Page Turners - August

A dilemma – what to do when a very respected staff member recommends a book that

1) you tried to read, 2) did not like, and 3) makes you wonder if you aren’t “getting it.”

“A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki is about a woman who finds a lunchbox containing the diary of a 16-year old Japanese girl who is delaying her suicide so she can tell the story of her great-grandmother. Sounds fabulous, right? About 60 pages into the book, I stopped. The narrator’s voice was so grating to me I felt like I was crawling out of my skin.

The book is lyrical and beautifully written, but I couldn’t get to that point where the book brought me in. I suspect I’m missing something profound. Try it and let me know what you think.

I leave you with two other potential reads for August, both nonfiction – “The Skies Belong to Us” by Brendan Koerner and “I Wear the Black Hat” by Chuck Klosterman. The first book deals with a 1972 hijacking that partly explains why our airport security is the nightmare it is today. The latter book is a fascinating look at villains and bad guys.

Keep turning the pages –

Susan Dennison