tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10447469797281903592024-03-17T16:35:42.458-07:00Great Book GuruAnn DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.comBlogger642125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-27678180557392178342024-03-17T16:34:00.000-07:002024-03-17T16:34:41.996-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCcQuN_F3y4l8K9Ookf-5fs-1dcT2WoNz2DH2_uw2rL9Hnk1PbWK-nkCtfHWjZkrsSb3SbYn_PFGGXFkStlrUIXubWIsuhWRWpQpzPmH5kbgDwRAcZ46eelquC1gT0nJR_8lBn2HI35-ue-a4JBk4DK3IHIUBNk6DeY0KLFArw4zbgCxiixDOshOQ4Omw/s327/bee%20sting.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="213" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCcQuN_F3y4l8K9Ookf-5fs-1dcT2WoNz2DH2_uw2rL9Hnk1PbWK-nkCtfHWjZkrsSb3SbYn_PFGGXFkStlrUIXubWIsuhWRWpQpzPmH5kbgDwRAcZ46eelquC1gT0nJR_8lBn2HI35-ue-a4JBk4DK3IHIUBNk6DeY0KLFArw4zbgCxiixDOshOQ4Omw/s320/bee%20sting.webp" width="208" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Dear Great
Book Guru, I was at a glorious St. Patrick’s Day celebration where everyone was
discussing a new book by a prize winning Irish author. Some described it as hilariously funny, while
others insisted it was a tragedy. All agreed it was very long but a very
worthwhile read. Does it sound familiar? Perplexed but Interested</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear
Perplexed…. Paul Murray’s THE BEE STING is all these things and more. Set in
contemporary Ireland, this 600-plus page book is the story of one family set
over generations in which everyone involved makes a bad decision. It is told
from the perspectives of Imelda, the beautiful wife of Dickie, owner of a
failing car dealership; Cass, their surly teenage daughter who turns to alcohol
to ease the tensions of adolescence; and PJ , her younger brother, who is being
blackmailed by the town bully. In each
case these characters choose sometimes humorous, sometimes horrific solutions
to their problems. The economic chaos in
Ireland plus catastrophic climate changes all work themselves into the story of
a family in deep trouble and pain. Besides the four main characters, there are many
others richly developed that add to the complexity and beauty of the
novel. The startling conclusion makes
this family saga truly a controversial
mystery that leaves you questioning much
of what you have read. Highly recommended!</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-82345634963541741302024-02-25T05:45:00.000-08:002024-02-25T05:45:03.434-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOhqC95Cz8qM8i_WvgJ4HVZeP3b13A361cZ03yl7puRXUcprM1lbXuUDEQd2vMwbP92-tOre06TK_qcctkuDxp1tcRU_w1tRt68nj1GkwdQWsJdLzdldWORe-aqmRTewX8J0vs2TRc4OGYe_7pFkDJc20PJa9VjDyP2Mux3Tzbgcv15epOxw64ZmOFFU/s327/disillusioned.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="215" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHOhqC95Cz8qM8i_WvgJ4HVZeP3b13A361cZ03yl7puRXUcprM1lbXuUDEQd2vMwbP92-tOre06TK_qcctkuDxp1tcRU_w1tRt68nj1GkwdQWsJdLzdldWORe-aqmRTewX8J0vs2TRc4OGYe_7pFkDJc20PJa9VjDyP2Mux3Tzbgcv15epOxw64ZmOFFU/s320/disillusioned.webp" width="210" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Great
Book Guru, My friends and I have enjoyed many of your mystery and novel
recommendations but we were wondering if you have some nonfiction we
might enjoy. We want our book club to
try a new genre. In Need of Nonfiction<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear In Need
of Nonfiction, I recently read a very interesting, albeit disturbing book your
friends might enjoy: DISILLUSIONED by Benjamin Herold. Herold focuses on five
different suburban communities outside of major cities: Atlanta, Pittsburgh,
Chicago, Los Angles, and Dallas. In each
case, he traces a family who moves to one of these communities and shows how
their needs and expectations are addressed. Almost universally, the desire for a good
school system is what leads them to their new homes. Soon they realize that high
taxes, a crumbling infrastructure, and poor transportation make for a
nightmarish situation and the schools are not so great either. Each family has a unique set of problems with
racial discrimination impacting many of them. Younger families seeking to
improve their schools quickly find themselves at odds with an aging population
who no longer has a need or interest in maintaining stellar educational
systems. Mired by cracked roadways and overcrowded classrooms, the new families
soon find the promise of the good life that the suburbs had offered to the
previous generation is a cruel joke for them. The author offers examples of
communities trying to upend these problems, but he was not optimistic that the
future would brighten for upcoming generations. A harrowing tale of dreams
derailed but also highly recommended as a cautionary tale for community
planners and citizens alike! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-43715613370007961662024-02-11T17:44:00.000-08:002024-02-11T17:44:07.103-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqrQTotQw06m2asalqNu1e4PG8i9yhIfvzbQneqw8NPGNeaGaCuFtHT7zc_6RD6jUe0NTv-t2OPbC2UBMEc_-pg9t6hk-qcnKU5AUzwGTdNc4sRDRBrLGDmR1EH62XpRsNT3AfTg0xrWkcF61HpDhcd-qPX1Ekk08gS_KtkoHbS-dU6uvSsLnZP6W8PY/s450/Vulnerables.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="286" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIqrQTotQw06m2asalqNu1e4PG8i9yhIfvzbQneqw8NPGNeaGaCuFtHT7zc_6RD6jUe0NTv-t2OPbC2UBMEc_-pg9t6hk-qcnKU5AUzwGTdNc4sRDRBrLGDmR1EH62XpRsNT3AfTg0xrWkcF61HpDhcd-qPX1Ekk08gS_KtkoHbS-dU6uvSsLnZP6W8PY/s320/Vulnerables.jpg" width="203" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dear Great
Book Guru, We are interested in starting a small book club reading only small
but extraordinary books - filled with thought provoking ideas.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Any suggestions? Thinking Small</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear
Thinking Small, I just finished in about three hours, the perfect book for you
and your friends: THE VULNERABLES by Sigrid Nunez.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In 249 pages Nunez covers aging, friendship,
literature, grief, memory,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and -yes-
zoology in a beautifully meditative style.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Set in the first months of the pandemic, the novel tells the story of
three “vulnerables” who find themselves in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>lockdown in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>a luxurious New York City apartment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The trio includes our narrator - a woman in
her seventies, a young college student with a history of psychiatric
breakdowns, and a spirited parrot - all vulnerable in different ways.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When her friend finds herself<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on the West Coast unable to return, she asks
the narrator to care for her parrot who is alone as everyone in the building has
fled the city for second homes upstate. The narrator spends much of her days
and nights thinking about her past and present with many references to her
favorite authors, especially Joan Didion, Virginia Woolf, and Charles Dickens.
