Dear Great Book Guru, This weekend I am planning on attending the Sea Cliff Children’s Library’s annual Introduction to “The Nutcracker” – at which Dan DiPietro explains and demonstrates the delights of this favorite holiday ballet. Everyone gets a chance to participate- adults and children alike. I would like something short but compelling to read at this busy time of year.  An Excited Fan of Nutcrackers Near and Far

Dear Excited Fan of Nutcrackers …. My book group recently read THE VEGETARIAN by Han Kang. A very short novel ( 190 pages), this work was originally published in South Korea as three novellas. Yeong-hye is a young wife whose husband chose her for her ordinariness “completely unremarkable in every way”- because she would expect little from him. To his surprise and anger after a few years of marriage, she announces she will no longer eat meat, cook it, or store it their home. He has her committed to a psychiatric hospital to “cure” her but to no avail. The second part is told from the prospective of her artist brother-in-law who sees her as an art object . The final piece is told in the voice of her sister as she watches Yeong-hye descend into total madness. This novel can be seen as an analysis of detachment- first from society’s conventions, then from human desire, then finally from existence itself.  This is a very strange book whose images will remain with you for a very long time.   Recommended!