all of the films, there is still so much to be discovered in the novels that I am finding myself almost as excited as if I knew nothing about the series! Overall, The Prisoner of Azkaban is still my favorite, but The Goblet of Fire is a close second.

I Hate Fairyland by Skottie Young

This will be a shorter post, mostly because I read this graphic novel while hyped up on Vicodin after my miscarriage. Although I will say that the Vicodin probably enhanced this gory, fairy filed adventure. But kids, don't try that at home. In fact kids, don't read this graphic novel.

I Hate Fairyland is written and illustrated solely by Skottie Young, so from the get go he got points for being a double threat. This comic follows a girl named Gertrude who at a young age gets whisked off to fairyland...and gets stuck. Her decades spent among these colorful folk has filled her with a deep hatred of all things happy and fun. She gallivants across the land in search of a key to get her home with a fly as her partner. While on this decades-long quest she murders moons and massacres stars. She eats mushroom people and robs banks. It is a highly indecent and entirely hilarious take on the classic fairy tale dilemma of needing to go on a quest to return to one's home.

Even though I did not want to hate fairyland I came to see it through Gert's eyes and enjoyed her bloody romps through the various lands. She reminded me that not everything sugar coated and rainbow filled is fun 24/7 and exemplified the old phrase, "be careful what you wish for". This was the perfect thing for me to read after going through something so deeply horrible. It made me laugh and forget myself for a little while in a world not too dark but full of enough angst and evil to not feel like I was reading a Disney comic. If you like blood and fairies and destruction and comics, then go to the store and buy Volume One of I Hate Fairyland as soon as you can, but skip the Vicodin.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I first heard about Me Before You from my father-in-law who recommended it to me almost two years ago. It sounded interesting and I started seeing it in stores but I just never felt the urge to grab it and read it. Then I heard there was a movie coming out with Emilia Clarke, who I love on Game of Thrones. So I decided I should actually read the book before June. I ended up downloading the audiobook on Audible so that I could listen while doing other things and it took me a month to finish. Granted, in that month I only listened to it maybe 4 times in large chunks, but my point is that I was not captivated enough to keep listening.

Image taken from Wikipedia

The main character, Louisa, is flat. Everyone around her tells her this and she knows it, but is content. That alone is not why I disliked her, although I was sick of it being repeated so much throughout the novel. I cannot even say that I truly disliked her, I just didn't like her. And then Will, the other main character, has his own issues but is at least interesting. However, his whole purpose in the novel seems to be to liven up Louisa, even to the end. I just could not get why I needed to be reading a book about someone who did not care about "finding herself" and yet was being forced by so many people in various ways to change. I know there is a sequel, so maybe in there she actually does something conducive with all this change, but within this book alone she is just kind of....there.

The love story, which I don't even think can truly be called that, is confusing throughout the novel and then when things finally come to a point Will exhibits the ultimate act of selfishness. Although depending on one's point of view, he finally got to make a choice in how his life went, and it just did not include Louisa. I don't know. I was pretty frustrated by the scene in which one expects undying love to be proclaimed. I will leave it at that so as not to spoil the entire scene, but just be aware it is pretty disappointing.

I also really did not understand or care for the random chapters from the point of view of Will's mother, Louisa's sister, and Nathan. They did not really seem to move along the story and I hated being inside Camilla and Katrina's heads. In fact, none of the family members are close to likable throughout the whole novel and so it made no sense to throw random point of view changes into the novel.

Overall, I was less than impressed by this book. I think it might make a better movie than a novel, so I will be seeing the film to compare. However, I do not really recommend it
. It is glorified fluff. Nicholas Sparks' novels are better if you want to read a random book about romance that won't have a fulfilling ending.