Ready Player One and other book to movies this year

I actually had no intention of reading this book until I saw the previews for the upcoming movie when we went to see The Last Jedi.  Afterwards I went home and looked up the synopsis which was:

"In the year 2045, reality is an ugly place. The only time teenage Wade Watts really feels alive is when he's jacked into the virtual utopia known as the OASIS. Wade's devoted his life to studying the puzzles hidden within this world's digital confines, puzzles that are based on their creator's obsession with the pop culture of decades past and that promise massive power and fortune to whoever can unlock them. When Wade stumbles upon the first clue, he finds himself beset by players willing to kill to take this ultimate prize. The race is on, and if Wade's going to survive, he'll have to win—and confront the real world he's always been so desperate to escape."

So yeah, I'm a child of the 80's who loves science fiction/fantasy and dystopian.   This seemed to land squarely in that spectrum so sure, why not?  First, this book is clearly written by a walking video game and pop culture encyclopedia.  If you love vintage video games, and TV shows there are an abundance of references to them here.  The story itself was engaging but also left me feeling a bit conflicted.  There were times when things seemed to line up a little too well for Wade.  I found the descriptions of the worlds in the Oasis intriguing.  The book honestly had me wondering if we will reach this type of scenario at one point-the world steadily goes to hell while the human population distracts itself with technology to escape.  I also kept getting the feeling that some of this is going to translate much better on screen than it does in print.  I did enjoy this much more than I expected.  Of course this may be because I grew up in the era this book focuses on and managed to catch 95% of the references.  I'm really looking forward to the movie when it comes out next month and as I'm one of those weirdos who will not see the movie unless I've read the book, now I can actually see it when it comes out!

    

A few more recently released or will be released book to movie adaptations I'm hoping to see:

It has been a LOOONG wait for the 3rd installment due to Dylan O'Brien's injuries while filming it.  I might even have to go back and watch the first two since so much time has passed between this one and the last.  I really liked the books, although was not happy with the changes they made in the first movie which deviated from the book version.  This one just came out January 26th.

Also saw the preview for this in the theater.  The preview looked good, but then I saw somewhere it was actually a book first, read the blurb and thought "Wow the book sounds like it is going to be better than the movie!"  Read book blurb here

Ordered it from the library and am now patiently waiting for it to arrive. While putting it on hold I discovered this is actually book one in a trilogy so I'm hoping it's good and I can read the whole thing. The movie comes out the 23rd of this month.

I don't think I have picked this up since grade school but have fond memories of it.  The casting looks interesting so I think it's time to read it again and then go see the movie when it comes out March 9th.  We are starting middle school book club back up at the local school and this is the first one they are reading.  I'm not leading this book club (my coworker has bravely volunteered to take on leading teen book club since I lead morning book club and my other coworker leads evening book club).  Think I may read it anyway though.

I have not read this book but my good friend read it and raved about it.  I will be speeding through this one before the May 11th release date.  I also adore Cate Blanchett who is starring in this one.

Confession: I am hopelessly addicted to historical dramas no matter how hokey or fast and loose with history they are.  The CW's series Reign was my guilty pleasure while it was on and I was so so disappointed when they decided not to renew it and had to cram the entire end of Mary's story into that last season.  

Mary, Queen of Scots which is based on the book by John Guy doesn't come out til November but I am curious to see how they spin the story.  Mary is being played by Saoirse Ronan and Queen Elizabeth will be played by Margot Robbie.  Hopefully it ends up being good (fingers crossed).

I've had this book sitting on my shelf for 5+ years.  I'm thinking about blowing the dust off it and giving it a go in case I decide to see the movie which is based on it coming out some time this year.  The movie has Star Wars Daisy Ridley in it and Harry Potter's Tom Felton so that is a plus in my book.











Also looking forward to the next Fantastic Beasts movie and the new Mary Poppins movie with Emily Blunt. It's weird because I actually enjoyed the movie Mary Poppins much more than I liked the first book but maybe it is time to pick up Mary Poppins comes back and see if I like that one more.