Dear Great Book Guru, Exciting events await us here in Sea Cliff - the Scrooge Stroll, the Turkey Scavenger Hunt, the Holiday Lighting, the Introduction to The Nutcracker - all over the next few weeks!  Will there be time for a good book?  Of course... and do you have something to suggest?   Never Weary in Sea Cliff

Dear Never Weary, I have just the book for you - fast moving, under 300 pages, and a prize winner: COLORED TELEVISION by Danzy Senna.  Told from the perspective of Jane - a writer and untenured academic - set in Los Angeles, this novel explores the intricacies of class, race, and Hollywood politics.  We meet Jane as she is struggling to finish her second novel, a huge undertaking:  a modern WAR and PEACE - while dealing with her children Finn and Ruby - and aspiring artist husband Lenny.  Little money is coming in and their credit cards are maxed out - largely on an unscrupulous marriage therapist, when an unbelievable opportunity arises (emphasis on unbelievable): a year-long housesitting stint in a Hollywood mansion.  This is a dream come true for Jane - she will finish her novel, her children will attend a great school, and Lenny can paint masterpieces.  Things take a dark turn when she answers the lure of Hollywood and finds herself in a plagiarism debacle. While Senna tells a very funny tale, there is a strong undercurrent of horror at the pressures that our heroine faces, and the reader soon realizes this is a cautionary tale indeed - highly recommended!

 Dear Great Book Guru, Now with Halloween over and Thanksgiving a few weeks away, I am is search of a good book to get me through the cold dark weeks ahead. Something captivating and meaningful… Fall into Fall

Dear Falling into Fall, The much awaited and celebrated latest Sally Rooney novel has  arrived on the literary scene: INTERMEZZO. Rooney is a thirty-three year old Irish writer who has written a number of very successful novels – some made into movies - BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE and A CONVERSATION WITH FRIENDS, among others.  Her latest deals with two brothers grieving the death of their father. Peter is a thirty-three-year-old very successful lawyer and academic while Ivan is his much younger brother – a chess prodigy and very socially awkward.    Peter is involved with two women – Naomi who is essentially homeless and in her early twenties and Sylvia, a brilliant college professor who is permanently disabled from an earlier car accident.   The story opens with Ivan attending a chess tournament and meeting Margaret who is ten years older and struggling to recover from an abusive marriage.  The story is told in alternating chapters from the perspectives of the brothers and the women who love them. The brothers actively dislike each other through much of the novel and it is only through the women in their lives do we get to know or like them. By the end of the novel, we realize both men are deeply grieving past losses and only the present, fleeting, intermittent moments of love can offer them peace.  A challenging book but worthwhile – recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, While I love all seasons of the year in Sea Cliff, Fall is a particularly beautiful, event-filled time. The Halloween parade, the Cider Social, the Progressive Dinner…all favorites of mine! Of course, I would like a good book to read while watching each of these events unfold.  Any suggestions?  Falling for Fall

Dear Falling for Fall, Last week I read a wonderful, very unusual book, FIRE EXIT by Morgan Talty.  Blood lineage plays a major role in this novel. Charles is a middle-aged man whose mother was white and married to a Penobscot. According to an 1980 law passed in Maine, Charles was forced to leave the reservation when he turned eighteen because he was not a “pure blood” Penobscot. His Penobscot stepfather Frederick helps find him a home across the river from the reservation, but the added “blood” tragedy is Charles has a daughter Elizabeth with a Penobscot young woman Mary.  So that Mary and she will continue to live on the reservation, Charles allows her to be raised by Mary’s new Penobscot husband.  Tortured by his love for Mary and Elizabeth, Charles turns to alcohol and battles this addiction for twenty-two years - all the time living across the river from them. When Elizabeth shows signs of depression – an affliction his mother has battled for years, Charles desperately wants to reveal his paternity.  The story line focuses on community ties versus blood ties as Charles tries to reconcile his needs against those of his daughter. A riveting tale that presents characters trying to do the right thing in a complicated world bound by culture and yes…blood! Recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, Sea Cliff is so beautiful at this time of year - well it’s beautiful every season of the year, but the old  Victorians give an especially awesome, eerie feeling during the Fall.   I’m looking for a really good book that evokes that sense of mystery and autumnal wonder.  Thoughts?  Falling for Sea Cliff

