Ernest Cline's Ready Player One

WOW! My bookclub's most recent pick was Ready Player One, and I read this thrilling 372-page sci-fi novel cover to cover over the last several hours. Talk about a page-turner! I won't give away the main quest driving the plot, but suffice to say, it is action-packed and awesome.

The experience of reading this book was very self-indulgent for a cyberpunk nerd like myself -- it is a book about otaku, for otaku, and it has the works: a post-apocalyptic wasteland where everyone with enough money for a visor and "haptic gloves" escapes the filth and squalor of our used-up Earth via a full-dive VR universe called OASIS; brilliant teen hackers; a soulless corporate entity in full villain mode; and, in an unusual twist on your typical sci-fi novel, endless real-world references to obscure sci-fi, video games, and everything 1980s.

The British newspaper The Observer says that the otaku is "the passionate obsessive, the information age's embodiment of the connoisseur, more concerned with the accumulation of data than of objects." In Ready Player One, and in many nerd subcultures IRL, a player's ability to amass vast knowledge of game-related trivia is a sought-after mark of authenticity, and a status symbol within the group.

In one early scene, our ridiculously erudite, but chronically poor and therefore low-level hero, Perzival, spars with the braggart I-r0k in a VR chat room, about what it takes to be a "gunter" (egg hunter, or elite gamer):

"Poseur."
"Poseur? Penis-ville is calling me a poseur? ...This chump is so broke that he has to bum rides to Greyhawk, just so he can kill kobolds for copper pieces! And he's calling me a poseur!"
..."That's right, I called you a poseur, poseur." I stood up and got in his grille. "You're an ignorant know-nothing twink. Just because you're fourteenth-level, it doesn't make you a gunter. You actually have to possess some knowledge."

As Perzival's friend Aech would say, "Word."


This novel is recommended for everyone, but especially if you like:
- Stephenson's Snow Crash
- Sword Art Online (anime TV series)
- Gibson's Idoru

Scott Pilgrim

I've recently gotten interested in the Scott Pilgrim comic book series. Scott, a 23-year-old bassist for his band Sex Bob-omb has a smooth life. He lives with his hilarious gay roommate Wallace Wells, and is dating a 17-year old chinese girl named Knives Chau. That is, until a roller-blading delivery girl named Ramona Flowers shows up. Scott falls for her right away, but the road to her love is not covered in petals. Turns out Scott Pilgrim has to fight her 7 evil ex-boyfriends to earn the right to her love. The series then turns into a laugh-out-loud, retro-game styled, battle for Scott to keep his band in line, his own life under control, and defeat the League of Evil Exes!

My Name is Will

When my mom and little brother came back from the state meet in July, they brought back with them a cute read from the Miami bookstore called My Name is Will, which they thought I would enjoy, as it had a lot to do with Shakespeare.

The book itself was funny and a good story. Essentially the book is a story about a boy named Willie/Will who is a UCSC college student who, instead of completing his master's thesis in the past two years, has instead gotten stoned and hooked up with all different sorts of girls. In short, a college degenerate.

Things start to take an interesting turn, however, after he finds the biggest "shroom" of his life when "cow-tripping"- essentially looking for mushrooms to get you high that grow off cow-manure. When his drug-dealing friend gets busted, it falls to him to deliver the drugs to the Renaissance Faire a ways up the California coast. The various misadventures he encounters on the way include no less than getting arrested, having a threesome with one girl he's never met and his Teacher's Assistant, and ruining a comedic production of Romeo and Juliet. Mingled in with all this, every other chapter is devoted to the real Will Shakespeare and his own life as a womanizer. The book reaches a climax when their two lives coincide, and both are changed forever.

The recommendation is a little harder here than for most of my reads. I really enjoyed this book because of the tons of Shakespeare quotes and Latin. I know that that isn't necessarily an enhancing factor for most people, so that's to consider. Also, the book has many, many references to drugs, and steamy sex scenes that rival hardcore romance novels. So, definitely not for small children (watch out for Henry), but for any other teenagers and adults, you could read a bit into it and then stop if you don't like it. Barring those things, the book is actually a really great read and has some interesting points to consider at the end, especially for teenage males.