As a writer herself she questions the value of literature in difficult
situations.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Through a series of
miscommunications, Vetch - a young, troubled college student - arrives to share
the apartment, and the two form a mutually beneficial alliance. Eureka the
parrot serves as an ever-present source of muted comic relief.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout this novel, we see evidence that even
the smallest acts of kindness and generosity can make a huge difference in
people’s lives. Highly recommended! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-69906643254991210562024-02-03T15:09:00.000-08:002024-02-03T15:09:58.696-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihqajWaJywAuXGuvV4O2bpbgVpDl4VF_B7xJwFwk_Yoa_gQAKaQ3E69-SiMt-zTGflhvaKwRP5L-2iRT2lAaQACP6jXGbhBnUn3p_D0zxI-k8u3V7OkLLJ-OopzyKbQ3zGaQIBQ1Y_g7SY0Kl3D_B_kU3_bCXv2q1E582HHbYGauFWtsahbyIuJ2b_CM/s445/prophet%20song.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="279" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjihqajWaJywAuXGuvV4O2bpbgVpDl4VF_B7xJwFwk_Yoa_gQAKaQ3E69-SiMt-zTGflhvaKwRP5L-2iRT2lAaQACP6jXGbhBnUn3p_D0zxI-k8u3V7OkLLJ-OopzyKbQ3zGaQIBQ1Y_g7SY0Kl3D_B_kU3_bCXv2q1E582HHbYGauFWtsahbyIuJ2b_CM/s320/prophet%20song.jpg" width="201" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dear Great
Book Guru,</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We were at an amazing event
last week - Dinner and The Dead - Dinner at Foster Restaurant here in Sea Cliff
and The Dead - a dramatization of James Joyce’s most famous short story from
the DUBLINERS.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Many of the guests were
talking about the latest Man Booker Prize winner that was set in Dublin.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I am intrigued - thoughts?</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Booker Prize Reader</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Booker
Prize Reader, Yes, I always try to review the prestigious Booker Prize winner
and this latest is a fascinating and disturbing read: PROPHET SONG by Paul Lynch. Set in Dublin a few years in the future, the
novel describes a country cast into chaos by unnamed forces. Eillish Stack, a scientist and mother of four
children, is living a comfortable middle-class existence when her husband
Larry, a union official, is arrested after participating in a peaceful
demonstration with fellow teachers. Eillish’s
nightmare has begun as she tries valiantly to find him, keep her teenage
children safe from conscription, her elderly father and infant fed, and her
home intact. The challenges of dealing
with monolithic bureaucracy mount as she sees her chances of escaping over the
border slip away. Written with long
painful sentences and no paragraph breaks, the novel moves with a feverish
pace. Eillish is consumed with the mundane aspects of her life - cleaning her bomb-struck
home, keeping milk in the fridge, choosing hair ribbons for her young daughter
while the world around her is collapsing. Her sister in Canada offers her a way
out but the moral cost is too great. Finally, we are left with the terrifying
question - what would any of us do?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-67435863753313360482024-01-21T11:33:00.000-08:002024-01-21T11:33:29.011-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijEKyqq84tt1YjmyrBzdZ5tk99YJ9lwmz4W2FXMGftA4x835nXolq9X7CppyX2fmnzBCAa8vvxndLN2Sre8tkUViJm13vpTExwdn59pKv_Jy4w6H5aOtXPKGM9hZJTSiSroUj7BkdBXqDREuyEc6bztgjAmVtzItEA7dAf6pioiJIi6pR5HxxkPwD72GI/s445/Baumgartner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="285" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijEKyqq84tt1YjmyrBzdZ5tk99YJ9lwmz4W2FXMGftA4x835nXolq9X7CppyX2fmnzBCAa8vvxndLN2Sre8tkUViJm13vpTExwdn59pKv_Jy4w6H5aOtXPKGM9hZJTSiSroUj7BkdBXqDREuyEc6bztgjAmVtzItEA7dAf6pioiJIi6pR5HxxkPwD72GI/s320/Baumgartner.jpg" width="205" /></a></div>Dear Great Book Guru, I just came home from a wonderful
evening of Scottish music, drink, and poetry - the annual Burns Night at St.
Luke’s here in Sea Cliff. What great fun and great conversations! One of the musicians mentioned an engrossing
new novel he had just read about a man looking back over the decades at moments
he remembered and questioning why those moments had significance rather than
others. Familiar with the book? A Fan of
Robert Burns<p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Dear Fan of Robert Burns, I’m guessing the book is
BAUMGARTNER<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>by Paul Auster.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Like Burns, Auster takes the pieces of his
life and incorporates it into his fiction. Baumgartner is a seventy-year-old
philosophy professor who is deeply mourning his wife’s death ten years earlier.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was a sudden, avoidable swimming accident
and Sy Baumgartner revisits that day over and over imagining what he could have
done to prevent the tragedy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Interspersed with this memory are short vignettes of their time
together, early childhood incidents living in Newark, his grandfather’s tales
of life in Kiev, his attempts to remarry, and encounters with strangers that
change destiny.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Throughout this short
novel (220 pages), we see how Baumgartner is attempting to control outcomes and
make sense of the tragedies he experiences – his and others.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A very thought provoking look at the power of
memory and a beautiful love story also - highly recommended! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-37127280829415782812024-01-14T17:47:00.000-08:002024-01-14T17:47:03.547-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKSatkm3XJ3fvbM1Ro4TJVY15aeg79eoCXJLZZXMyOw3LEeOGCt5Cqh3c48Apqmw-0mSzB0QtTx2OnK32w1gGnH56uihBRcjQ6RexHOHPUM_BdLdU5OwjcKXgJyCy29BOp05BuDSjfwfCR7AJ2hbXwBxhDDradTsMChj2MzT4NCFkLEaj67fXfpRXw2E/s872/scholar.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="872" data-original-width="570" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHKSatkm3XJ3fvbM1Ro4TJVY15aeg79eoCXJLZZXMyOw3LEeOGCt5Cqh3c48Apqmw-0mSzB0QtTx2OnK32w1gGnH56uihBRcjQ6RexHOHPUM_BdLdU5OwjcKXgJyCy29BOp05BuDSjfwfCR7AJ2hbXwBxhDDradTsMChj2MzT4NCFkLEaj67fXfpRXw2E/s320/scholar.webp" width="209" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: large;">Dear Great Book Guru,</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">My book group just read “Two Gallants” a</span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">James Joyce DUBLINERS short story and we had a lively discussion about
Ireland then and now. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Of course, my thoughts
turned</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">to Ireland as a setting. </span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">I would love to read a novel or a mystery set
in the Emerald Isle - perfect for this time of year or… really any of time of
the year!</span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;">Lover of an Irish Setting</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Lover of an Irish Setting,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A few months ago I came upon a series of
literary mysteries by an Irish born writer <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dervla McTiernan<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(now an Australian citizen) set in Dublin and
Galway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While I have enjoyed all three,
my favorite was THE SCHOLAR. The story delves into the world of international
big pharma laced with sinister Irish academic overtones.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emma Sweeney is a researcher in Galway
University and lives with her partner, Detective <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cormac Reilly. Driving home late one night,
she comes upon the body of Carline Darcy, heir apparent to the multibillion-dollar
pharmaceutical company, Darcy Therapeutics. The company is involved in funding
university research, political parties, and a myriad of philanthropic
projects.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Emma mistakenly gets Reilly
involved and suspicion immediately turns on her. Was she jealous of the young
heiress’s recent discoveries or was she afraid her research would be found to
be fraudulent? The many faceted world of scientific espionage mixed with familial
intrigue leaves the reader wondering who the real villain is and…. could it be
our Narrator?</span><o:p></o:p></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-65162017178022160142024-01-12T16:06:00.000-08:002024-01-12T16:06:11.417-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XnwEiHKJToXGcC8bYHh0d0tXtBdpTvMs-Fc4kyT6e4B9Q2Ojm-0bk4Lbg2RaXBJgPCW_WNKIV5hpLw8deXnaMa-9RCTXdIdT5YZ51M2oqQg-tEgUGHiMh1S6irWAHi24hBMVZtgz42wtIReIGuYnLQ_MxIHpYhzv22hhpFuOc-cryT8Lf5NAMZWYc1U/s327/brooklyn%20crime.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="217" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5XnwEiHKJToXGcC8bYHh0d0tXtBdpTvMs-Fc4kyT6e4B9Q2Ojm-0bk4Lbg2RaXBJgPCW_WNKIV5hpLw8deXnaMa-9RCTXdIdT5YZ51M2oqQg-tEgUGHiMh1S6irWAHi24hBMVZtgz42wtIReIGuYnLQ_MxIHpYhzv22hhpFuOc-cryT8Lf5NAMZWYc1U/s320/brooklyn%20crime.webp" width="212" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dear Great
Book Guru, Having rung in the New Year with great enthusiasm, I am now ready to
begin a year of intense and pleasurable reading.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Do you have a good book to start me off?</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">2024 Determined Reader</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Dear 2024
Determined Reader, As a Christmas present, I received a very interesting,
unusual book I think you might enjoy: BROOKLYN CRIME NOVEL by Jonathan
Lethem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not a novel in the traditional
sense, this is a series of anecdotes, short, short stories, musings - all
connected by characters that remain nameless - identified only by nickname or
type (Wheeze, Younger Brother, Bully etc.), or sometimes simply a letter (C).
