A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki, read by Ruth Ozeki

A Tale for the Time Being is about many things: bullying in Japan, WWII, depression, loss, community, and time.  Ozeki is playful with language while dealing with some pretty heavy subjects.  Nao (pronounced Now) is a young Japanese school girl whose family has relocated from the Silicon Valley back to Japan.  Her father cannot get a job, she is being horribly bullied at school, and only her grandmother, an aging Buddhist nun is able to help.  Meanwhile, across the ocean, a few years ahead, a writer is struggling to write her mother's biography.  One day on the beach she finds a Hello Kitty lunch box.  Was the lunch box washed away by the 2011 Japanese Tsunami?  How did the watch of a Kamikaze pilot get into the box?  An engrossing story that will keep you guessing what will happen next. 432 pages.  14 hours 43 minutes.