Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

After reading about Ready Player One I knew I had to read it. I love it so this is entire review is going to be me squeeing and being all fangirl. This is definitely a book I would buy and read (and listen to) again and again.
Wade lives in Oklahoma City in the year 2044. Earth's been savaged by war so most people live in or near large cities. Wade lives in the stacks, a mobile home park where the mobile homes are stacked on top of each other, sometimes 15 homes tall. Wade is in high school and attends school in the OASIS. The OASIS is an online world similar to Second Life but OASIS is more immersive. Wade has his own avatar, Parzival. Wade spends hours in the OASIS, avoiding his real life which is fairly sad. I loved Wade. He's such the underdog. I couldn't help but root for him. 
One of the reasons I loved this book was all the 80's trivia. As a child of the 80's, I loved all the references to the movies, tv shows, and video games. I was squeeing and thumbs uping all over the place. There were other pop culture references that also made me love the book so much more. It was like talking to someone who loves the 80's as much as I do. Plus I was familiar with some of the gaming references. I really enjoyed the references to Dungeons and Dragons. I felt like I was in on everything. You when you hear people talk about something you understand. That was this book for me.
I decided to listen to the audiobook of Ready Player One rather than read the book. I'd heard that Wil Wheaton's reading of it enhanced other people's enjoyment of it so I thought I'd give it a try. I don't usually listen to audiobooks but my plan was to listen to while I was cooking and cleaning during the readathon. I assumed that I would listen to it for a few hours then switch to a paper book. But I could not stop listening to it. I'm beginning to understand the appeal of audiobooks. 
Overall, I would recommend Ready Player One to those who like books about gaming culture or the 80's. If you cannot understand why someone would spend hours playing video games, this really isn't the book for you. If you don't remember the 80's fondly or want to remember the 80's at all, this isn't the book for you. Others who shared their thoughts on Ready Player One: Love, Laughter, and A Touch of Insanity, The Written World, Book Journey, Whimplusive, You've GOTTA Read This, Feeding My Book Addiction, My Books. My Life, Devourer of Books, Jenn's Bookshelves, Chaotic Compendiums, and The Mad Hatter's Bookshelf & Book Review.