The book covers the 1970’s up to 2019 and is set in a small area of downtown
Brooklyn - Boerum Hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boys - and
they are almost all boys - are living in a world defined by gentrification.
Race, class and income all work to separate them but the Dean Street boys as
they call themselves are linked by propinquity through the decades. The crimes
they experience are at times petty and sometimes horrific, but certainly color
their youth and adult lives.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Who is the
narrator who recounts these tales? Only at the very end do know for sure.
Critics have called this an autonovel - a fictionalized autobiography, but this
work is much more: a history of New York City, a paean to childhood, a
socioeconomic study of gentrification, but mostly a compelling story of lives
shaped by place and time. Highly recommended!<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-67445644041328582352023-12-29T16:44:00.000-08:002023-12-29T16:44:19.110-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYWXUKAQINERtMVBxCp2a6tta1TaQE6BSXPNLqJFq9GLQriLkoKKXJFaGNsJC_uVgdjM7YQEv5R9_rF88X_0sHWrZbJvxTU8mo0MoPUUw4svU7jFvK6M99l86EZhFjx9LeERz1rPVnQ3oKPdb36fa6MmfQCkQGxTCzv8EzcREyiUXTC3DX7SsPG9XvPg/s327/foster.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="216" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCYWXUKAQINERtMVBxCp2a6tta1TaQE6BSXPNLqJFq9GLQriLkoKKXJFaGNsJC_uVgdjM7YQEv5R9_rF88X_0sHWrZbJvxTU8mo0MoPUUw4svU7jFvK6M99l86EZhFjx9LeERz1rPVnQ3oKPdb36fa6MmfQCkQGxTCzv8EzcREyiUXTC3DX7SsPG9XvPg/s320/foster.webp" width="211" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Dear Great Book Guru,
Looking back on 2023, I was wondering if there were some great books I
might have missed. Have you compiled a list of your favorites? Book Lover 2023</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Book Lover 2023,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Every year I look back on all the events I have enjoyed- Village-wide
Garage Sale, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Progressive Dinner, the
Holiday Duck Hunt, the Sunset Serenades, the Fourth of July celebration, the
Ice Cream Social, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the Halloween Parade,
the James Joyce Jaunt…. so many! But I also look back on the books I have read
and recommended.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are always some
that stand out and here is my list of ten of these in no particular order.
Happy 2024<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Reading!<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE GUEST – Emma Cline<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">GOOD NEIGHBORS- Sarah Langan<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">FOSTER-Claire Keegan<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">I HAVE SOME QUESTIONS FOR YOU- Rebecca Makkai<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">HEAD HITS I REMEMBER- Hank Bjorklund<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">THERE WILL BE FIRE- Rory Carroll<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE WAGER- David Grann<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">HARLEM SHUFFLE/ CROOKED MANIFESTO (part of a proposed
trilogy) - Colson Whitehead<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">THE HEAVEN & EARTH GROCERY STORE- James McBride<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">SMALL MERCIES- Dennis Lehane</span><o:p></o:p></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-23070060582907509432023-12-25T11:17:00.000-08:002023-12-25T11:17:32.382-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUm93jbe7t0Y4LNAb3fHf052i2YoU67c2_2mhH4UUaheJzxLeJ8VobDdcH9wKUfCuEStZHntjRs-kY1g-AGo4TklorjfLOFPvyqTVunxsLYaCDhyphenhyphenqcjd2xms8Wdz_w-jWwGrqg27nlIhlvsZXqAjPBg27JOsEmL2L-S14hgkqG_0pynn51eqpsZKJUHUE/s445/christmas%20guest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="289" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUm93jbe7t0Y4LNAb3fHf052i2YoU67c2_2mhH4UUaheJzxLeJ8VobDdcH9wKUfCuEStZHntjRs-kY1g-AGo4TklorjfLOFPvyqTVunxsLYaCDhyphenhyphenqcjd2xms8Wdz_w-jWwGrqg27nlIhlvsZXqAjPBg27JOsEmL2L-S14hgkqG_0pynn51eqpsZKJUHUE/s320/christmas%20guest.jpg" width="208" /></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Dear Great
Book Guru, I am filled with the holiday
spirit - such a festive time of year! Do
you have a book set in the holidays – please short and compelling - I also feel
very distracted! Holiday Reader</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Holiday
Reader, I have a book I have been recommending to all my friends: CHRISTMAS
GUEST by Peter Swanson. The first half of the book takes place in 1989. Ashley Smith, a young American studying at
Cambridge, plans on spending the holidays alone. Her parents are dead, and she has little
reason to return home to California. When a fellow classmate, Emma Chapman,
suggests she join her at Emma’s Cotswolds family home, Ashley is
delighted. A wonderful English Christmas
awaits her and we read all this in a diary she keeps throughout the visit. The parents are less than hospitable but Emma’s
twin brother Adam is handsome, unattached, and yes – apparently attracted to
Ashley! The trips to the local pub, the exquisite meals, the local characters
all make for a delightful holiday read…. until things take a dark turn.
Ashley very soon learns that the handsome brother is a suspect in the
murder of a young woman in the village. The story fast-forwards thirty years
and we are in New York, once again celebrating the holidays. This very short
novel - truly a novella - is replete with surprises, making us question
everything we thought we knew. Highly
recommended!</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-9170503297945691762023-12-15T13:19:00.000-08:002023-12-15T13:19:01.386-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQsYsq22nXCduHbXYaM-Q8-ZoQS-5FORKnnqwRFpTdA9UpblHU4sWyU_I8DTAoc3yO4hTSnj8Txu2A4qK63UO0ax2uxfoVc7D6uk4JNbxg5b_JxuXG8_0iSJ81eJBF0433EdtidQsaEHZr_vlF2PtgJc_iV7NCHfBu6IBMEkkAYajzcg0n1w6OiAMulg/s385/pet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="385" data-original-width="247" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPQsYsq22nXCduHbXYaM-Q8-ZoQS-5FORKnnqwRFpTdA9UpblHU4sWyU_I8DTAoc3yO4hTSnj8Txu2A4qK63UO0ax2uxfoVc7D6uk4JNbxg5b_JxuXG8_0iSJ81eJBF0433EdtidQsaEHZr_vlF2PtgJc_iV7NCHfBu6IBMEkkAYajzcg0n1w6OiAMulg/s320/pet.jpg" width="205" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Dear Great
Book Guru, </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">What an exciting time of year</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">- every day seems filled with holiday cheer! I’m
so looking forward to the Children’s Library annual presentation of The
Nutcracker next Saturday, December 23 and then - of course - the Holiday Duck
Hunt the following Saturday December 30. As always, I’m looking for a good book
to have on hand - something short and fast-moving but meaningful… Happy Holiday
Reader</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Happy
Holiday Reader, I have the book for you: PET by Catherine Chidgey - it’s been
on many “must read” lists for 2023. Set in New Zealand, the novel shifts back
and forth between two time periods: 1984 and 2014. Justine Crieve is twelve
years in 1984. Her mother has recently died, and her father and she are grieving
in self-destructive ways. She begins to find solace in school with friends and
especially her teacher Mrs. Price, a
beautifully exotic and charismatic figure. Justine wishes desperately to be
Mrs. Price’s “pet,” as do all the other girls. When things begin to go missing,
and fueled by Mrs. Price’s subtle accusations, suspicion turns to Justine’s
friend Amy and soon the entire class sees Amy as the thief. The story takes a very dark turn as rabid
racism and misogyny bring tragic results. We are never sure if Justine is a
completely reliable narrator, and until the very end, we wonder how the events
of 1984 impact her present 2014 existence.
