I don’t remember much from the 1980s.  That’s the kind of statement people jokingly say about the ’70s with the implication that drugs were involved.  For me, the lack of recollection had to do with being a small human.

But I do remember one key invention from that era: the Nintendo Entertainment System.  I can’t begin to imagine the number of hours my siblings and I spent playing games like Bases Loaded, Gauntlet 2 and Super Mario 3.

Put that system in the hands of young people today, and they basically have no idea what’s happening, like 16-year-old Tori in the video below:

“I mean, I’ve played with like a PlayStation 2,” she says, “but that’s as old as it gets for me.”

That lack of knowledge would significantly hamper these kids if they lived in the world of Ernest Cline’s “Ready Player One.”

The story takes place in the 2040s and follows as people to unravel a game left behind by James Halliday, the creator of a massive online world.  He announces his entire wealth will go to the person who wins the game that involves finding three keys and making it through their respective gates.

Halliday is obsessed with the 1980s, the decade in which he was a teenager, so the game involves numerous references to the video games and other culture from that decade.  People trying to win his game play every game he did and watch every ’80s movie in search of the slightest hint.  The main character in the story is a teenager named Wade, who attends high school in the massive virtual world and gains worldwide noteriety as the finder of the first key.

I won’t say any more about the plot, because you should just go read this highly engrossing story.  But I will mention two things that made me laugh.

Within the virtual school, everyone has an avatar just like many of us do for various online things now.

“The school’s strictly enforced dress code required that all student avatars be human, and of the same gender and age as the student.  No giant two-headed hermaphrodite demon unicorn avatars were allowed.  Not on school grounds, anyway.”

Where is this school located, Boringtown?  Imagine how much more fun school would be if all of your classmates were represented by ridiculous characters!

Outside of school, Wade goes by the name Parzival.  Unfortunately, as mentioned, the school is a no-fun zone in which he has to be himself.

“Students weren’t allowed to use their avatar names while they were at school.  This was to prevent teachers from having to say ridiculous things like “Pimp_Grease, please pay attention!”

Again, think how great it would be if this policy did not exist.  I would attend class solely for the purpose of hearing a teacher call on Pimp_Grease to explain the significance of the Magna Carta.

This book has so many more good references, so many in fact that I didn’t even stop to flag them as I blew through Parzival’s quest to try to win the game.  You will enjoy it, and then want to immediately go play something.

For a while I’ve been meaning to email myself a list of Steinbeck books I’ve read/need to read so that when I’m at a bookstore I actually know which ones to acquire in my quest to get through them all.

After reading “Sweet Thursday,” I finally compiled the list and have completed 11 of them with 17 to go.  Though I’ve read the longest ones already, so I consider myself roughly halfway there.

The unread Steinbeck section of my bookshelf

Part of the reason for making the list is that I want to read the rest more or less in order, because in this case, “Sweet Thursday” takes place in the same place as “Cannery Row.”  It’s not necessary to read “Cannery Row” first, but there are a few references that make more sense if you have.

Oddly enough, I meant to grab a different unread Steinbeck from the stack, but I’m glad I ended up reading this one because it’s actually one of my favorite of his I’ve read in a while.  This town is populated with a lot of charming people who have a ton of faults, but just try so hard at life that you can’t help but to root for them or at least laugh at them with empathy.

I’m sure I’ve touched on this in every Steinbeck post before, but if you wanted an epic biography for yourself, he’s the guy you would want following you around.  His descriptions are so unique.

There’s a character named Doc, the town’s smart guy who helps everyone and often ends up getting hurt when their best-laid plans to repay him spectacularly blow up.  One day he’s out in the countryside and meets a stranger:

“This one was a big, bearded stranger with the lively, innocent eyes of a healthy baby,” Steinbeck writes.  “He wore ragged overalls and a blue shirt washed nearly white, and he was barefooted.  The straw hat on his head had two large holes cut in the brim, proof that it had once been the property of a horse.”

Every element of that is nothing short of epic. In another scene, Doc ends up at a diner in Monterey, which is run by a guy named Sonny Boy.  Steinbeck paints him as the precursor to the Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World.”

“Sonny Boy can say ‘good evening’ and make it sound like an international plot.”

Sometimes the context of a great line is not important at all.  Like this, which needs to be on a t-shirt:

“There is nothing reassuring about the smile of a tiger.”

Late in the story, the manager of the brothel across the street is getting one of her girls, Suzy, ready for a date she has set up with Doc, and drops this pearl of wisdom that applies pretty much to all humans:

“You know, Suzy, they ain’t no way in the world to get in trouble by keeping your mouth shut,” she says.  “You look back at every mess you ever got in and you’ll find your tongue started it.”

If tigers ever start talking, we’re going to have a serious problem.