 Dear Falling for Sea Cliff, I just finished the perfect book for you: THE GOD OF THE WOODS by Liz Moore. Set in an Adirondacks camp owned by a very wealthy family, the novel recounts the disappearance of a young camper in August 1975. The story is told from the perspectives of seven people: the parents, various campers, counselors, and the young detective assigned to the case. The family employs most of the townspeople so there is an uneasy alliance between the two groups.  The novel goes back and forth from the fifties to 1975 - where the story opens. Barbara, daughter of the wealthy VanLaar Family, is missing from her bunk – fourteen years before her eight-year-old brother disappeared and was never found.  The remainder of the book traces the impact these events have on three worlds: the opulent summer community, the camp which exists in its shadow, and the working-class townspeople who serve both worlds. This is much more than a simple thriller - it is a complex study of character, sociological impact, and history of the times. It appears on many Best Books of the Year lists, including Barak Obama’s Summer Reading List.  Highly recommended

 

Dear Great Book Guru, Last week at the Sea Cliff Mini Mart, I met up with so many friends from long ago and one of them mentioned an intriguing book about family dynamics set on  a London stage. Does it sound familiar?  Fan of Family Tales

Dear Fan of Family Tales, THE HYPOCRITE by Jo Hamya is set in Sicily and London and takes place in 2010 and 2020.  Sophia is a twenty-seven-year-old successful playwright whose latest work is about a month she had spent in Sicily ten years before with her novelist father.  Her father is in the audience for a matinee performance of her play, having no idea the play is about him - he has carefully avoided reading reviews. Sophia and her mother are having lunch above in the terrace restaurant of the playhouse. The storyline shifts from the father and his reaction to seeing his past come to life on the stage - the kitchen in Sicily, his favorite purple shirt, and most importantly the many women he entertained while his daughter slept nearby…. to the mother-daughter conversation about the play.   Her memories of the conversations she overheard, the lies and exaggerations, half truths are all acted out on stage and her father - to his horror - is portrayed as a mediocre writer and latent misogynist.  Meanwhile as Sophia and her mother lunch, a variety of characters appear to discuss the play going on in the theater below.  As her mother becomes more and more drunk and belligerent, Sophia continues to deny the play is about her family, leaving the reader to question who indeed is the hypocrite? Recommended! 

 

 

Dear Great Book Guru, I heard recently there are some great books out that are based on Charles Dickens’s novels but set in present time. Sounds very interesting…are you familiar with them? Lover of Dickens

Dear Lover of Dickens, Yes - I just finished DEMON COPPERHEAD by the award-winning author Barbara Kingsolver, and it was great!  Based on Dickens’s DAVID COPPERFIELD, this novel is set in present time Appalachia – Lee County, Virginia and many of the same issues Dickens’s addressed in 1800’s London are covered here.  Demon Copperhead - born Damon Fields - to a young drug addicted mother - tells his life story from birth to adulthood and quite a story it is.  His first years are spent with his mother and although impoverished, the pair are relatively happy. This somewhatsecure existence comes to an end when she marries Stoner, a harshly cruel man who abuses her and tortures Demon.  She soon falls back into addiction and dies leaving Demon in the care of his stepfather who turns him over to a corrupt, dehumanizing foster care system.  Demon goes from one bad situation to the next when a sports injury causes him to become addicted to doctor-prescribed painkillers.   Along the way he encounters a few caring adults, but, for the most part, family,friends, and community fail him, and it is only through his own perseverance that he manages to survive.  Like Dickens’s David, our Demon fights many demons not of his making - but those created by failures of society and its institutions. A painful tale but a very worthwhile read and highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, My friends and I have decided to tackle reading the latest Booker Prize winners and I see that the group has just published their “short list” of winners.  Could you suggest a favorite of yours from this list?  Reader of Winners

Dear Reader of Winners, There are six books on this year’s list and all are great, but my favorite by far was Rachel Kushner’s CREATION LAKE. Kushner’s novel is a fascinating combination of mystery, humor, science, and spy antics.  Set in the present, it is the story of “Sadie Smith” a pseudonym for a thirty-four-year-old woman who has acted as a government agent for many years until a botched case involving a young man, five hundred pounds of explosives, and charges of entrapment cause her to be fired by the FBI.  She then sets out on a very lucrative career path as a spy-for-hire. Her first assignment is working for  a huge unnamed industrial complex that is eager to shut down an environmentalist farming commune with a long history of violence.  The mastermind/puppeteer is Bruno who had been involved in the May 1968 Paris riots. He subsequently disappeared from public view, communicating his radical ideas in emails from underground caves.  His messages are perhaps the most fascinating part of the book as he lays out his beliefs about human evolution and the superiority of the Neanderthals or Thals as he calls them. According to him, much of present-day discord and misery lies in the demise of the Thals and the ascension of the Sapiens.  Sadie finds herself rethinking her mission as she grapples with Bruno and his disciples.  A very different take on spy craft and highly recommended! 