A deeply engrossing and disturbing novel with a myriad of moral
implications - highly recommended!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-54765573462614970402023-12-09T10:12:00.000-08:002023-12-09T10:12:50.639-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZCao62awO1YzcsaJ1rwttgInypiWycXN46x1c5WUM2_JOBEoKyvGRSERP6Bdocc9dec91r4KZS0A2H5xWDsRljXjcvEr_feCBivgaxyy66dssK_uV2JvwCUVV_l0YLFMI5lkGwHx5naK-rV7IGGxyxpNGzMDMe2cYAAwuK_INjNhmiRIyL24arGSKxI/s450/day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="300" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZCao62awO1YzcsaJ1rwttgInypiWycXN46x1c5WUM2_JOBEoKyvGRSERP6Bdocc9dec91r4KZS0A2H5xWDsRljXjcvEr_feCBivgaxyy66dssK_uV2JvwCUVV_l0YLFMI5lkGwHx5naK-rV7IGGxyxpNGzMDMe2cYAAwuK_INjNhmiRIyL24arGSKxI/s320/day.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Great
Book Guru, There are so many wonderful events coming up in December: the
Scrooge Stroll, the Holiday Lighting, Introduction to The Nutcracker, the
Hanukah Happening …. How will I find time for a good book? I’ll definitely need something very
compelling. Any ideas? Devoted December
Reader<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Devoted
December Reader, I recently read a wonderful book that I literally could not
put down: DAY by Michael Cunningham. Set on one day - April 5th - over three
years – 2019, 2020, 2021 - the novel is a bit reminiscent of Wilder’s OUR TOWN.
We meet Dan - an aging 40ish rock star clinging to his tarnished glory days;
his wife Isabel - a successful magazine editor in a time when magazines are
dying; Robbie - her brother, a middle school NYC teacher; the children, Nathan
and Violet - five and ten and each very quirky; and finally Wolfe – a cyber
avatar created by Robbie. Wolfe has a
legion of devoted Instagram followers who have no idea he is not real. In the 2019 piece, the family is introduced,
and no one is particularly happy - Robbie has broken up with Oliver and is in
search of a new apartment and job; Dan and Isabel are bickering and concerned
about their marriage and careers; the children are a noisy distraction. The only successful character is Wolfe - the
cyber creation. Of course, everything has changed when 2020 arrives… or has
anything really changed as the Covid lockdown begins? The final chapters deal with a post-Covid
world and we see how each of our characters has fared. A fascinating look into a complex family
facing extraordinary times in the most ordinary of ways. Highly recommended! <o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-30730821424830119502023-11-17T15:51:00.000-08:002023-11-17T15:51:53.037-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUTWCvYQjKXeJw9shnzTALgvhSJK1aWsj1WFHEyQEDw-mNp5pkY-46WXTIh4oTsI_023oKsz5tQ70GZ2UxrC8-3FlGTnf14Yhyq38q0giu3lZW2iXAWEbMjLxKiimxoap43QM_spvUBCXJw9aq20nyBaLJEHBzvYOXGbc2_JmQxmZmT98ZrS19iptUnSY/s295/crook%20manifesto.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="295" data-original-width="194" height="295" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUTWCvYQjKXeJw9shnzTALgvhSJK1aWsj1WFHEyQEDw-mNp5pkY-46WXTIh4oTsI_023oKsz5tQ70GZ2UxrC8-3FlGTnf14Yhyq38q0giu3lZW2iXAWEbMjLxKiimxoap43QM_spvUBCXJw9aq20nyBaLJEHBzvYOXGbc2_JmQxmZmT98ZrS19iptUnSY/s1600/crook%20manifesto.webp" width="194" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Dear Great Book Guru, My family is having our annual
Thanksgiving gathering - about 50 of us get together the Sunday before the big
day. It’s lots of fun and someone always asks, “what have you read
lately?” I’d love to have a great book
to recommend - any suggestions? Thankful Reader</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Thankful Reader, A few months ago, I reviewed Colson
Whitehead’s HARLEM SHUTTLE – the first novel in a projected trilogy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Recently I read CROOK MANIFESTO - second in
the series. Ray Carney - furniture store owner/small time criminal - remains
the hero of the novel but now we have moved from the 1960’s to the turbulent 1970’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Divided into three separate novella-like
tales, the CROOK MANIFESTO tells a compelling tale of political corruption on
many levels. New York City and Harlem, in particular, is ablaze with fiery
destruction. Carney vows to leave his petty crime career behind as he becomes
an established business and family man, but he is brought back into the fray as
he tries to get Jackson 5 tickets for his teenage daughter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Characters we met in his earlier novel
reappear - older but many still deeply involved in arson, safecracking, and
robbery. The elite Dumas Club – a social bastion for Harlem’s elite businessmen
and politicians - that had earlier rejected Carney - now begrudgingly accepts
him. His business is flourishing, and his wife’s travel agency attracts an
array of colorful and affluent clients. All is going well but the neighborhood
is still awash with corporate and local crime.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Will Carney and his city be able to survive and prosper? The novel
beautifully captures the energy and fears of the times - highly recommended!</span><o:p></o:p></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-35116920266938910082023-11-11T11:49:00.000-08:002023-11-11T11:49:22.053-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTG5UaPPcsvv_kgPvCebT7LbLfjgWd6M-2nhOjilovu2AziFIVpt6__VBIlt94WIkeUxLkAV29gN8owqmmj0HfyMSLHj8xPfhVRTEQkhC_AJOFh4vSUkpS2-lTfPJU05tjyR5X3z9LGjoSvOp_Y8JCB9Bmx-0OmIWQX3TqYjZlyVxQcQ2wByvuOJ7qS3Y/s336/shameful%20Murder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="336" data-original-width="204" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTG5UaPPcsvv_kgPvCebT7LbLfjgWd6M-2nhOjilovu2AziFIVpt6__VBIlt94WIkeUxLkAV29gN8owqmmj0HfyMSLHj8xPfhVRTEQkhC_AJOFh4vSUkpS2-lTfPJU05tjyR5X3z9LGjoSvOp_Y8JCB9Bmx-0OmIWQX3TqYjZlyVxQcQ2wByvuOJ7qS3Y/s320/shameful%20Murder.jpg" width="194" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dear Great
Book Guru, I was at the Sea Cliff Civic Association’s annual Progressive Dinner
last week and we had such a great time.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We started out at one house for appetizers with about twenty-five people
and then we moved on to dinner with eight people. Afterwards, we went to
dessert at the Sea Cliff Yacht Club with all the participants, about one
hundred forty.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">While at dessert someone
mentioned a favorite series of mysteries set in Ireland in the 1920’s.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Does it sound familiar?</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">A Delighted Diner</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear
Delighted Diner, Cora Harrison writes Irish historical mysteries, and my
favorite is the Mother Aquinas series. Set in Cork, Ireland in the years
immediately following the Irish war for independence, these books are a
fascinating look into a world filled with violence, passion, and humor.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mother Aquinas is the head of a convent
school and the characters that inhabit her world are the children and their
families, the nuns, the local police officers, and the rebel forces. In the
first of the ten-book series, A SHAMEFUL MURDER, we meet the cast of recurring
characters: Mother Aquinas; Carolyn, her wealthy cousin who represents the Cork
elite; Patrick Cashman, a graduate of the school who is now a police inspector;
Eileen Sheehy, another former student who is part of the rebel faction; and Dr.
