Looking for someone to be the hero of my summer, I found him in Wade Watts, the protagonist of Ernest Cline's Ready Player One (Crown, Aug.)—the Odysseus of '80s pop culture and my new everyman. This is the best and funniest read I have had this year. I was a teen in the '80s, and the barrage of references to the bands, movies, and video games of my youth was pure joy. (Did he really just bring up Q*bert? And—fair warning—you will get "Eye of the Tiger" stuck in your head.) Sometimes I think that decade was the last time anyone had any fun. But this is much more than a gimmicky geek-fest. Innocence, intelligence, and bravery are displayed on every page. It transcends generations, say my bookseller colleagues who were not even alive then. With every battle won and lost, I was transported; I was challenged by Watts's ethical dilemmas as well. Watts has the soul of a child warrior on the adventure of a lifetime. I'm still cheering.