 

 Dear Great Book Guru,  My friends and I were talking recently about a new book we would like to use for our monthly book discussion. It is a story of a family here on Long Island who deals with a devastating medical ordeal  The book reads like an unfolding mystery.  Are you familiar with it? – can’t remember the name.  Interested Reader

Dear Interested Reader, Yes - I recently read IN THE FACE OF CATASTROPHE by Jennifer Rose Goldman and Caryn Meg Hirshleifer, a remarkable tale of bravery and familial devotion.  Told from the perspectives of parents, a sibling, friends, and medical personnel, the book does indeed read like a novel with suspense and colorful characterization throughout. The story opens as Jenn, a thirty-one-year-old woman begins her workday in a well-known North Shore clothing store on – yes - the Miracle Mile! Moments into the day she suffers a massive stroke and so begins an incredible story of pain, trauma, fear, and devotion in which a seeming tragedy turns into a tale of extraordinary love and healing. Jenn, her parents and sister Amanda each tell in their own words their feelings, reactions, and the part they play during a year of unbelievable ups and downs.  Much is lost but much is gained as each of them finds strength in the face of the unknown.  There are echoes of the biblical tale of Job and his misfortunes as calamity after calamity befall the family, but the outcome is suffused with grace and gratitude.  A remarkable book that should be read by all - highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, My favorite author is Barbara Pym and she is known among some readers as the Jerry Seinfeld of the literary world - she writes about nothing! Recently I read about a new novel that deals with just that: nothing really.  Have you heard of it? Into Nothing

Dear Into Nothing, Yes, I recently read THE ANTHROPOLOGISTS by Aysegul Savas and immediately thought of Pym. This is the story of the daily routines of Asya and Manu, a couple from an unknown country and set in yet another unknown country as they search for an apartment.  Each apartment offers a different way of life - depending on views, number of rooms, type of kitchen, location…  the multitude of small details that come together to make up a life. They take great pleasure in imagining each of the different scenarios the various apartments suggest. As they search, life goes on as parents and grandparents age, friendships are formed and broken, meals are described, consumed and forgotten.  Asya is a videographer, and she is determined to record a nearby park with its seasonal transitions, again emphasizing the delicate beauty of subtle change. The couple form a friendship with an elderly neighbor, and we observe the myriad of change that comes with age.  Throughout, we are party to Asya and Manu’s lives where nothing dramatic occurs, but their lives are recognized as being made up of fragmented beauty. The reader is inevitably made to think about and cherish those many barely remembered moments that indeed make up a life.  Highly recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, With the beginning of the new school year, I feel the need to start a weekly reading regimen.  Do you have an engrossing, worthwhile, short book you would recommend? Starting in September

Dear Starting in September, I just finished a fascinating book and – yes - it’s only 238 pages: THE SAFEKEEP by Yael Van Der Wouden. Set in the Netherlands in 1961, the novel opens with Isabel – a quirky thirtyish year-old woman discovering a broken piece of pottery. Isabel lives in her dead mother’s country home and sees very few people.  Her brothers Hendrik and Louis live in the city and visit for a day or so twice a year. Her life is very circumscribed so when Louis insists his latest girlfriend Eva stay with Isabel for a month while he is on a business trip, Isabel is furious and totally unsettled.  Eva is the opposite of Isabel in every way. She sleeps late, dresses garishly, talks loudly and incessantly, but worst of all - she is not careful with the household treasures. The tension builds with Isabel counting the days until Eva will leave, but suddenly things begin to disappear, and the two women are confronted by mysterious happenings that draw them together. Soon we see that the house itself is a character.  Vestiges of World War II permeate the landscape and minds of both Eva and Isabel, leaving the reader to question if either woman can be trusted.   Highly recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, With Summer 2024 coming to an end, I am craving a “vacation” book - lots of characters, lovely setting, and quick-paced. Any thoughts? End of Summer Blues

Dear End of Summer Blues, I know the feeling – Sea Cliff summers are magical with the beautiful beach, its Cliffside Café, lots of outdoor dining in our great restaurants and shops, concerts at the Beach and the iconic Sunset Serenades! We are great fans of Emma Straub - owner of our favorite bookstores in Brooklyn, Books Are Magic, and award-winning author.  Her 2014 bestseller THE VACATIONERS is the perfect end of summer read.  Set in a spacious rental home in Majorca, the story is told from the viewpoints of its seven characters: Frannie, the matriarch and food critic, Jim, her husband who has just been fired because of a brief romance with his boss’s daughter; Bobby, their son and his much older personal trainer/girlfriend Carmen; Sylvia, their daughter who is about to begin college and wants  desperately to “reinvent” herself; and, finally, Charles and Lawrence, friends of Franny’s. All these characters arrive at the vacation home with secrets and sorrows.  Living in close proximity doesn’t make any of these problems go away and before the two weeks of vacation have ended, the reader is left wondering why anyone would want to leave home. Great fun and highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, I loved your suggestion last week of THE GREAT GATSBY and was wondering if you can think of another book with a similar theme and setting ?   A Great Gatsby Fan

