Dear Great Book Guru,  Another great weekend coming up in Sea Cliff- the Springfest- Ed Lieberman and Kathleen DiResta’s creation- a full day of music and activities to showcase the many faces of Sea Cliff- its volunteer organizations, its crafts people, its businesses. It runs from 11am to 5pm along Sea Cliff Avenue and is immediately followed by the Northwinds Community Concert at Clifton Park. But before all of this, early on Saturday morning the streets will be filled  chatter and song as a merry band of James Joyceans recreate his famous ULYSSES Bloomsday walk through not Dublin but, yes- Sea Cliff ! The group will meet at 8am by the Water Tower for the hour odyssey. I would like to prepare a bit- any suggestions? Bloomsday Bon Vivant

Dear Bloomsday Bon Vivant,  I will certainly be attending  all these fun-filled events and, yes,  I do have a great book for you to read: THE MOST DANGEROUS BOOK- THE BATTLE FOR JAMES JOYCE’S ULYSSES by Kevin Birmingham.  Birmingham traces Joyce’s early years as he experiences the people and events that will populate his masterpiece:  Nora Barnacle his Molly Bloom, Alfred H. Hunter his Leopold Bloom,  plus a myriad of colorful Dubliners. We are in and out of New York and British courts as jurists struggle with the question of what constitutes obscene literature.  We learn of the pivotal role that the United States Postal Service played and the enormous influence the women’s suffragette movement had on Joyce’s fate. From 1904 when he began the novel until the final court case in 1933, we are on an emotional, educational, evocative odyssey equal indeed to Homer’s .  Highly recommended!