Dear Great Book Guru, We were at a rehearsal for Fred Stroppel’s upcoming TWISTED SHORTS at Sea Cliff Arts Council when someone brought up a new book about a family of revolutionaries and how they fared over the generations.Sounded interesting! Fan of Twisted Shorts................. Dear Fan of Twisted Shorts, THE HILL by Harriet Clark is her first novel and in many ways autobiographical. Clark’s mother was a member of the Weathermen and when Harriet was ten months old, her mother was the getaway driver in a bank heist gone wrong and two policemen and a security guard were killed. She was sentenced to life in prison and Harriet visited her for forty years. The story mirrors all this but focuses and fictionalizes the relationships she has with both her mother and those around her - friends and family. The Hill is the name she gives to the prison, and the novel opens with Suzanna - the daughter – being taken for her weekly prison visit by her grandfather. When he dies, she continues on her own because her grandmother – her mother’s mother - refuses to see or write to her daughter. Throughout, Suzanna is bewildered by her emotions - she loves her mother and feels loved but knows there are families devastated by her mother’s deeds. So, how can she herself forgive or by proxy be forgiven. As we go through the years with Suzanna, we see that her bewilderment and grief continue to grow. The novel captures the beauty and brutality that she experiences because of a decision made long ago and still - to this day - beyond her understanding. A painful read but highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, We are getting ready for the annual James Joyce Jaunt here in Sea Cliff on - of course - June 16: Bloomsday! Talking to friends about the Jaunt, one mentioned a great new book about London. It’s a true crime tale by the author of SAY NOTHING - that amazing story of the Irish Troubles. Does it sound familiar? James Joyce Jaunter............................................. Dear James Joyce Jaunter, Patrick Radden Keefe’s latest book is LONDON FALLING and it is by far the best book I’ve read this year. Divided into three parts, the book opens with the disappearance of teenager Zac Brettler. We share in the mounting anxiety of his parents as days go by without any sign of their son. The police seem less than interested and his friends offer conflicting stories of his possible whereabouts. This first section delves into Zac’s history, and we are shocked as are his parents to discover he has been living a double life posing as Zac Ismailov, son of a Russian oligarch. The second part of the book introduces a London few of us would recognize - a city’s whose very survival has become dependent on corruption, oligarch money, and underworld criminals. The third and final section focuses on Zac’s parents as they try to put together the truth surrounding their son’s bizarre transformation and eventual death. Throughout, they and the reader grapple with the question of whether we ever really can know even those we love dearly. Highly recommended!

Book Guru #1020 Dear Great Book Guru, I was at the Love Your Neighbor Project’s Porchfest last weekend. What fun! With twenty-two bands and close to a thousand people attending, the event was a huge success. While listening to one of my favorite bands - Hunt and Hughes - I overheard someone going on about a book she had just read - set on Martha’s Vineyard and in Manhattan, it was a tale of a fairytale marriage abruptly ended. Any thoughts? Porchfest Fan ................................ Dear Porchfest Fan, STRANGERS by Belle Burden is a fascinating memoir and literary mystery. Burden had been happily married twenty years to James, a very successful attorney when she learns he has been involved with a much younger woman and wants a divorce. The couple and their three young children were sheltering during Covid in their home on Martha’s Vineyard when this is revealed. The story itself is compelling as she tries to understand how they had once been so happy and now were strangers, but Burden’s family lineage brings this book to a different level of interest. She comes from immense wealth and is a descendant of a host of iconic figures such as John Jay, the first Supreme Court Justice, the Vanderbilts, and the Paleys, As she goes through the various stages of grief, she finds solace in work and her children, but she remains plagued by the realization she knew so little about this man with whom she had shared such happy moments. It’s a beautifully written “memoir of a marriage.” Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, With the Sea Cliff Baseball/Softball season about to begin - I’m throwing out the opening pitch - I cannot contain my excitement! However, while I’m a great fan of the game, I do like to have a good book with me at all times. Do you have something to recommend for me when things slow down on the field? Ardent Book and Baseball Fan.................................. Dear Ardent Book and Baseball Fan, Emma Straub, one of my favorite authors and owner of my absolute favorite bookstore “Books Are Magic” in Brooklyn, has just come out with a new book: AMERICAN FANTASY. Set on a cruise ship hosting three thousand fans of a 1990’s fictional band, BoyTalk, this three-hundred-page novel introduces us to the world of aging boy band fandom from the perspectives of Sarah, the cruise ship manager, Keith, the fifty year-old member of the band, and Annie, one of the band’s multitude of fans. Annie is on the cruise reluctantly – her sister Katherine, a diehard fan, had convinced her to come along. Things were going badly for Annie - she was recently divorced, her daughter had moved out, and she had just learned her job of two decades had been given to a young intern influencer. When her sister breaks her leg and is unable to go on the cruise, Annie tries desperately to get out of the trip to no avail. Very soon into the four-day voyage, her spirits lift, she relives the exuberance of her teen years, and a shipboard romance develops. This is a fun read that contains some profound insights into what it means to revisit one’s past and revive earlier passions - highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, It has been a wonderful week of celebrations: Easter and Passover feasts, family and friends gathering for seders, egg hunts, and lots of chocolate! As always when we are together, the topic of good books comes up. One of the partygoers recommended a book set in a nail salon… any thoughts? Holiday Book Lover.......................... Dear Holiday Book Lover, PICK A COLOR by Souvankham Thammavongsa is a beautifully written look into a world many of us think we know …but do we really? Set over one day in a small nail salon, this short novel (under two hundred pages) introduces us to a myriad of characters described by a first-person narrator, Ning, owner of the shop. Her five employees all wear Susan name tags, identical black dresses, and have the same hairstyles so that their privileged clients assume their “Susan” is always ready, always available to meet their needs. There is a practiced script the workers follow – carefully enunciating “pick a color” twice and quickly offering a “ten dollar” special if a customer objects to a price. Throughout the day, Ning and her employees talk in their native language about their customers with great humor, insight, and – yes - crudity. Ning lives alone above the shop in a sparse studio apartment, and we learn that she had been a famous boxer in her earlier years. Lessons she had learned in the ring come back to her as she maneuvers the intricacies of her daily existence. This book is a subtle look into the immigrant experience, workplace relationships, and the shifting dynamics of power. Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, I was at the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor’s exciting Crawl for a Cause where someone mentioned a new book. People couldn’t decide whether it was a novel and a collection of short stories, but all agreed it was a great read. Does it sound familiar? Fan of the Coalition................. Dear Fan of the Coalition, Over the years, I have read Allegra Goodman’s short stories in “The New Yorker” magazine so I was delighted to discover she had brought many of them together and added some in THIS IS NOT ABOUT US. She describes it on the cover as “fiction”- not exactly a novel or a collection of short stories but something quite unique. Told from the perspectives of multiple family members, the book opens with a defining event: the death of Jennie - the youngest (73 years-old) of three sisters. Sisters Helen and Sylvia have a bitter, years-spanning feud over an apple cake that is served at the funeral, and the remaining sixteen stories are about the sisters, their husbands, children, and grandchildren. We get to see these characters in a myriad of situations: applying for college, Nutcracker auditions, divorces, new glass frames, job interviews…It’s a great treat to meet up with peripheral characters we have met earlier who reappear telling their versions of events. Interestingly, the stories confirm that yes – it IS all about us - as we see ourselves in the complex fabric that makes up this and every family. Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, I am very excited about an upcoming event here in Sea Cliff at St. Luke’s Community Hall - “A Dinner and Play!” Apparently, the play is based on a Barbara Pym novel. Do you know anything about the novel? Interested in Pym....................................................... Dear Interested in Pym, Barbara Pym’s 1930’s novel CRAMPTON HODNET has been adapted by Dan DiPietro, directed by Fred Stroppel, and will be performed with over twenty Sea Cliff folks taking part. Pym has written twelve books - any of which I would highly recommend - but I must admit this is one of my favorites. Set in Oxford with its ancient colleges and medieval rituals and written decades ago, the novel has a surprisingly modern tone. It is a very funny take on village life - a village peopled by quirky characters including pretentious professors, young romantics, philandering spouses, and interfering relatives. There are two intersecting plot lines: the middle-aged Francis Cleveland’s dalliance and the lonely but very witty Jessie Morrow’s passionless affair with Stephen Latimer - a young curate (he forgets her name as he is proposing to her). Crampton Hodnet is the name of a fictional village invented by Latimer to cover for an early misadventure. Tangled romances, misread moments, and furtive escapades all make for a great read and a hilarious evening of theater. Highly recommended!