Dear Great Gatsby Fan, I have the perfect book for you: THE WINNER by Teddy Wayne.   Connor O’Toole is a twenty-five-year-old recent law school graduate who lands a dream summer job - teaching tennis at Cutters Neck - a very exclusive gated community near Cape Cod. The job comes with a lovely cottage.  During the year he lives with his sickly mother in a shabby, cramped apartment in Yonkers and he is burdened with mountains of credit card debt and school loans.  Covid fears permeate his daily existence. Life at Cutters Neck changes all this.  He quickly finds himself immersed in a romantic entanglement with his first student:  Catherine - a very wealthy, much older woman. When he meets her daughter, things become complicated, very complicated. Throughout Connor is confronted and confounded by the disparities of wealth and status all around him.  At times he is grateful to his benefactors but more often he is angry as he observes the privilege that wealth confers. This anger causes him to make some horrific choices and suddenly we begin to realize Connor has tricked us and everyone else he encounters.  The character he most resembles is not Jay Gatsby – a mysterious yet sympathetic figure - but the amoral, dangerously duplicitous Tom Ripley in THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY.  Highly Recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, I have been invited to a “Great Gatsby Gala.” It has been many years since I read THE GREAT GATSBY. Any suggestions as to how to prepare? P.S. I heard there will be a Gatsby trivia contest and I am eager to shine!  Gatsby Gala Guest

Dear Gatsby Gala Guest, What fun awaits you! First, of course, reread THE GREAT GATSBY. You will be astonished how much you missed your first time. Many believe it to be the greatest of the Great American Novels with its prescient commentary on race, class, and gender. When first published, it was viewed as a crime noir with its violent deaths, femme fatales, and mobster connections. Later it was appreciated for its commentary on the quixotic American dream of redemption.  Then for many years, it was seen as a cautionary tale of the danger of passions pursued. Today many readers admire it for its lyrical prose and profound metaphors. Of course, the setting  with its North Shore venues  plays a huge part in our enjoyment of the novel. Gatsby lives in the nouveau rich Great Neck (West Egg) as opposed to the more genteel, old wealth of Manhasset (East Egg), and the horrific climax takes place in- is it Douglaston, Queens?   This is a book to be read over and over with new insights to be found each time. As Fitzgerald wrote, “so we beat on, boats against the current, borne ceaselessly into the past.” Highly recommended!

 Dear Great Book Guru, Summer 2024  is moving along so rapidly and I falling far behind in my quest to read a good book each week. Please help me – I need a quick moving, interest catching novel – doesn’t have to be new … Summer Reader

Dear Summer Reader,  Lots of us see summer as the best time of year to catch up on books we might have missed, and for me it was Tom Perrotta’s THE LEFTOVERS. Made into a long running TV series, the novel has been on my must-read list for years so last week I tackled it and am happy I did.  I’m sure you will enjoy it too.  The premise of both the book and TV series is that three years in the past on October 14, over a million people of all ages disappeared from all parts of the world- a Rapture of sorts. The novel focuses on the aftermath of this climatic moment and its effects on families in one village- perhaps a bit reminiscent of Sea Cliff!  Kevin Garvey the new mayor and  his two children Tom and Jill are dealing with a loss-wife Laurie has left them to join a group seeking to make amends for the sins of those left behind- the Guilty Remanent.  Another villager Nora Durst   has lost both husband and children to the Rapture and she finds herself unable to go forth especially when secrets are revealed about the past. Holy Wayne is a local figure who has founded a   religion to make sense  of  who and what remains.  As each of the characters struggles to find meaning in this occurrence, we see glimmers of our own quests to explain the unexplainable.  A thought-provoking book and highly recommended! 

Dear Great Book Guru,  Every place I go in the last week people are talking about a new book set on Long Island about a kidnapping that took place fifty years ago. Have you read it and -if so- would you recommend it?  Lover of All Things Long Island

Dear Lover of All Things ….. Yes- I just finished Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s newest novel LONG ISLAND COMPROMISE and what an epic tale she tells.  At the core of the book is an actual  kidnapping with a fictionalized account of its aftermath on the lives of  Carl Fletcher -the victim, his wife, mother , three children, and their entire secular and religious community. The story actually begins decades before the kidnapping - during World War II when the Fletcher patriarch is saved from certain death and his fortune assured by a chance encounter in Europe. He arrives in New York, opens a plastics factory, and the family settles in the affluent North Shore village of  Middle Rock- closely modeled on Long Island’s  Great Neck. Their wealth grows as does their stature in the community. Traumatized by the kidnapping, each family member gets to tell his/her story and we quickly realize that no one has escaped the brutality  of the original crime. The community too is harmed irreparably with its realization that religion,  money and status offer no protection from life’s calamities. Ultimately, the myths that the Fletchers have based their identity also collapse and each family member must confront long hidden truths. Highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, I was at a favorite bookstore of ours in Brooklyn “Books Are Magic” when I noticed a posting of an author visit.  The book looked very interesting particularly to us living here in Sea Cliff: an old Victorian house with a long history - about to be renovated.  Are you familiar with it?  Lover of Old Houses

