Reading Recommendations from the Northwoods

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow---Gabrielle Zevin

 I have never played a video game in my life, and admit to a prejudice that video gaming is a violent waste of time.    But, I enjoyed Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow very much, and became acquainted and more respectful about a whole new world to me.  

This book is well-reviewed and on many of the "Best of 2022" lists.  Plus, I remember years ago liking The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Zevin.   Her new book here has a more complicated plot and characters, but it is just as readable as her earlier book.

Sam and Sadie meet in a hospital when both are teenagers and find comfort playing Donkey Kong in the early 90s.   Their friendship ties the book together, taking them through successes and failures, ups and downs.  Tomorrow and Tomorrow is about long love of friends, about creativity and satisfying accomplishments, about both fantasy and reality and how those can connect. 

I would think this is a great winter book, one long enough to get you totally engrossed and unique from others on your to-read list.   And I learned a lot about the creativity of video games and about the business surrounding them.     See what you think!

“The story of three brilliant kids who found a videogame company, this book is about so much more—friendship, love, loyalty, violence in America and the magic of invented worlds. Gorgeous.”
—Kim Hubbard, People

"You don’t have to be a gamer to appreciate the pulsing heart of this best-seller: In a story spanning three decades and references from Oregon Trail to Macbeth, Gabrielle Zevlin has written a modern, definitive story about work, love, and friends for whom you’d do and risk everything."
—Keely Weiss, Harper’s Bazaar

 

The Measure---Nikki Erlick

 

I read The Measure some months ago, but remember it vividly.   The concept is dramatic---every American over the age of 21 receives a small box on their doorsteps.  Each box contains a string of varied lengths:  the length of your string tells how long your life will be.   

Would you want to open your box?  How would your behavior change?   What, besides its length, makes a life worth living ?   These are all questions the main characters face, and that readers will also think about.    You gradually discover as you read, though, that meaning comes in different ways for different characters.  

Where the boxes come from and why they arrive is never addressed, so don't expect this fantasy to explain some great unknown.    What the fantasy does try to explore is the reality of anticipating our own deaths while trying to make the most of each day we are given.

The book is not preachy.   The book is not depressing.   It may raise more questions than answers.  I appreciated that it takes on big issues it a very readable style.   The Measure is thought-provoking and begs to be discussed.  

So many questions: To open the box, or to remain in blissful ignorance? Should the state become involved in the decision making process and, if so, to what extent? How will each person and society as a whole react to truth contained within the boxes and how will individuals be treated as they are found to be short-, medium-, or long-stringers?