Dear Great Book Guru, I was at the first Sunset Serenade of the summer last week - it was great! Larry Martone & Friends entertained a crowd of almost two hundred fans of all ages. During the night, I overheard some concertgoers mentioning a book they had read for their book club -a novel set in California and sprinkled with lots of references to music from the ‘80s. It sounded interesting - thoughts?  Sunset Serenade Fan

Dear Sunset Serenade Fan - I too love those concerts - every Thursday from 6 to 8pm you will find my friends and me cheering on our local musicians at Clifton Park. THE IMAGINED LIFE by Andrew Porter is the novel mentioned.  Steve Mills is a fifty-year-old who leaves his wife and young son to travel along the coast of California in an attempt to find out what happened to his father who disappeared in 1984 when Steve was twelve.  His wife cautions him that he might not be happy with what he discovers. The novel shifts back and forth between his life before and after his father’s disappearance.  He had been a brilliant, charismatic professor of literature whose life and career came to a devastating halt when he was denied tenure.  His increasingly erratic behavior doubtlessly contributed to this outcome, but in-fighting, jealous colleagues, and campus politics were also in play.  During his odyssey, Steve gets to talk to his father’s friends and enemies, and a story emerges of a very complicated man - a man Steve desperately misses. Throughout, he imagines what his life would have been like if his father had not disappeared.  A book suffused with music and memories of the time….  Recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, I was at the Sea Cliff Beautification Garden Tour last week - it was fabulous! The organizers did their usual great job and the gardens were amazing. While on the tour, someone mentioned a debut novel that sounded very interesting - mysterious phenomena with comedic and religious implications. Thoughts?  Garden Goer

Dear Garden Goer, THE NIMBUS by Robert P. Baird is an intellectually challenging read and great fun at the same time. Adrian Bennett, a theology professor at a school modeled loosely on the University of Chicago School of Divinity, is startled to discover his two-year-old son Luca is glowing - a soft, pulsating, pink, blue, neon-like light that comes and goes unpredictably and becomes known as the nimbus.  Some can see this glow but others, including the boy’s mother Renata, cannot. Paul Harkins, a doctoral student in the department, is the first to notice the glow and finds himself becoming more and more enmeshed in the lives of the family.  Warren Kayita, an aging theology school dropout who now works as a librarian at the university is being pursued by a dangerous mobster because of ever growing debt but sees a way out of his predicament - the debt will be forgiven if he can arrange a meeting with the toddler.  Parenting, marriage roles, academic politics, religious beliefs are examined – many times with great humor but eventually all clash in a dramatic but satisfying conclusion, and we are left to consider: what is belief and what is the desire to believe?  Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, I had such fun last week at the Sea Cliff Village-wide Garage Sale.  The Friends of the Library had a great selection of books, and I bought a few by my favorite author Chris Pavone. Someone mentioned at the sale that he has a new novel. Is it true…and - if so - I’m very excited!  Garage Sale Groupie

Dear Garage Sale Groupie, Yes - good news…THE DOORMAN, Chris Pavone’s latest novel, just came out and it is a spectacular read.  Set in New York City in the Bohemia - purported to be the world’s most famous apartment building (think the Dakota) - the story focuses on four characters: the building’s doorman, Chicky Diaz, and three of its residents.  Chicky is a former U.S.Marine, recently widowed. Julian Sonnenberg is an art dealer with a checkered past and a very bad medical diagnosis. Emily Longsworth is the wife of Whit, a billionaire whose wealth has loathsome origins. She is desperately unhappy but an onerous pre-nup agreement keeps her married to Whit. Other residents include dog-loving, human-hating Ethel Frum and Gucker Goff, bubble-wrap billionaire, and a myriad of colorful supporting characters. Chicky dutifully greets all by name, never shares his problems, walks their dogs, protects their children and remains basically invisible until trouble arises! Trouble in the form of racial riots besieging the city. And the residents of the Bohemia are not immune to its violence. Only Chicky can protect them, they feel, but can he?  An absorbing tale of class divide, domestic drama, and racial unrest… highly recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, Last night my friends and I were at a cast party at our favorite restaurant, La Famiglia in Glen Cove, when someone mentioned a book she had just read that was set mostly in Bayville and had lots of references to North Shore towns and landmarks. I’ m very interested – are you familiar with it?  Fan of the North Shore

Dear Fan of the North Shore, JOHNNY CARELESS by Kevin Wade is a fascinating read.  Jeep Mullane grew up in the small town of Bayville and has returned as head of police after a stellar career in the New York City Police Department. His father had been a local policeman also, so Jeep knew the difficulties of living and working in the same community especially one where class and money disparities are widespread.  His best friend from childhood, Johnny Chambliss, was from a wealthy family and he appeared to live a charmed life with a charismatic personality, beautiful wife, and unlimited resources.  When his body washes ashore on the opening pages, Jeep is determined to solve the mystery of his life and death.  As he learns more and more about the people and places that featured in Johnny’s life, Jeep is troubled by the “carelessness” of his friend.  Reminiscent at times of The Great Gatsby, this novel presents us with a cast of characters that seem intent on living lives not of quiet desperation, but of wanton disregard for those not of their class. While there are many humorous moments, the underlying story is disturbing, but very compelling.  Highly recommended!

