oh. Coloma. Raising the bar.
On the not so fluffy side I adored Old School by Tobias Wolff. It’s a first person narrative about a boy trying to prove himself at a prestigious boys boarding school. The charm of it is that at this particular school the proving grounds is a series of writing contests hosted by the school with the top winner getting one-on-one time with a famous author the school brings in for guest lectures. The book beautifully captures the desperation and passion of a young person struggling to find their creative voice…and the unintentional humor that is often wrought by enthusiastic but inexperienced writers.
There’s a lot of love in this book, for writing and the creative struggle in general, but it isn’t blind love. What sets this book apart is it’s youthful naivete and it the main character’s gradual growing out of it. Plus the commentary on the guest authors (Robert Frost, Ayn Rand and Ernest Hemingway) is pretty priceless.