Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

I watched the movie, and since it was produced by Disney and directed by Spielberg, I know it was made family-friendly and I expected the book to be more edgy. I wasn't disappointed.  While the movie is enjoyable, the book is much better, more adult oriented and with way more "retro" trivia of video games and movies.  The characters are the same, but the major events are quite different.  Cline says because he used way too many copyrighted references in the book, which would cost a fortune to obtain rights to show on screen. Also, all characters in the book are much less pretty, all being overweight and Wade being completely hairless, from top to bottom.  

There is no race for the first key, instead it is a dungeons and dragons game that is found on the planet Ludus where all public schools are and playing a game of "Joust" (classic video game from before my time, never played it). The first gate opens by doing full "flicksync" of the movie "War Games" playing as Matthew Broderick, having to know the full dialogue.  The second key has to do with the legendary "Zork" video game and the 1983 classic SciFi "Blade Runner" and the gate is opened by playing the 1987 game "Black Tiger" (another I've never played, slightly before my time as a gamer).  Wade also plays a perfect game of PacMan with the maximum obtainable High Score, which awards him an extra coin.

The third key is hinted by a song from the Canadian band "Rush" and their concept album "2112" and the thirds gate is the actual Castle of Anorak that Halliday used as an HQ while alive. Of course the "IOI" are always following Wade, trying to kill him (they kill his aunt and everyone in the stack vertical where Wade lived), and also kill Daito, one of the "High Five" who were first at the top of the Scoreboard. Not funny and not for kids.

There's a battle for the Third Gate, and the top players, including Sorrento with his Mechagodzilla, and just when Wade is about to win, IOI detonate doomsday device which destroys the entire planet and everything on it. However, the Pacman coin Wade won gives him an extra life and he enters the third gate where his plays character in the classic movie "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" and obtains the easter egg from the early video game "Adventure."  Wade wins and shares his winnings with the other 3 remaining of the "High Five". Also loses his virginity to Artem1s.

The book is a joy to read, especially if you are a video game (and movie, and space rock) geek, and get all or most of the bountiful references.  I am ready to read the sequel "Ready Player Two" although I've read that it is not as good as the first book. 

Gurdjieff, a Master in Life: Recollections of Tscheslaw Tschekhovitch

 Another book by a direct pupil of Gurdjieff.  Tscheslaw was a Polish soldier in the Russian Imperial Army.  After their defeat by the Red Army, Tscheslaw joined Gurdijeff's Moscow and St. Petersburg groups who were slowly migrating south towards Turkey, through the Russian Caucasus. Tscheslaw was with Gudjieff in Constantinople and gives us first had accounts of Gurdjieff's time there and how he fed the Russian emigres and encouraged them (pushed them) into starting their own viable businesses. 

The author was on his own for moving to Germany and had a bad situation in Hungary where the Ukrainian consul betrayed him and tried to exchange him as a deserter for Ukrainian hostages in the Red Army.  After a short stay in Germany, the author joins Gurdjieff in France, The Priuere castle and property near Fontainbleu and describes all the events there through its existence, including Gurdjieff's car accident, and how the weasel who helped them settle in France was instrumental in them losing Le Prieure with the human weasel appropriating most of the money from the purchase. 

The author also describes the work while Gurdjieff lived in an apartment in Paris, although he didn't accompany him on his trips to America. The book is a rare jewel of first hand accounts of Gurdjieff and the life he led.

The Sicilian by Mario Puzo

 Since I read the Godfather, it was my duty to read this one as well, but it was a big disappointment. While "The Godfather" had boring parts, it was essentially a good book, and especially the movie made it even better, with the great Marlon Brando being the quintessential Don Corleone. 

Well, "The Sicilian" is not a good book. It is boring as hell. That's why it took me almost two months to finish it. Too boring. Michael Corleone appears only in the first and last few chapters, while the rest is about Turi Guliano, a bandit and a type of Robin Hood in Sicily, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.  The majority of the book is about Turi's exploits as a bandit and a lover of middle-aged widows, while trying to go against the government "in Rome" which is the most corrupt government, which is typical for Italy. 

Nevermind, the ending is that Turi's best friend betrays him and kills him (Aspano) and then he's poisoned by Don Croce, the 'cappo di tutti cappi' of Sicily's "Friends of Friends", as the Mafia is known locally.  The majority of the book is about the exploits of Turi, kidnappings, murders, the occasional massacre, and similar uninteresting stuff about some backwards sticks and boonies in Italy. All in all, a waste of time, but when I start something, I have to finish it, so I did.  

Oh yes, Michael Corleone eventually escapes Italy and returns to America where he is appointed successor of the Family, since his brother Sonny was killed.  So, this book ends at about 2/3 through "The Godfather", where the last 1/3 happens after the events of this book.