(no subject)

troisoiseaux recced these two books and... then I read them right through, because both of them were quite compelling! They also make a good pair to chew on -- they're both concerned with journeys through life that have a large component involving high school/college during the 1990's.

I Have Some Questions for You (Makkai) 3+/5. This was a book that was doing a lot of things and by and large doing them well, although it didn't necessarily offer answers to everything (rightly so, since some of the questions it asked don't have good answers).

It's a book narrated by a podcaster, Bodie, who returns for a visit (in the 2018-ish time frame) to her old prep school, Granby, to teach a two-week mini-class in podcasting (and another in film studies, but that one is more ambience-related than plot-related). One of the students in the class decides to make a podcast regarding the girl who was killed while the podcaster was in school there.

( Fictionalized true crime in the age of MeToo. )

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow (Zevin) 3+/5. Follows two friends and professional (platonic) partners, Sam and Sadie, through adulthood (and childhood, mostly through flashbacks), making video games together, hurting each other, and being there for each other. There is also a major spoiler/content warning that I was vaguely warned for beforehand and which I'm glad I was vaguely spoiled for.

The most important character who's not the two friends gets killed, awfully, in a shooting, about 2/3 of the way through the book.

( I found this more enjoyable and less profound than the Makkai. )