I decided to re-read Is This Tomorrow last night after reading Cruel Beautiful World yesterday morning. I had read it when it came out but it was available for download from the library with no wait so I thought I might as well. I remember liking it at the time and I still enjoyed it this time but I noticed a few interesting things thanks to reading it back-to-back with Cruel Beautiful World. There were a few similarities that were odd:

1. Lewis dates a woman with blond very curly hair just like Lisa’s hair in Cruel Beautiful World
2. Rose, Lewis’ friend, dates a man who takes her to a store that only sells wind-up toys and buys her a robot, in Cruel Beautiful World Iris is given wind-up toys by her husband. Who gives wind-up toys to adults, much less in two different books?
3. In both books a teenager (Jimmy may have been 12) goes missing causing heartbreak to the family and a sister who is confused and broken.
4. In both books, the sister goes on a road trip and ultimately finds out what happens to their missing sibling.
5. The Vietnam war is mentioned in both books, along with avoiding the draft.
6. In both books (SPOILER!!!) the missing child turns out to be dead.

Anyway, I just thought that was interesting. Our internet service (thanks, Verizon DSL and Baltimore City being too old to have Vios) has been super slow so I’ve now read like 4 books in a 30-hour span. With that I am off to the library to turn in my adult summer reading program paper and pick up some books that are in. Fingers crossed I won’t have to pay for parking.