Dear Great Book Guru, Last night I was at a wonderful Winter Solstice party here in Sea Cliff.  We all had great fun and as we were leaving, one of the partygoers mentioned a collection of plays by a local playwright.  She said they all had a dark but hilarious take on the holidays. I still have a long list of people to buy gifts for and this sounds like the perfect gift. What are your thoughts?  Procrastinating Present Purchaser

Dear Procrastinating , You truly have stumbled upon the perfect gift-  Fred Stroppel’s CHRISTMAS COCKTAILS-  a collection of six plays all with a holiday theme, all brutally funny. “O Christmas Tree” opens with a young couple gazing at the tree at Rockefeller Center. As he timidly tells her he loves her, she begins to berate him for not giving her a ring- “This is not about love; this is about a holiday tradition! You go into New York City to see the tree, you get engaged. It’s a no brainer,”says the lovely Jennifer. In “Epiphany” we meet the three kings who are more “wise guys” than wise men, while in “Jingle Bell Express” we get to meet the unhappy employees of the ever cheerful, very shabby Christmas Village. My favorite was “The Land of the Sweets” where Madam Irina, an aging, hard drinking, fast talking ballet teacher savagely critiques her students’ Nutcracker performances. There is nothing sentimental in any of the six plays- just some of the funniest dialogue you will hear this holiday season.   Available as a Kindle book for $2.95, it is indeed the perfect gift !