Ready Player Two (Ready Player One, #2) by Ernest Cline

Ready Player Two (Ready Player One, #2) by Ernest Cline-370 pages

 I really enjoyed reading Ready Player One a few years ago, so I preordered this as soon as it was available. I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the first, but I didn't hate it either. Pop culture references still abound in this sequel, such as Tolkien, Prince, John Hughes, and many others. I am a moderate fan of John Hughes and have seen many of his films and I have read The Hobbit and seen all of the movies based on Tolkien's works (The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit trilogy). I am not  as familiar with Prince, however. Anyway, many of the references hit home and this is still a good read. I am not sure how I feel about the ending, but each reader can decide for himself or herself. 

James Dean Died Here: The Locations of America's Pop Culture Landmarks by Chris Epting

James Dean Died Here: The Location of America's Pop Culture Landmarks by Chris Epting, 312 pages

The title of this book in the travel section caught my eye.  Published in 2003, it includes almost every location of every shocking event up until this point in time.  Not only does it include famous celebrities deaths, it also includes many celebrities indiscretions such as overdoses and car accidents.  The book also includes disasters, such as the Kansas City hotel walkway collapsing.  This was an utterly eerie book to read.

Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts

226 pp.

Part of the popular Philosophy series that offers philosophical insights through the lense of pop culture, this is a good choice for anyone wanting a further academic view of the Harry Potter series. This particular edition was published soon after Order of the Phoenix, so it is incomplete in it's comparisons of the books- I'm not sure if another updated version has been published. There are also a few slight but highly annoying errors in some of the chapter references about what event happened in which books (darn Muggles). But all in all, very enjoyable, and not nearly so full of confusing jargon as you'd expect from a philosophy book (except the last chapter. That one got me).

Not That Kind of Girl: A Young Woman Tells You What She's "Learned"

by Lena Dunham. 288 pages.

I'm a fan of Dunham's HBO series, GIRLS, and her early film "Tiny Furniture", so I was looking forward to diving into her new book.  I was a little skeptical when I discovered that it was actually a memoir (being written by someone in only her late twenties), but I expected at the very least that it capture Dunham's strange humor and leave me satisfied.  Unfortunately, I was left feeling a little disappointed.  Overwhelmingly, Dunham discussed her relationships with men and little else.  What little glimpse we caught of her relationship with her family or friends in her life was somewhat shallow.  Dunham is viewed as feminist icon for the Millennial Generation, so I was surprised that she had so few insightful or relevant things to say throughout her book.

Oh well.  I can always watch reruns of her show.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz, 335 pages

Oscar is a young Dominican man living in America.  He is incredibly awkward, a self-described overweight nerd who desperately wants to find a woman to love.  But Oscar is apparently cursed by a fuku, or an old-school curse foisted upon his family by the Dominican dictator, Trujillo.  The book relates the "cursed" lives of Oscar and his family.  Full of un-translated Spanish slang and pop-culture references, I found this an interesting read.  Good for a book club discussion.