Scher, a friend and local physician. While there is usually a murder or two in
each of the books, the main attraction is the gentle humor and detailed look
into a locale and time, foreign but fascinating to many of us. A highly
recommended piece of historical fiction!<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-73414816093262151442023-11-05T13:13:00.000-08:002023-11-05T13:13:59.890-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTx9J5M1wTv585QNqZbzjj3dGCwHThR4g1qXv-baegHau3_oSq2Cz8Pu7lqcz2QbvQTaP7lGWWwlOx7fYPzrDUrhJKTIAIHBpsDBI5adNN3qfp4kOW4A9mKJk3ro6fiAbMbqxhZqBT9cf7xbnbH2XpNpXfbnb0R-U14-AtGOd5sndcSwfk-UcX2MlhHA/s218/Killers%20movie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="218" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkTx9J5M1wTv585QNqZbzjj3dGCwHThR4g1qXv-baegHau3_oSq2Cz8Pu7lqcz2QbvQTaP7lGWWwlOx7fYPzrDUrhJKTIAIHBpsDBI5adNN3qfp4kOW4A9mKJk3ro6fiAbMbqxhZqBT9cf7xbnbH2XpNpXfbnb0R-U14-AtGOd5sndcSwfk-UcX2MlhHA/s1600/Killers%20movie.jpg" width="218" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Dear Great Book Guru, I have read lots about a movie
released recently: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON, apparently based on a book you
recommended a few years ago. I was wondering if you have seen the movie and –
if so- how would you compare it to the book .
Book to Movie Fan</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Book to Movie Fan,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>A group of friends and I went to Martin Scorsese’s production of KILLERS
OF THE FLOWER MOON’S<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>opening recently. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As you mentioned, I recommended David Grann’s
book KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>when it
came out in 2017 and I am<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>equally as
enthusiastic about the movie. Scorsese changes the emphasis somewhat from the
politics of the times – the creation of the FBI and the rise in power of J.
Edgar Hoover – to a more nuanced love story between Molly an Osage woman and
Ernest nephew of a local white landowner, but the basic story remains horrifyingly
the same.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the early 1920’s, oil was
discovered on land owned by the Osage people making them the wealthiest people
in the world.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In short time, a
surprising numbers of death of the Osage began to occur with the rights to the
oil being passed on to non- Osages. Grann estimates that hundreds of murders
probably occurred. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The movie covers all
this but focuses in particular on the one couple, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and we are left wondering throughout the
husband’s true motivation. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>News reels
from the times are interspersed to show how the Osage story was presented to
the nation and we realize in horror how little outrage there was. Book and
movie- highly recommended!</span><o:p></o:p></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-185652243341996762023-10-20T19:33:00.000-07:002023-10-20T19:33:18.580-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6vGwc2NBsbISw5o-qDt-0Xr3UI33MmK5KbZrTSejZEiVCYhUG6XZdFgF__7GNZfeE9RHGtNEa8PMzoZXlQZ0DZm3Wfg7RgV6WiF0HVMYDrqmzcK07PVx_d8b1q3n_rXgZahZMn0BJlInxlSWYCE9SuQFjwgvnkeyuPpeehhZU09k-kbpeE2NsE2fYkKk/s218/Mr%20Texas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="218" data-original-width="149" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6vGwc2NBsbISw5o-qDt-0Xr3UI33MmK5KbZrTSejZEiVCYhUG6XZdFgF__7GNZfeE9RHGtNEa8PMzoZXlQZ0DZm3Wfg7RgV6WiF0HVMYDrqmzcK07PVx_d8b1q3n_rXgZahZMn0BJlInxlSWYCE9SuQFjwgvnkeyuPpeehhZU09k-kbpeE2NsE2fYkKk/s1600/Mr%20Texas.jpg" width="149" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Dear Great Book Guru,
So many great events are coming up in the next few weeks- the Halloween
Parade, the Cemetery Walk, the Cider Social, and the Progressive Dinner! So much fun but always time for a good book
so if you have a recommendation… Looking
for Books in All the Right Places</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Looking for Books… I have the perfect book for you:
Lawrence Wright’s MR. TEXAS.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wright is a
well known writer of non-fiction and his latest novel is based on his humorous albeit
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>caustic take on the game of
politics.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sonny Lamb has had a hard life
and things are not getting better. A small town rancher, he can’t seem to get
anything right- his farm is floundering, his in-laws view him as a joke, his
wife Lola feels she could have done better, the townspeople barely acknowledge
him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Everything changes when a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>fire breaks out and Sonny rushes into a
burning building on his prized bull, rescuing a child and her beloved
pony.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His story is told on major news
outlets and within a day, he is visited by the well-dressed, well- spoken L.D.
Sparks- a lobbyist from Austen. Sparks offers him the chance to run for a seat
in the Texas Legislature- a position Sonny has no experience or apparent talent
for, but nevertheless he accepts seeing this as a way to change his life’s
trajectory.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Lola is less than
enthusiastic but finally agrees to support him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We follow Sonny as he confronts the many ethical dilemmas his new role presents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A darkly humorous take on politics and highly
recommended!</span><o:p></o:p></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-38918607872732813392023-10-14T13:41:00.000-07:002023-10-14T13:41:42.427-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLDCwBrgvjfjelzq1k87PaAGx3584LYyxYuzCeV8QaZAHUgKkL-EM9hsNm5hrVU9qUYgVFbA7V9mhODiNyWvZGI32VVuR4CV1-k-Advn3FhLFUcSor1vv7_KWPFft2cW18DoyQ4YeaujuoPeTrljW0m7Gr8tD_w4yYvXZsAIRgWpVRO2lgO1KN6kyOIU/s327/woman%20inside.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="214" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtLDCwBrgvjfjelzq1k87PaAGx3584LYyxYuzCeV8QaZAHUgKkL-EM9hsNm5hrVU9qUYgVFbA7V9mhODiNyWvZGI32VVuR4CV1-k-Advn3FhLFUcSor1vv7_KWPFft2cW18DoyQ4YeaujuoPeTrljW0m7Gr8tD_w4yYvXZsAIRgWpVRO2lgO1KN6kyOIU/s320/woman%20inside.webp" width="209" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> Dear Great Book Guru,
I love a Sea Cliff autumn- the leaves are falling and we can see the
many beautiful houses that line the streets, restaurants are filled with
excited diners, and Halloween decorations are going up all around the Village. Do you have a good book to match
this time of year? A Fan of Fall in
Sea Cliff</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Fan of Fall in Sea Cliff, I just finished a wonderful
novel I couldn’t put down: THE WOMAN INSIDE, by M.T. Edvardsson. This mystery is set in present-day Sweden and
is told from the perspectives of three characters. Bill Olsson is a young,
recently widowed father whose overwhelming concern is providing for his young
daughter, Sally. Struggling under huge
financial debt, he takes in a boarder, Karla, a law student from a local
university who is working for a cleaning service to pay her tuition. The third
person is Jennica who is involved with a sophisticated older physician she has
met online. Each of these characters has
many secrets that are gradually revealed through newspaper postings, police
interrogations, and interior monologues.
