Dear Great Book Guru, Halloween has certainly come to Sea Cliff - every house on every street seems to house a ghost, goblin, or ghoul! The Sea Cliff Civic Association is hosting a contest as to which is the most fantastically decorated. Photos are sent to sccivicassociation@gmail.com and a video is being compiled to be featured on Facebook.  Of course, as always I need a good book while taking in all those Halloween Houses.  Any recommendations? Fixated by Halloween

Dear Fixated by Halloween, I recently read a very disturbing albeit fascinating debut novel: AMERICAN WAR by Omar El Akkad.  Set in the not-too-distant future, the book describes an America beset by wildly damaging climate change, severe political unrest, biological calamity, and a civil war raging for over twenty years - from 2074 to 2095. The story is told from two perspectives and over many years. Sarat Chestnut, a young girl we meet just as the war breaks out is the main character and her young nephew continues her story many decades later. Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Texas, and South Carolina secede from the Union when the government bans the use of fossil fuels anywhere in the United States. The book captures the horror of war as loyalties splinter and families turn on one another. Interestingly, a new book just came out BREAK IT UP by Richard Kreitner whose thesis is that the United States has had to deal with disunion threats throughout its history. AMERICAN WAR is definitely a timely read and recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, We just had a lovely dinner on our porch with friends where we all wondered how many more nights we would be able to be together outdoors. Before the evening was over, we pledged to continue our book discussions even if only virtually…. but what to read?  We all agreed the Halloween season demanded an eerie sort of novel.  Any thoughts? Harbinger of Halloween

 Dear Harbinger of Halloween, I just finished a short, very compelling novel you and your friends might enjoy: SISTERS by Daisy Johnson.  The story begins as September and July - two teenage sisters - arrive at their dilapidated ancient family home in the English countryside. Their mother Sheela has moved the family from Oxford because of some unspeakable tragedy that haunts the family. The house itself is very threatening, containing strange artifacts of their dead father’s boyhood.  The sisters have a symbiotic relationship, sharing food, experiences, a cell phone, and diary.  September – the older by ten months - prods her sister July to commit acts of bizarre cruelty and wanton misbehavior. Throughout we are given hints of some horrific occurrence that has shattered their lives. July is the principal narrator but Sheela - the mother - at times offers her observations which are often at odds with July’s. Who is to be believed and what really did happen back in Oxford?  A compelling, psychological mystery that leaves us terrified and wondering what is truth?  Recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, With a beautiful weekend behind us and a spectacular weather week ahead, it might seem strange…. but I have decided to gather my friends virtually to discuss a good book - a novel with a strong story line and preferably featuring a moral dilemma.  A woman author would be an added attraction.  Falling into Fall

 Dear Falling into Fall, One of my favorite authors just came out with a new book: PAYBACK by Mary Gordon.  From her very first book FINAL PAYMENTS in 1978, Gordon has been a chronicler of our times.  This latest work opens on the set of an Arizona-based reality show where the host Quin Archer helps victims track down the people who have wronged them and demand “payback.” Lately the show has been suffering from plummeting ratings so Quin decides to liven things up by going after someone who has wronged her decades ago: Agnes Vaughan, her former high school art teacher.  Agnes had taken an interest in the very unlikable, shunned girl. After arranging for a museum visit that had a horrific outcome, Agnes responded with a chastising rebuke.  Forty years later, the two women still bear the emotional scars of that moment. Gordon writes of the years in between - Agnes’s life in Rome where she marries, has a child, and a fulfilling career as a restoration artist. Quin’s life appears to have centered on “the satisfaction of a cherished bitterness.”  When the two meet, we are prepared for “payback” but will it be enough to justify the years of pain each woman has endured?  Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, There are many things I miss during the pandemic, but I especially miss traveling.  We had many trips planned for 2020 and all have been cancelled.  Could you recommend a book that will transport me to a faraway place at least in my imagination?  A Wishful Traveler

