Dear Great Book Guru, I attended a fabulous party this weekend at Deborah and Jay Fossett's; the food, the wine, and the company were extraordinary. During the evening someone mentioned that she had found the perfect holiday gift for everyone on her list: a collection of seasonal plays by a local playwright. Would you know the title and would you too recommend it? Last Minute Gift Giver


Dear Last Minute Gift Giver, What a lucky person you are… first, to be a guest of the Fossetts and then to receive such a fabulous gift suggestion! CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS by the renowned playwright Fred Stroppel is a collection of Fred's plays all with holiday themes, all with a sharp edge, all hysterically funny. In the first entry- "O Christmas Tree"- a couple stands in front of the Rockefeller Center tree where he timidly professes his love and she harshly berates him for not sealing the deal with a ring. The dialogue rings so true you imagine yourself standing at the tree next to the hilariously mismatched couple. In "the Land of Sweets" an aging, far from sweet ballet teacher prepares her young students for a performance of "The Nutcracker" while in "Epiphany", we get a version the Three Wise Men and their journey that left me laughing aloud. There is nothing saccharine about any of these plays; rather, all are bitingly on target. This collection is available on Amazon's Kindle for $2.95. Highly recommended!

If you are in Sea Cliff on Saturday, Christmas Eve morning from 10:30 to 11:30am, stop by the Children's Library where local luminaries will take turns reading from Charles Dickens's CHRISTMAS CAROL. Sounds like great fun, doesn't it? Hope you can join us!