The story opens in a beautiful part of town, in an impeccable, many-roomed
mansion where the owners, Regina and Steven Rytters, have been murdered. How
are these characters connected and will their pasts be their undoing? A fascinating tale of deceit and good
intentions gone awry - highly recommended!</span><o:p></o:p></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-901573524141802492023-09-17T04:54:00.000-07:002023-09-17T04:54:28.370-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsXWcfT2CCSVWMDf5ltMxcK6qKr6iClFg4lHO4ZdT31EU1cO8g40Z03vRUB5ha4AEI1UelA5_GfQFbZWvBngUBPfc3V1uD6scyga3GlCM8EvHQExkMB6P4R8x24GMdrd_2qJlJ0W0G1RKb1P95o7_VonA8_HMuJVTPdjS3MQNyCJUjq9-EYHqWF5wamNY/s293/harlem%20shuffle.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="293" data-original-width="191" height="293" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsXWcfT2CCSVWMDf5ltMxcK6qKr6iClFg4lHO4ZdT31EU1cO8g40Z03vRUB5ha4AEI1UelA5_GfQFbZWvBngUBPfc3V1uD6scyga3GlCM8EvHQExkMB6P4R8x24GMdrd_2qJlJ0W0G1RKb1P95o7_VonA8_HMuJVTPdjS3MQNyCJUjq9-EYHqWF5wamNY/s1600/harlem%20shuffle.webp" width="191" /></span></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Great
Book Guru,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With summer ending, I’ll so
miss Sunset Serenades, breakfasts at Sea Cliff Beach, and meeting up with
friends for outdoor dining throughout the Village. But now is the time to turn
to some extensive reading- I have a 50 book challenge and have only read
18.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Help me, please !<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hopeful Fall Reader<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Hopeful
Fall Reader, I recently read a great
book by a favorite author of mine: Colson Whitehead. HARLEM SHUFFLE is the
first in a proposed trilogy – all to be set in Harlem over the turbulent decades of the late twentieth
century. We first meet Ray Carney in 1959. Owner of a flourishing furniture
store in Harlem, Ray is confronted daily with ethical choices. As a side
business he also sells jewelry and appliances
of very questionable provenance, but even his legitimate business
requires payoffs to corrupt politicians and violent criminals. Always hoping to
better his situation, Ray gets involved in a jewelry heist at the iconic Hotel
Theresa- Harlem’s Plaza Hotel . He
realizes quickly that he has become entangled in a world of high finance and
political malfeasance. Throughout we see
that Ray’s misdeeds barely register on the scales of justice with the race
riots of the early 1960’s serving as a backdrop to Ray’s story. By the end of
the book, Ray is living a double life –
middle class aspiring homeowner/businessman by day and an avenging Robin Hood- like defender of
his community after hours. A very funny
read and on the other hand- a complex look at what exactly is a crime. Highly recommended! </span><o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-67595716847627798432023-09-08T19:38:00.000-07:002023-09-08T19:38:06.630-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA1oNr1gHcu_1Vh8095gxZl6dKbrlQbdW5HQM_R-s4kY_4R9cV5m9ciwJVa0bczLUMHIj_--I0uG4_iqC2RPKYVkReVRcCPU2pvCgmRIdsLgTvOMnrCj_kcyGbEEtPIDxgQaluvyiarCdSroJtRuAoEE58EuGaBzONJGbwKAAJcRY7YWk0HW7hlYClV8w/s327/store.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="217" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA1oNr1gHcu_1Vh8095gxZl6dKbrlQbdW5HQM_R-s4kY_4R9cV5m9ciwJVa0bczLUMHIj_--I0uG4_iqC2RPKYVkReVRcCPU2pvCgmRIdsLgTvOMnrCj_kcyGbEEtPIDxgQaluvyiarCdSroJtRuAoEE58EuGaBzONJGbwKAAJcRY7YWk0HW7hlYClV8w/s320/store.webp" width="212" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Great
Book Guru, My friends and I are planning
on starting a monthly book club and we need direction. Some want to stick to fiction, but others
want to stick to non-fiction. Can you
help us resolve the problem before our club ends before it begins! Lover of Books<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Lover
of Books, I recently read a great novel that has many aspects of non-fiction
woven throughout: THE HEAVEN AND EARTH GROCERY STORE by James McBride. McBride
is a longtime favorite of mine and most of his novels do have a historical background. His THE GOOD
LORD BIRD is a fictionalized account of John Brown’s Raid, and his earlier
COLOR OF WATER was a memoir. This latest
book opens in 1972, in Pottstown, Pennsylvania where a construction crew has just
uncovered a skeleton with no identifying signs except a mezuza, a belt buckle,
and a pendant. The mezuza leads the
investigators to question the town’s only remaining Jewish resident. But shortly
after, Hurricane Agnes washes away all evidence so the case is dropped, and we
are quickly brought back in time to the 1920’s where the story begins. This a tale of Jewish, Black, and East
European men and women living in an impoverished section of Pottstown, Chicken Hill,
and the racist and anti-Semitic trials they endure. The title comes from the
store run by Chona, wife of Moshe who owns a theater and dance hall. Her
generosity and goodness to everyone is acknowledged by all and becomes a force
that unites the community despite the many tensions that exist. This is an epic
tale with many heroic figures and McBride masterfully brings them together for
a dazzling conclusion. Highly
recommended! </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-65004392243871114512023-08-25T15:17:00.000-07:002023-08-25T15:17:12.796-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHX9r_k-aiP4gibJvRRn2-FTRL0bZpKUT8ZtdZ7E9J2WqF5t7A2CDlsKAxw6Eaoa8lpexHZlb2zl2BBPerCCduM4Jbk_fpxyuj4txD8Bf3e-SGyfEsJoKeeRZpfnIuTXYF3MEKh9MQLsWYMpVsaJExXMcDYY4wpqbG6DKTkTqimg-Z4AXJDvv8JeDQ5oA/s648/anniversary.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="648" data-original-width="415" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHX9r_k-aiP4gibJvRRn2-FTRL0bZpKUT8ZtdZ7E9J2WqF5t7A2CDlsKAxw6Eaoa8lpexHZlb2zl2BBPerCCduM4Jbk_fpxyuj4txD8Bf3e-SGyfEsJoKeeRZpfnIuTXYF3MEKh9MQLsWYMpVsaJExXMcDYY4wpqbG6DKTkTqimg-Z4AXJDvv8JeDQ5oA/s320/anniversary.gif" width="205" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Great
Book Guru, My friends and I take our
children every week to Storytime at Sea Cliff Beach and we stay afterwards for
lunch on the pavilion. Last week one of the parents mentioned a new book about
a cruise gone terribly bad - she called it a psychological thriller and
recommended it to us. Any thoughts? Fan
of Sea Cliff Beach.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Fan of
Sea Cliff Beach, I just finished reading THE ANNIVERSARY by Stephanie Bishop
and it is quite the thriller. The novel opens with J.B.Blackwood, a forty year
old Australian author receiving news that she has received a major literary
award – think the Booker - but she is cautioned not to tell her much older
husband Patrick, a famous filmmaker because Blackwood tells us “he can’t be
trusted to keep secrets.” J.B. has
planned a luxurious cruise to celebrate their wedding anniversary and its final
destination will be the award ceremony. The couple had met years before when
she was his student at a prestigious university while he was married with an
infant son. The opening chapters recount their blissful courtship and travels
around the world. A few pages in we learn that a storm breaks out onboard the
ship and Patrick is thrown overboard. Gradually, we begin to suspect there is
more going on in the marriage than our narrator has suggested. Ultimately, we
realize that nothing we have been told – from childhood memories to present day
events - is to be trusted. A disturbing albeit compelling tale….recommended!</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-35591026846104513662023-08-11T19:04:00.000-07:002023-08-11T19:04:00.610-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_Y9-hf1KEViZkJjae04dh-D_ZHdQm1FSktR8ytBVfaZbgmeV_JTQEM69LdkCkm4N_Hb2nf92CD-mgggSLJVQwa9cEShTpSIH9me1OrS_EdcCIh7egF8mTK4NtBxJ-H5jJ8zzkqjgGI9e-9ZUOYoyAzQXY3QLf5n8FOetCT2Xv1Cu1E0ejkoCi-CNxwg/s327/American%20Prometheus.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="211" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgx_Y9-hf1KEViZkJjae04dh-D_ZHdQm1FSktR8ytBVfaZbgmeV_JTQEM69LdkCkm4N_Hb2nf92CD-mgggSLJVQwa9cEShTpSIH9me1OrS_EdcCIh7egF8mTK4NtBxJ-H5jJ8zzkqjgGI9e-9ZUOYoyAzQXY3QLf5n8FOetCT2Xv1Cu1E0ejkoCi-CNxwg/s320/American%20Prometheus.webp" width="206" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Great
Book Guru, Last weekend I was at a Midsummer’s Night Dream party and there was
lots of talk about what to read for the rest of the summer. Someone suggested reading a biography of
Robert Oppenheimer- the subject of the much-acclaimed movie recently
released. Is there one you would
recommend? Midsummer Reader<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear
Midsummer Reader, Last month in anticipation of the opening of one of summer’s
most touted movies, OPPENHEIMER, I read the book the movie is based on:
AMERICAN PROMETHEUS by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. What an amazing tale! While over 500 pages,
this book reads like a fast-paced novel.