Dear Lover of Old Houses, J. Courtney Sullivan’s THE CLIFFS is a fascinating novel set in the cliffs of Maine, but, except for the ocean views, could have taken place in Sea Cliff.  Told from the viewpoints of five families who have lived in the cliffs, the book opens with the story of Jane Flanagan, a high school senior who has won a scholarship to nearby Bates College and is intrigued by an abandoned violet-colored Victorian mansion.  Everything is intact - books, dishes, paintings, furniture… but no one has lived in the house for many years. Fast forward twenty years and Jane - now a Harvard archivist - returns to discover a wealthy Beacon Hill summer resident has purchased the house and is the midst of modernizing it. But something is amiss - there is a haunting sense of foreboding and Jane is hired to trace its previous owners.  The remainder of the book is told from the perspective of  the women who had  lived in the house: the original builders, the Littletons; the Troy sisters who ran it as a boarding house; Marilyn - a ninety year old painter; Sister Eliza - a former Shaker; and finally Naomi, a Penobscot who gives us the insight of the original inhabitants of the land on which the house is built.  A fascinating look into the history of one house and indeed - a whole nation - highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru,  This has been an incredible few weeks filled with wonderful community building events from the Ice Cream Social, the Patriotic Bike Parade, Happy Birthday USA, and finally the iconic reading of the Declaration of Independence celebration  on the Village Green.  Now I find myself in need of a simple, relaxing beach read- and - yes, that’s where I’m headed : Sea Cliff Beach !    Beach Bound

Dear Beach Bound, Over the last few weeks I’ve read some compelling books: FOUR SHOTS IN THE NIGHT: A true story of Spies, Murder, and Justice in Northern Ireland, OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II AND THE INVENTION OF THE MUSICAL, and SPY FOR NO COUNTRY… but since you are looking for a quintessential beach read I suggest: Emily Henry’s BEACH READ. Told from the perspective of January Andrews, a writer of romance novels, who has recently inherited a beach house next to a high school nemesis and literary fiction writer Augustus Everitt, this is a fast-paced study in contrasts.  January and Everitt while incredibly hostile to one another at first discover they are both suffering from acute cases of ‘writer’s block’.  Their back stories are filled with exquisite details and their daily encounters are humor packed. However, the story takes a “novel” turn when they decide to switch book genres. Can Augustus write a romance novel and January, a serious piece of literary fiction?  Their journey into new worlds is both fascinating and amusing.  A good summer read and recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, The weather has been so oppressive, my family and I have had little interest in leaving the air-conditioned comfort of our home, but I do feel this is the perfect time for a chilly mystery.  Any suggestions?   Chilling Out with a Good Book

Dear Chilling Out, I have just the book for a sultry summer day: WHAT HAPPENED TO NINA by Dervla McTiernan.  The story opens with Nina - a twenty-year-old college student recounting details of her long-term romance with Simon - a childhood friend.  The last words of her introduction are “And then I went downstairs to tell Simon we were over, and I never wanted to see him again.”  Each of the remaining thirty-six chapters is told from a different point of view: Nina’s parents, Simon’s parents, Detective Wright, friends of the couple, and Grace - a young sibling. We soon see this is more than a crime novel but rather a study of the effects of social media on the pursuit of justice as we view the cruel victimization of Nina and her family.  Simon’s parents’ wealth allows them to circumvent the law in many subtle and not so subtle ways: the hiring of a PR firm and high-powered lawyers, the manipulation of security cameras, and the intimidation of neighbors, while Nina’s family relentlessly pursues all avenues - legal and otherwise - to get their daughter back.  The characters are colorfully described and as we learn more and more about each of their stories, we wonder if the truth will ever be known.  Highly recommended! 