Dear Wishful Traveler, I know the feeling – we keep wondering if we will ever revisit one of our favorite destinations - magical, magnificent Venice - but  I do have a vicarious literary alternative: TRACE ELEMENTS by Donna Leon.  This is Leon’s 29^th Guido Brunetti mystery set as always in Venice, and once again offering us a glimpse into the many facets of life in this most beautiful of cities. Her mysteries are always more about moral dilemmas than actual crimes. There is little overt violence and often a morally ambiguous ending. Leon calls herself an eco- detective because she writes about ecologically damaging crimes. In this novel, a young widow asks Brunetti to investigate the death of her husband. The husband had been employed by a testing company that measured the cleanliness of Venice’s water supply. Shortly after submitting questionable results, he died in a mysterious motorcycle accident. What seemed like a private tragedy, is soon revealed to have much wider implications. All of Venice is endangered and Brunetti wonders what a good man can do in the face of a global catastrophe. A disturbing call to action and highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, With cold nights and chilly days upon us, my thoughts turn to a good read - a novel with a message…  Any thoughts?     A Chilled Reader

 Dear Chilled Reader, I recently read a short, widely admired novel you might enjoy: A CHILDREN’S BIBLE by Lydia Millet. We follow a group of twelve children - mostly teenagers - who are spending the summer together with their parents in a sprawling lakeside house on the East Coast of the United States. The children are contemptuous of their parents’ languid lifestyle. When a spectacularly destructive storm hits, the children leave the adults behind and head out on what looks like a merry adventure. They soon realize the storm is not a local phenomenon but is impacting the entire world…. the apocalypse has begun. Eva the narrator takes charge and tries to save the children particularly Jack - her young brother - who has brought along a children’s version of the Bible - a castaway from one of the adults. Jack is obsessed with the book and begins to see biblical allusions to the events around them. The children come to believe Jack’s Bible is coded to help them understand the cataclysm the world is experiencing, and we come to see this novel as a prophetic testament to the unraveling of the cosmos because of eons of neglect and malfeasance.  Frightening yet highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, With the coming of Fall and the start of school, I feel I should add some non-fiction to my reading list.  Present day politics is always fascinating but there are so many new books coming out, I find it hard to choose.  A recommendation?  Seeking Knowledge

Dear Seeking Knowledge, Last week I read an enlightening albeit very disturbing book: CASTE by Isabel Wilkerson. Her premise is that strict, often hidden lines divide and keep us apart. Caste can be seen as casting roles in a huge production with society being the producer. Because of your role, you are assumed to have certain qualities, personality traits, deficiencies, virtues, and vices. Whatever you do, your role or caste determines the outcome. Wilkerson traces the American caste system to colonial times and the human need to have an underclass. The concept of scapegoat which goes back to the earliest stages of human history is also addressed. She spends a large portion of the book linking the caste systems of America, Nazi Germany, and India, seeing a common thread based on bloodlines, stigma, and divine will with the cruel logic of casteism requiring a bottom class for those in the middle  to measure themselves. The book abounds in anecdotes that exemplify her observations. In the end, she offers some optimism that our society will be able to move beyond present divisions to a shared humanity. Highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru,  With the coming of Fall, my friends and I  have resolved to broaden our reading- We want to explore other lands, other cultures in fast paced novels.  Where shall we begin? Eager Learners

Dear Eager Readers,  Last week I  read a book I think you will find just right: BEIJING PAYBACK by Daniel Nieh. The novel opens with Victor Li and his sister Jules meeting with their father’s attorney to discuss his estate. College student Victor has led a very comfortable life in the suburbs of Los Angeles - a basketball player with many good friends, a beautiful home, and a devoted sister. But all this changes when his father is found murdered and Victor discovers he was not a simple restaurateur but a smuggler and part of a vast international crime syndicate. He is left with enigmatic instructions to return to Beijing where he quickly becomes embroiled in a glamorous world of glitz, intrigue, and incredible violence. We go back in time to China’s leanest Communist years and the horrors of his father’s childhood. As a way to escape, he and his friends joined together to form this criminal enterprise which continues to the present, resulting in his murder.  Throughout the novel, Victor reminds himself of advice his father gave him - now all the more important - as he travels in both worlds his father inhabited.   He (and the reader) is faced with moral quandaries as he confronts the roots of his privileged immigrant experience. Highly recommended!