Oppenheimer’s early years in New York City are colorfully presented with
many anecdotes about his parents, school mates, and teachers and their
influence on the young boy. The family’s history in Europe also adds to an
understanding of where many of his beliefs and -yes - quirky behavior
originated. His college years at Harvard and later in Germany present a
colorful picture of his developing interest in the world of quantum mechanics
and nuclear physics leading to his now famous appointment as head of the
Manhattan Project and move to Los Alamos to oversee the making of the atomic
bomb. Throughout, we meet his many
friends, enemies, lovers, and relatives – all of whom are described in exacting
detail. The final half of the book deals with his spectacular fall from grace
in the Cold War era with special attention paid to his chief nemesis, Lewis
Strauss. The book presents us with a somber appraisal of a complicated man
living in a complicated time. Highly
recommended!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-32327970622256350002023-08-06T10:37:00.000-07:002023-08-06T10:37:09.835-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJHVsZsD9BoTzuwwFkfl8PS6kkk97jDx6EOfmjB48w2HvkT-vYXPwKqUB-ealFDBrRYFrUHK1xO9VosP60VAXVR7W1JWUxudXuSrXWLyYWh2UYKjRtMkWsDfVL1pWAlXdm9ggVV7tPcKd9tQUNBxnvVXAfoN40vkm9DHIm6sG77nL463_UlVlASy-bZo/s327/small%20mercies.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="217" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIJHVsZsD9BoTzuwwFkfl8PS6kkk97jDx6EOfmjB48w2HvkT-vYXPwKqUB-ealFDBrRYFrUHK1xO9VosP60VAXVR7W1JWUxudXuSrXWLyYWh2UYKjRtMkWsDfVL1pWAlXdm9ggVV7tPcKd9tQUNBxnvVXAfoN40vkm9DHIm6sG77nL463_UlVlASy-bZo/s320/small%20mercies.webp" width="212" /></a></div><br /> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Dear Great
Book Guru,</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We just came back from Sea
Cliff Beach where we had a great lunch at the Potters’ Cliffside Café.
Everything was delicious but the lobster roll and turkey wrap were particularly
wonderful!</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">While there, I listened in on
a couple’s conversation nearby (always a fun Sea Cliff thing to do) and they
were discussing a new book - a noir mystery set in 1970’s Boston.</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Sound familiar?</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Loving the Cliffside Café</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear
Loving…. Dennis Lehane’s SMALL MERCIES is a newly published bestseller and well
worth the read.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Set in the racially
charged summer of 1974, the book deals with crime, race, and class - in and
about an Irish American housing project.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Mary Pat Fennessy has lived there all her forty or so years, raised two
children, married twice, and is struggling desperately to get out of debt. Her
childhood friends are involved with the mob so when her daughter does not
return home one evening, she turns to them for help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She soon finds herself enmeshed in a world
where violence is the norm and she is both victim and perpetrator. A young
black man is found dead on the subway tracks nearby and we learn that his
murder is connected to her missing daughter, the upcoming school desegregation
rally, and a widespread drug operation. Mary Pat has a moment of epiphany when
she realizes her long held beliefs have little basis in reality. The grief and contrition
she feels is described in exquisite detail, but few of the other characters share
her moral awakening. The reader is left to question if goodness will ever
triumph.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Highly recommended! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-57434076389199833502023-07-30T12:02:00.000-07:002023-07-30T12:02:59.113-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSJmCppK6UDroC3UbsHtxeMY4l3khQ_k5-a6YwhrCbNNR8bQClRXbdSY-E790Fuljye9PTDV20lmHLeYjLyg7RgqCdok78gWXfIA85dGKtorfj06CvWW7XRVrQIVGqCoPXw4a_LNnG5-2QBM_FCS87Kh__qw_SYZVsDXQQSPNCSHkW-t3EjdXcfw588h4/s327/trial.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="232" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSJmCppK6UDroC3UbsHtxeMY4l3khQ_k5-a6YwhrCbNNR8bQClRXbdSY-E790Fuljye9PTDV20lmHLeYjLyg7RgqCdok78gWXfIA85dGKtorfj06CvWW7XRVrQIVGqCoPXw4a_LNnG5-2QBM_FCS87Kh__qw_SYZVsDXQQSPNCSHkW-t3EjdXcfw588h4/s320/trial.webp" width="227" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Dear Great
Book Guru, Last week I was at Clifton Park for the Sea Cliff Civic
Association’s Sunset Serenade ….what a night it was! LOVEPEACE was the band,
and the music and mood were rhapsodic.</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">
</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">While there, I overheard a group of people talking about a new book that
was quite a compelling read. It was about a murder trial, but it hit on so much
more. Ideas?</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 16pt;">Sunset Serenade Fan</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Sunset
Serenade Fan, TRIAL by Richard North Patterson is a much talked about legal
thriller that came out a few weeks ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The story opens in the present as a wealthy, Harvard educated politician,
Chase Brevard, is planning his next career move. A Congressman from
Massachusetts, he is considering running for the Senate when he sees on CNN a
breaking story about a black teenager accused of murdering a deputy sheriff in
Georgia. The case is receiving national attention because the boy’s mother is a
prominent political activist who has championed voter rights and her son was
canvassing when the murder took place. They insist that he was targeted by the sheriff
and the death was an accident. Brevard realizes the boy is his son and the
mother a woman he knew from college. The novel then traces the lives of the
couple from their first meeting up to the present showing how wealth, race, and
privilege brought them all to this moment. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The actual trial is a tense exposition of the
effects of media and legal maneuvering with a shocking outcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Highly
recommended!</span><span style="font-size: 18.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-77771053504539006442023-07-08T13:47:00.002-07:002023-07-08T13:47:58.919-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACyM2AhmlwuY5y49KelmkYcJaf7tZVzNEdn5j4UQBN8ywpVCzdNYlcrRkLpswpb50IxJekp5lrvg6LohKjv0dTN8Itkg9WMnMMV6lOy9rsyhATXYsMrDGRGjIoa4Wjc8jiOYZX3rUJ-5QXF5GCUZSHAfrr8NrWeJL1wb0giJu-ZBLw4zKgODjaQy0mNM/s327/Paved%20paradise.webp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="327" data-original-width="215" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiACyM2AhmlwuY5y49KelmkYcJaf7tZVzNEdn5j4UQBN8ywpVCzdNYlcrRkLpswpb50IxJekp5lrvg6LohKjv0dTN8Itkg9WMnMMV6lOy9rsyhATXYsMrDGRGjIoa4Wjc8jiOYZX3rUJ-5QXF5GCUZSHAfrr8NrWeJL1wb0giJu-ZBLw4zKgODjaQy0mNM/s320/Paved%20paradise.webp" width="210" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Great
Book Guru, I was at Sea Cliff Beach for breakfast the other day (amazing
avocado toast by Foster’s Javier!} when the question of parking came up. Most people would prefer to walk to the beach
but that walk back up the hill discourages even the most fit… so many drive
leaving everyone with the search for parking and it can be quite a search.
