Recommending “Dinner at the Night Library” by Hika Harada.
This jumped out at me the last time I was browsing the new release mystery section at the bookstore. I think I had some expectations going into it because of that categorization. Despite having an overarching question not resolved until the end, I’m not sure I would label it a mystery. The search for that particular resolution is not the driving force. This is a story about the relationships between people and how the love of books can bind us, no matter an individual’s profession, lifestyle, or choices. I rode along with the main character as she started her new job, felt awkward as she acclimatized to the new setting and her new coworkers, and learned about the people around her. After awhile, I felt like I fit in just fine. They became my people. The pov takes an abrupt shift halfway through the book and for a moment, I was thrown completely off track. This happens only a few times and gives you greater insight into why each character has been chosen to work at the library. The unknown owner has picked each one of them specifically, weaving a unique tapestry.
The most heart wrenching page and a half is a first person narration by a former librarian who has pronounced “I can’t read books… Those simple times when you get lost in a book, so focused you don’t hear any sound around you, you’re taken to another world, and several hours later when you finish reading, you experience that lonely, yet fulfilling moment when you feel cast out from the world. I can never enjoy that again.”
I slammed the book shut after she described this discovery. I remember it so vividly, suffering that same book and reading burnout after finishing college. I just couldn’t. I’d spent too much time reading books I HAD to read, I could no longer enjoy the books I WANTED to read.
