#Middlebury
The Middlebury Public Library’s Brown Bag Book Group will meet Wednesday, Aug. 1, at 1 p.m. to discuss “A Tale for the Time Being” by Ruth Ozeki. Sixteen-year-old Nao from Tokyo believes there’s no escaping her loneliness and the bullying she receives from her classmates, but, before she decides this is the end, she plans to document her great-grandmother’s life. Her great-grandmother is a Buddhist nun whose life has spanned more than a century, and Nao finds solace in the writing of her diary: little does she know the ways this diary will touch lives.
On the other side of the Pacific, we meet the novelist Ruth living on a remote island. Ruth discovers a box of artifacts in a Hello Kitty lunchbox that has washed up on the shore. Intrigued by the found items, Ruth works to uncover the mystery, and, in doing so, is pulled into Nao’s life and drama, as well as pushed forward into her own future.
If you enjoyed “A Tale for the Time Being,” you may enjoy “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage” by Haruki Murakami. Tsukuru Tazaki, a Tokyo railroad engineer, is unable to overcome his feeling of abandonment by his five high school friends in the summer of his sophomore year in college. This disloyalty from his inseparable group of friends sends Tsukuru into a spiral. The pilgrimage Tsukuru embarks on is a journey into the past which helps in mending his great losses, his dreams, and nightmares.
The Mystery Book Group will meet Tuesday, Aug. 14, at 6 p.m. to discuss a new release by B.A. Paris, “Bring Me Back.” Layla and Finn are a couple on vacation. While driving on the highway, Finn stops at a service station, leaving Layla inside the car with locked doors. When he returns, she is gone. This is the story Finn told the police, but is it the truth? Fast forward 10 years, Finn is engaged to Layla’s sister, Ellen. The two have bonded over the mysterious disappearance of Layla, but can they trust each other?
Out of the blue, Finn receives a phone call that Layla is alive. Odd events begin to occur, such as long-lost items from Layla’s past being found in Finn’s and Ellen’s home and sightings of Layla. Is she alive? And if she is, what does Layla want? A tour de force of psychological suspense, “Bring Me Back” will have you questioning everything and everyone until its stunning climax.
If you enjoy reading intense thrillers, you will also enjoy reading, “Into the Water” by Paula Hawkins. Nel, a single mother, is found dead at the bottom of a river, the place where a teenage girl recently succumbed to the same fate. Are these drownings suicides or do they have a more ominous cause? Nel’s sister, Jules, reluctantly summoned back to the area, begins delving into the town’s history and residents’ backgrounds trying to unravel the mystery of her sister’s death. Paula Hawkins’ will rivet you with “Into the Water” as she did with “Girl on the Train.”
