Dear Great Book Guru, We just watched the Sea Cliff-Glen Head Lions Club’s video of the Menorah and Christmas Tree Lighting.  It was spectacular and really put me in the holiday mood.  I am thinking of book gift giving.  Any ideas to start with?  In a Holiday Mood

 Dear In A Holiday Mood, I just finished a book you might enjoy reading yourself before giving as a gift: MONOGAMY by Sue Miller.  We are introduced to Graham and Annie in the opening pages - they had met thirty years before at the grand opening of Graham’s bookstore near Harvard Square in Cambridge. This bookstore plays an important role throughout their marriage. In the very first pages of the book, Graham dies and the rest of the novel explores the impact his life and death have on those around him.  The story is told over many decades and from many perspectives: mostly Annie’s but also their children Sarah and Lucas, Graham’s first wife Frieda, long time friends, an aging neighbor Karen, and Graham himself.  Annie and he seem an unlikely match: he is a bon vivant - large, exuberant, intensely social while she is a photographer - small, reserved and introspective.  Many aspects of their relationship are gradually revealed and, in the end, we are left with a feeling of bittersweet sorrow over the complexity of all human interaction. Highly recommended!