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, Sea Cliff Beach is the place to be! A group of my friends gather every Sunday morning at the Cliffside Café run by the Potters of Foster restaurant fame and what fun it is with great food and camaraderie. This week someone brought up a book he had just finished and strongly recommended - about an island bookstore. Any thoughts? Beach and Book Lover

Dear Beach and Book Lover, A perfect book to read at the beach … or just about anywhere: THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin.  A. J. Firky is the quirky, very unhappy owner of Island Books - a failing bookstore in an island community. A.J.’s beloved wife had died in a car accident the year before the story opens.  He is despondent, having lost interest in everything - the bookstore, his few friends, even reading, a former passion of his. Quotes from favorite books are scattered throughout the novel. He dreams of selling a rare book of Poe poems, the  bookstore, and leaving the island forever - when he finds a package on his doorstep.  From that moment on, A.J. makes decisions that transform his life.  The local police chief and he start a true crime book club, parents gather to discuss books on child rearing, and he rediscovers - yes - children’s literature.  The Island Book Store becomes the true center of the community and all the while mysterious characters and incidents reveal themselves for a completely satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru,  I’m looking for a great Father’s Day gift for my dad. I know he loves non-fiction, particularly something about American history.  Anything new you would recommend?  A Good Daughter

Dear Good Daughter,  I have a great recommendation: Erik Lawson’s newest book: THE DEMON OF UNREST.  Lawson has written many books of non-fiction all of which read like mesmerizing novels and this latest is no exception. The book covers the few months between Lincoln’s election and the beginning of the Civil War with the fall of Fort Sumter. Lincoln, Jefferson Davies, and other familiar figures play decisive roles, but it is the little known characters Lawson introduces that make this an unforgettable, hard to put down book. One of these was Henry Villard, a German teenager, who ran away to America,  assuming  a classmate’s identity so he could not be traced. He began writing for various American newspapers, exposing the horrors of slavery and eventually helped in the election of Lincoln.  He went on to marry the daughter of the anti-slavery campaigner Willian Llyod Garrison and acquired the New York Evening Post and The Nation magazine and various railroad and steamship companies.  Another little known but crucial player in Lawson’s book was Mary Chesnut who describes the night leading up to the siege of Charleston with its sumptuous dinner: the pate fois gras, biscuit glace, and champagne frappe.  These exquisite details are described as a backdrop to the monumental forces at work leading the nation into a war where there were 750, 000 casualties. The book is made up of these fascinating characters who played roles small and large in this immense tragedy.  Highly recommended! 

 

Dear Great Book Guru, What a weekend in Sea Cliff - first the Porchfest with 30 bands playing on porches and lawns all over the Village and then the Landmarks House Tour with 300 plus people visiting six of Sea Cliff’s unique homes. During the Porchfest one of the band members said she had to get home to finish a compelling sequel to Colm Tobin’s BROOKLYN.  Are you familiar with the book? Huge Porchfest Fan

Dear Huge Porchfest Fan, LONG ISLAND is Colm Tobin’s sequel to his very popular novel and movie adaptation BROOKLYN.  Set in 1976 – twenty-five years after BROOKLYN ends, the novel opens with Eilis living in Lindenhurst, Long Island with her husband Tony Fiorello and her two teenage children. They live in a family compound of sorts with his parents, his brothers, and their families where large boisterous Italian Sunday dinners color (or cloud) her existence.  Eilis still feels the outsider and yearns for her family back in Ireland whom she hasn’t seen in twenty years. When she learns of Tony’s infidelity, she decides to return to Enniscorthy, the small village where she was born. From this point on, the story is told from the perspective of Nancy - her childhood friend - and Jim Farrell, the man Eilis loved and left twenty-five years before.  Jim never married and has been carrying on a discreet affair with Nancy - a recent widow.  With the arrival of Eilis and her Americanized ways, all of Enniscorthy is thrown into turmoil, especially Jim and Nancy.  The story has many exquisite details and subplots leaving the reader wondering what ending to wish for. A compelling read and highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru,  I was at an event at the Sea Cliff Arts Council recently: Fred Stroppel’s iconic “Twisted Shorts” - eight extraordinarily funny vignettes - when one of the cast members mentioned a wonderful new book about a team of workers at a big box  store. It sounded interesting - thoughts?  Fan of “Twisted Shorts”

Dear Fan of “Twisted Shorts,” Adelle Waldman’s HELP WANTED is not to be missed!  Set in upstate New York, the novel introduces us to twelve people working in a huge box store -think Target or Costco - most of whom are members of Team Movement. These workers   clock in at 3:55am to unload the delivery trucks, stock the shelves, organize the merchandise before the store opens, and check out at 9am.  The work is grueling and their pay low. Hours are limited by management so there are no health benefits, vacation or sick time, but jobs in this part of the state are scarce and most of the workers have few qualifications for better jobs.  Waldman describes the lives of these workers in exquisite detail, and we feel great sympathy as we learn about their individual plights. When the store manager Big Will is promoted to another facility, everyone realizes there is a possible chance for advancement or at least some realignment.  The Team comes together in an elaborate plot to sabotage their hated self-absorbed crew leader Meredith, and we cheer them on.  While there is much humor throughout, we witness the underlying injustices low- wage workers encounter in the modern workplace.  A thought-provoking book on many levels and highly recommended! 

