Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This book is a change of pace from what I have reviewed lately and it is totally good stuff.  The setting is a post energy crisis apocalyptic United States.  That’s right we have run out of fuel and are short on all other sources of power in general.  So needless to say the world in general is pretty grim with the exception of The OASIS.  The OASIS is a virtual reality world and it is here where we meet Wade Watts.  In real life Wade is an awkward, poor, fat kid without a friend in the world.  In The OASIS however….well quite frankly things aren’t too different for Wade there but there is hope.  Inside The OASIS there is an all out treasure hunt under way.  The creator of The OASIS, a freaky reclusive 80s pop culture obsessed nut has hidden the key to winning millions and ownership the OASIS.  But he might have done too good a job hiding it because it’s been five years and no one has even come close to finding it.  These grim facts don’t stop Wade, who spends every waking moments studying 80s movies, arcade games, television shows and all things totally bodacious and rad  in hopes of discovering  how to win the money, save both worlds and of course get the girl.  This is no easy task as Wade will face well funded corporate bad guys, clues that are seemingly impossible to decipher and his first serious crush. Still you are rooting for  Wade as he battles evil in the real world and in virtual reality to see if he has what it takes to make both worlds a better place….you know one that is filled with giant robots, flying DeLoreans and a Rush soundtrack playing at full blast.

This book rocked…hard.  I t made me laugh, sigh, cringe and remember how deep my love of  the Breakfast Club, A-Ha music videos, Ferris Bueller and all things truly 80s (now if we could only convince kids today to leave the fashion in the 80s where it should stay forever…seriously no more leg warmers ladies it wasn’t a good look the first time around).

If It Was Easy, They'd Call the Whole Damn Thing a Honeymoon: Living with and Loving the TV-Addicted, Sex-Obsessed, Not-So-Handy Man You Married.

Laugh out loud funny.  Jenna McCarthy writes this memoir in such an easy breezy way that you would swear you were sitting around with your girlfriends listening to them bitch and moan about their husbands.  You are guaranteed to smile at the description of how utterly useless and needy her husband becomes at the first sign of a cold or the classic in the car fight where you yell for him to pull over...and then he actually does. As an added bonus there are these sections called "At least I'm not married to him".  See Jenna is apparently a pretty avid blogger and had asked her followers to share with her the most annoying thing their husbands (whom they love dearly) does that drives them insane.  These tiny stories within the stories are always funny, often relatable and more often then not will make you appreciate that your hubby/significant does not do and what women are willing to endure in the  name of love.  Jenna does not come off as angel in this book by any means, she points out a lot of the crazy annoying things she does and really owns that she talks to much even though this clearly the thing she does that drives her hubby bananas.  It's a light read, it's a funny read and it's a book you'll definitely end up recommending to your friend or sister...if for no other reason to chat about over a big glass of wine (or vodka).

 

Funny side note: I read a review for this book that explained how the reader shouldn't be turned off by the author and how she's not the brainless bimbo blonde we all remember from MTV's "Singled Out".  I skimmed the rest of the review which did the book justice by highlighting it's funny take and convinced me I should in fact make the effort to read it.  At about the second chapter I noticed that this in fact sounded nothing like the life of a Playboy model/T.V host mainly because it's not.  As in actually not the same person - the author - Jenna - the playmate Jenny.  So egg on my face but still read on and laugh often.