Someone mentioned a book which deals with parking and its ramifications. Does this sound
familiar? Seaside Parker<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Dear Seaside
Parker, I recently read a quirky albeit fascinating book by Henry Graber: PAVED
PARADISE- How Parking Explains the World. Graber’s contention is that parking
has had a crushing effect on multiple aspects of American life. Since the
advent of the car, we have spent precious resources and demolished our homes
and cities in a quest for increased car storage. Our most valuable real estate is handed over
for largely free car storage, while curbside parking changes businesses,
residences, and our very image of self. Public transit is sacrificed to the
gods of car storage, zoning laws are predicated on it, and public space is curtailed – all so that
there are “homes” for cars. Graber travels across the country from New York
City to Los Angeles and every major city in between to show the impact of car
parking. He goes so far as to blame the present housing shortage and rise in
homelessness to this obsession with parking. His goal is to show us the folly
of our present day thinking and to offer us solutions for this perceived
madness. Recommended!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-5872171235315840862023-07-08T13:45:00.000-07:002023-07-08T13:45:13.736-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2LzztUqbEM1jad0lqy6Q5Kz1LS_fDEF-ySkoHkGcKdYaEfnFDpybOh2VFL38CicX2QfIK8N3Qc5WzroPrlI2eQe-bTh1twa7McWZR9mm0J2F8uyipAwH7DUzFilhlJmpt2REyYMJIGRJ8Qg4vmG6OEGInq79UVRKkPH3dk5FzNTAkSNiZrvkTBMsumUY/s445/so%20shall%20you%20reap_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="445" data-original-width="285" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2LzztUqbEM1jad0lqy6Q5Kz1LS_fDEF-ySkoHkGcKdYaEfnFDpybOh2VFL38CicX2QfIK8N3Qc5WzroPrlI2eQe-bTh1twa7McWZR9mm0J2F8uyipAwH7DUzFilhlJmpt2REyYMJIGRJ8Qg4vmG6OEGInq79UVRKkPH3dk5FzNTAkSNiZrvkTBMsumUY/s320/so%20shall%20you%20reap_.jpg" width="205" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> Dear Great
Book Guru, The Fourth of July weekend here in Sea Cliff is filled with great
events: the Patriotic Bike Parade, Happy Birthday USA, and the Reading of the
Declaration of Independence on Village Green. So much to do …but I am always
ready for a new book - perhaps a mystery?
Summer Mystery Maven</span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: large;">Dear Summer
Mystery Maven, Every summer I look forward to reading a new Donna Leon novel
and I was not disappointed with her latest, SO SHALL YOU REAP, her 32<sup>nd</sup>
in the series. And what a treat it is! All
32 books feature Guido Brunetti, a world weary, very wise Venetian police
commissioner. These novels are gentle literary mysteries with many references
to opera, Henry James (Brunetti’s wife Paola is a professor of American
literature), Proust, and the ancient Roman philosophers. Food and drink are
described in great detail, as are the canals and neighborhoods of Venice -
often little known to tourists. In this latest book, Brunetti investigates the
murder of a Sri Lankan man who has been
living illegally in the country for many years. A Buddhist who has lived a
circumspect life, the man seems a most unlikely victim of violence. When
Brunetti discovers a trove of books and pamphlets dating back to Italy’s
1970’s political unrest, he struggles to
connect the present to the past - and wonders where his own youthful
revolutionary beliefs might have led him.
As usual the crime is overshadowed by the intellectual musings of this
complex man. Highly recommended!</span><span style="font-size: 16pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1044746979728190359.post-38892690682530295142023-06-23T16:30:00.000-07:002023-06-23T16:30:23.794-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuSC690bQTjA1LYMuJina0hLe6_24T6UPcRlTeJqB5qzLe5GCKbE7rBMnmscoA8ZtNm0Ex3c9Kp8VLHAD4hqAnv9JSJ_NuzAXVJ848EJsoHFgcBw9zR4myP0MN-Qa9Ul1RRdFGrWaDZrDkjl4DnrCT84RQwe463QdxF2M-8hViAJ9aOiKPi_qMs1m0/s900/guest.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuSC690bQTjA1LYMuJina0hLe6_24T6UPcRlTeJqB5qzLe5GCKbE7rBMnmscoA8ZtNm0Ex3c9Kp8VLHAD4hqAnv9JSJ_NuzAXVJ848EJsoHFgcBw9zR4myP0MN-Qa9Ul1RRdFGrWaDZrDkjl4DnrCT84RQwe463QdxF2M-8hViAJ9aOiKPi_qMs1m0/s320/guest.jpg" width="213" /></span></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Great
Book Guru, July is one of my favorite Sea Cliff months - so many great events
plus all those Sunset Serenades to enjoy! I would love to read a book set on
Long Island that captures some of the summer vibe. Any suggestions? Fan of Sea Cliff Summers<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Fan of
Sea Cliff Summers, Emma Cline’s THE GUEST is set entirely on Long Island’s East
End and covers one summer week. Alex is
a twenty-two-year-old - bright, beautiful, and …homeless - thrown out by her
New York City roommates for not paying rent, drug use, and stealing from them.
She has been banned from local restaurants and bars, and is being stalked by
Dom - a mysterious, threatening character from whom she has stolen a large
amount of money. But in a “lucky” move
she meets Simon a much older, very wealthy man who has a home in the Hamptons -
where we first meet Alex. A few weeks into her stay, she angers him and she is
once again looking for shelter. The rest of the book is a Homeric-like odyssey;
she travels throughout the Hamptons meeting an assortment of mostly very
wealthy, unscrupulous characters who she beguiles, bewitches, and betrays only
to be trapped by her own missteps. The novel is a suspenseful tale of one
woman’s misguided attempts to survive, but it is also a harsh indictment of a money-driven
society that treats people with shameful disregard. Alex is not blameless, but
it is hard not to see her as a victim.
Highly recommended!</span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p>
</p>Ann DiPietrohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00924445699952930447noreply@blogger.com0