Ready Player One (Ready Player One, #1)

by Ernest Cline

I wanted, as the ’80s poet Howard Jones would say, to get to know her well.

Parzival: I’ve got time for you. Art3mis: You’re too much. Parzival: I’m not even laying it on thick yet.

At the end of the day, I was still a virgin, all alone in a dark room, humping a lubed-up robot.

“No one in the world ever gets what they want and that is beautiful.”

“I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life. Right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real. Do you understand?”