Montauk Library’s virtual “Armchair Travel Book Club” meets the third Tuesday of the month from 4 to 5:30 p.m. on Zoom and is moderated by Carolyn Balducci, adult programs coordinator.
The next book to be discussed on Tuesday, March 16, will be “The Bells of Old Tokyo,” a 2019 book by Anna Sherman. From 1632 until 1854, Japan’s rulers restricted contact with foreign countries. In hypnotic prose and sensual detail, Sherman describes searching for the great bells by which the inhabitants of Edo, later called Tokyo, kept the hours in the shoguns’ city. An exploration of Tokyo becomes a meditation not just on time, but on history, memory, and impermanence. “The Bells of Old Tokyo” follows haunting voices through the labyrinth that is the Japanese capital.
Other upcoming titles in the reading series are:
April 20: “Travels with Charley: In Search of America” by John Steinbeck.
May 18: “The Buried: An Archaeology of the Egyptian Revolution” by Peter Kessler.
June 15: “Barbarian Days: a Surfing Life” by William Finnegan.
To sign up for the book club, email Balducci at cbalducci@montauklibrary.org with “Armchair Travel Book Club” in the subject line. Zoom invitations will be sent to members of the group a day or two ahead of time.
Staff Writer on Feb 15, 2021