A Mini-Review

I told you that I would (eventually) have some reviews.  Here's the 1st one of several.  It's A Tale for the Time Being, by Ruth Ozeki.  Why would I read this, you wonder?  Well, to tell you the truth, it's because it's the Los Gatos Library Evening Book Club selection for July. Did I like it?  Kinda.  I think maybe a 2.75/4.  I didn't make any real emotional connection with any of the characters (except for great-grandma Jiko), but I still liked it.

You want to know what it's about?  Our good friends at Goodreads will tell you:

In Tokyo, sixteen-year-old Nao has decided there’s only one escape from her aching loneliness and her classmates’ bullying, but before she ends it all, Nao plans to document the life of her great-grandmother, a Buddhist nun who’s lived more than a century. A diary is Nao’s only solace—and will touch lives in a ways she can scarcely imagine.

Across the Pacific, we meet Ruth, a novelist living on a remote island who discovers a collection of artifacts washed ashore in a Hello Kitty lunchbox—possibly debris from the devastating 2011 tsunami. As the mystery of its contents unfolds, Ruth is pulled into the past, into Nao’s drama and her unknown fate, and forward into her own future. 

I don't have much to add.  I thought it was extremely well-written.  But, despite that, it still took me about 140 pages before I was engaged in the story.  And 263 pages later, I obviously cared enough to read the whole thing (true even if I didn't have a book club meeting coming up), but not enough to register much in the way of comments.  And, yet, Goodreads has a collective rating of 3.95/5 and Amazon 4/5.  Alas, I guess it's just me again (but enough of the self-pity - it's fake anyway).

 

RECYCLE BOOK CLUB:  This past Tuesday night, we had A.R. Silverberry (Peter Adler) at Recycle Books.  He was our July author for the RBC.  His book, Wyndano's Cloak, a YA fantasy, was very well-received.  Almost every member who had read it liked it.  (Our August author/book is Steve Sporleder/From Sleepy Lagoon to the Corner of the Cats.)

NEW BOOK:  Also this past Tuesday, local author, Bryan Kramer, had his 2nd book hit the market.  It's called Shareology: How Sharing Is Powering the Human Economy.  Bryan is nationally known as a social media guru, and he lives right here in San Jose!  Be looking for upcoming events surrounding his latest.