Dear Great Book Guru, What a dreary day,-rain, snow, winds- when will it end? Please recommend a good book to get me through the January blues- something cozy, something spirited, something I'll like! Desperate in Sea Cliff

Dear Desperate, January is my least favorite month and while my choice is never to leave Sea Cliff, I did spend the past weekend in Florida's South Beach. The sun and warm weather were fine, but the best part of the trip was the glorious, uninterrupted time to read. I was able to devour three great books: ROOM WITH A VIEW (for my Sunday Dinner book group), a wonderful Hazel Holt mystery (I'll save that for another column), and MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND by Helen Simonson, (my recommendation for you). This is a first novel by an Englishwoman who although having lived in Brooklyn for over twenty years has retained a keen appreciation for the nuances of British manners and mores. Major Pettigrew was born in India in the early 1940's, son of English colonel whose claim to fame lay in his mythic rescue of a maharishi's daughter during the disastrous partition of India. For this deed he received a dual set of rifles, each now owned by one of his sons The novel opens with the death of the Major's younger brother and immediately the question of the rifles' ownership arises. Dark humor permeates the book with a strong touch of sweet romance and virulent racism- all centered on the lovely Mrs. Ali, a Pakistani widow, who runs a local convenience store in the Major's village. We watch with great interest as Major Pettigrew "grows "beyond his "petty" class concerns and takes a stand