 

 

Dear Great Book Guru, Sea Cliff is beautiful all times of the year, but Spring is an especially wonderful time with tulips abounding and cherry trees blossoming. As always, my thoughts turn to a quest for a good book while enjoying the beauty around me…something meaningful and good for discussion.    Enraptured in Sea Cliff

 Dear Enraptured in Sea Cliff, I recently read a book a number of friends and family recommended: ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby.  Set in a fictional town in rural Virginia, the novel opens with a school shooting. The shooter is a young Black man who targets only one person - a beloved schoolteacher. Titus Crowne, recently elected as the first Black sheriff of the town, faces pressure from all sides as he investigates this murder.  The case quickly becomes racially charged when the young shooter is killed, and evidence reveals a series of murders going back decades.   Titus – a former FBI agent - had returned to his hometown with hopes of changing the existing criminal justice system which is plagued with widespread corruption.  His election was a surprise to many, and his supporters are dismayed when he is reluctant to pursue justice for the young man. A local neo-Confederate group attempts  to overthrow his election  and threatens his family with violence. Throughout, Titus must deal with childhood friends and enemies who call upon him to bring order to a town that is ready to explode with past and present vitriol.  A disturbing but worthwhile read - highly recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru,  We had a great family Easter celebration recently,  and we  vowed to choose a book we would all read and discuss the next time we got together which will be in about a month.  We agreed we wanted something fast moving and attention gathering… any ideas?  Family of Readers

Dear Family of Readers, I am a big fan of John Grisham, having loved all forty plus of his novels and I believe his latest, THE EXCHANGE, is a good choice for your family.  Set fifteen years after his 1991 bestselling legal thriller THE FIRM, this book answers the question as to what happened to Mitch and Abby Mc Deere who disappeared from Tennessee at the end of the novel.  The Mitch we meet now is very very different - he is living in Manhattan, a partner in a hugely prestigious international law firm, and still married to Abby who is now a cookbook writer (allowing for some great descriptions of culinary extravaganzas). Whether coaching his young sons’ baseball team or attending opening nights at the Met, we sense a well lived, orderly life. So when he receives a call from a colleague in Rome asking him to represent a client in a dispute with the Libyan government, he is reluctant to get involved. Things quickly prove him right as he finds himself caught up in a monstrous kidnapping with international reverberations, eerily mirroring today’s headlines.  A great story dealing with many moral and ethical issues. Highly recommended!

 Dear Great Book Guru, I was at a glorious St. Patrick’s Day celebration where everyone was discussing a new book by a prize winning Irish author.  Some described it as hilariously funny, while others insisted it was a tragedy. All agreed it was very long but a very worthwhile read.  Does it sound familiar?   Perplexed but Interested

Dear Perplexed…. Paul Murray’s THE BEE STING is all these things and more. Set in contemporary Ireland, this 600-plus page book is the story of one family set over generations in which everyone involved makes a bad decision. It is told from the perspectives of Imelda, the beautiful wife of Dickie, owner of a failing car dealership; Cass, their surly teenage daughter who turns to alcohol to ease the tensions of adolescence; and PJ , her younger brother, who is being blackmailed by the town bully.  In each case these characters choose sometimes humorous, sometimes horrific solutions to their problems.  The economic chaos in Ireland plus catastrophic climate changes all work themselves into the story of a family in deep trouble and pain. Besides the four main characters, there are many others richly developed that add to the complexity and beauty of the novel.  The startling conclusion makes this family saga truly  a controversial mystery that leaves you  questioning much of what you have read.  Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru,  My friends and I  have enjoyed many of your mystery and  novel  recommendations but we were wondering if you have some nonfiction we might enjoy.  We want our book club to try a new genre.   In Need of Nonfiction

Dear In Need of Nonfiction, I recently read a very interesting, albeit disturbing book your friends might enjoy: DISILLUSIONED by Benjamin Herold. Herold focuses on five different suburban communities outside of major cities: Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Los Angles, and Dallas.  In each case, he traces a family who moves to one of these communities and shows how their needs and expectations are addressed.  Almost universally, the desire for a good school system is what leads them to their new homes. Soon they realize that high taxes, a crumbling infrastructure, and poor transportation make for a nightmarish situation and the schools are not so great either.  Each family has a unique set of problems with racial discrimination impacting many of them. Younger families seeking to improve their schools quickly find themselves at odds with an aging population who no longer has a need or interest in maintaining stellar educational systems. Mired by cracked roadways and overcrowded classrooms, the new families soon find the promise of the good life that the suburbs had offered to the previous generation is a cruel joke for them. The author offers examples of communities trying to upend these problems, but he was not optimistic that the future would brighten for upcoming generations. A harrowing tale of dreams derailed but also highly recommended as a cautionary tale for community planners and citizens alike! 