 Dear Great Book Guru, My friends and I had such fun at the Great Gatsby Trivia contest that was the Library’s part of Celebrate Sea Cliff Day. The weather was beautiful, and we were set up outside the Library on Village Green. While we were waiting to begin, one of the library patrons passing by mentioned a mystery based on the Great Gatsby.  I’m intrigued!   Gatsby Obsessive

Dear Gatsby Obsessive, THE GATSBY GAMBIT by Claire Anderson-Wheeler is a wonderful way to experience THE GREAT GATSBY in a totally different way. First, it is a mystery in the manner of Agatha Christie, and the characters from the original novel appear with all their same virtues and vices. The setting too is the same - 1920’s Gold Coast Long Island. The storyline however changes dramatically as we are immediately introduced to a new character – Gatsby’s sister Greta. Six years younger, she is her brother’s ward and is thrilled to be joining him now after graduation.  On the LIRR train ride to Great Neck, she thinks excitedly about all that awaits her, but when she arrives at her brother’s opulent mansion, she is dismayed to find Daisy and Tom living there with Gatsby. Shortly after her arrival, Tom is found dead on Gatsby’s yacht, and it becomes her mission to prove her brother’s innocence. Throughout, we experience the lush, decadent lifestyle of the Gatsby characters from the perspective of this clever young girl.  The fun arises from meeting characters we are very familiar with but in a different plot line with a very different outcome. Having read THE GREAT GATSBY several times as many of you have, it was a treat to celebrate the novel’s 100^th anniversary with this imaginative take on its themes of wealth, power, and greed. Highly recommended!

 Dear Great Book Guru, I am looking forward to Celebrate Sea Cliff Day this coming Saturday.  I’ m particularly excited about Great Gatsby Trivia on the Village Green. But I really need a short but compelling read to recommend to my book club.  Any suggestions?  Sea Cliff Day Celebrant

Dear Sea Cliff Day Celebrant, I just finished a fascinating novel - AUDITION by Katie Kitamura. The story opens with a middle-aged actress standing outside a New York City restaurant deciding if she should go in to meet Xavier, a young student. She almost turns away, but no… she joins him and a strange but beautiful story unfolds.  Is he her son (impossible she explains) and is that Toma her husband who she sees across the room and why is he here?  There is a definite sense of mystery and foreboding. With the next chapter a whole new story begins.  In this version she and Toma are home with Xavier who is now their son. While we quickly realize she is an unreliable narrator, we are now forced to deal with two totally different narratives.  Is she acting in two distinct plays and who is her audience? The roles that parents and children play in different stages are described in exquisite detail, but when Hana, a fourth character, joins the family, roles shift once again. Throughout, we are confronted with the reality that “all the world’s a stage, and we are merely players.” A novel that will perplex and delight – highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, Last week my family and I gathered for our annual Spring celebration here in Sea Cliff, and everyone was talking about a new book by a favorite Irish author. It’s about the sea and sounded a bit like The Heart of Darkness. Have you read it? Smitten by the Sea

 Dear Smitten by the Sea, Colum McCann’s TWIST, his newest book, is indeed about the sea but so much more. As many of McCann’s books do, this latest is a story of connections: the enormous undersea cables that connect us to the cyberworld and each other. The book’s narrator is Anthony Fennell, an Irish journalist whose latest assignment is to write about the hidden world of undersea cables that carry all the world’s data and what happens when these cables break.  He waits for notice of a break and, when it happens, finds himself aboard a ship bound for West Africa and commandeered by John Conway, an inscrutable genius with a mysterious history.  Many of the crew also have back stories that connect with the underground sea world – a world more unfathomable than outer space.  Throughout, Fennell refers back to Zanele, the beautiful partner of Conway, and the twists that link her to the mission.  The realization that so much of human connection relies on fragile cables miles below the earth at the bottom of the sea is both startling and horrifying.  A beautifully written book with echoes of The Great Gatsby, Moby Dick, The Odyssey and - yes of course - The Heart of Darkness… highly recommended!