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, We are interested in starting a small book club reading only small but extraordinary books - filled with thought provoking ideas.  Any suggestions? Thinking Small

Dear Thinking Small, I just finished in about three hours, the perfect book for you and your friends: THE VULNERABLES by Sigrid Nunez.  In 249 pages Nunez covers aging, friendship, literature, grief, memory,  and -yes- zoology in a beautifully meditative style.  Set in the first months of the pandemic, the novel tells the story of three “vulnerables” who find themselves in  lockdown in  a luxurious New York City apartment.  The trio includes our narrator - a woman in her seventies, a young college student with a history of psychiatric breakdowns, and a spirited parrot - all vulnerable in different ways.  When her friend finds herself  on the West Coast unable to return, she asks the narrator to care for her parrot who is alone as everyone in the building has fled the city for second homes upstate. The narrator spends much of her days and nights thinking about her past and present with many references to her favorite authors, especially Joan Didion, Virginia Woolf, and Charles Dickens. As a writer herself she questions the value of literature in difficult situations.  Through a series of miscommunications, Vetch - a young, troubled college student - arrives to share the apartment, and the two form a mutually beneficial alliance. Eureka the parrot serves as an ever-present source of muted comic relief.  Throughout this novel, we see evidence that even the smallest acts of kindness and generosity can make a huge difference in people’s lives. Highly recommended!  

 Dear Great Book Guru,  We were at an amazing event last week - Dinner and The Dead - Dinner at Foster Restaurant here in Sea Cliff and The Dead - a dramatization of James Joyce’s most famous short story from the DUBLINERS.  Many of the guests were talking about the latest Man Booker Prize winner that was set in Dublin.  I am intrigued - thoughts?   Booker Prize Reader

Dear Booker Prize Reader, Yes, I always try to review the prestigious Booker Prize winner and this latest is a fascinating and disturbing read: PROPHET SONG  by Paul Lynch.  Set in Dublin a few years in the future, the novel describes a country cast into chaos by unnamed forces.  Eillish Stack, a scientist and mother of four children, is living a comfortable middle-class existence when her husband Larry, a union official, is arrested after participating in a peaceful demonstration with fellow teachers.  Eillish’s nightmare has begun as she tries valiantly to find him, keep her teenage children safe from conscription, her elderly father and infant fed, and her home intact.  The challenges of dealing with monolithic bureaucracy mount as she sees her chances of escaping over the border slip away.  Written with long painful sentences and no paragraph breaks, the novel moves with a feverish pace. Eillish is consumed with the mundane aspects of her life - cleaning her bomb-struck home, keeping milk in the fridge, choosing hair ribbons for her young daughter while the world around her is collapsing. Her sister in Canada offers her a way out but the moral cost is too great. Finally, we are left with the terrifying question - what would any of us do?

 

Dear Great Book Guru, I just came home from a wonderful evening of Scottish music, drink, and poetry - the annual Burns Night at St. Luke’s here in Sea Cliff. What great fun and great conversations!  One of the musicians mentioned an engrossing new novel he had just read about a man looking back over the decades at moments he remembered and questioning why those moments had significance rather than others.  Familiar with the book? A Fan of Robert Burns

Dear Fan of Robert Burns, I’m guessing the book is BAUMGARTNER  by Paul Auster.  Like Burns, Auster takes the pieces of his life and incorporates it into his fiction. Baumgartner is a seventy-year-old philosophy professor who is deeply mourning his wife’s death ten years earlier.  It was a sudden, avoidable swimming accident and Sy Baumgartner revisits that day over and over imagining what he could have done to prevent the tragedy.  Interspersed with this memory are short vignettes of their time together, early childhood incidents living in Newark, his grandfather’s tales of life in Kiev, his attempts to remarry, and encounters with strangers that change destiny.  Throughout this short novel (220 pages), we see how Baumgartner is attempting to control outcomes and make sense of the tragedies he experiences – his and others.  A very thought provoking look at the power of memory and a beautiful love story also - highly recommended!  

 Dear Great Book Guru,  My book group just read “Two Gallants” a  James Joyce DUBLINERS short story and we had a lively discussion about Ireland then and now.  Of course, my thoughts turned  to Ireland as a setting.   I would love to read a novel or a mystery set in the Emerald Isle - perfect for this time of year or… really any of time of the year!  Lover of an Irish Setting

Dear Lover of an Irish Setting,  A few months ago I came upon a series of literary mysteries by an Irish born writer  Dervla McTiernan  (now an Australian citizen) set in Dublin and Galway.  While I have enjoyed all three, my favorite was THE SCHOLAR. The story delves into the world of international big pharma laced with sinister Irish academic overtones.  Emma Sweeney is a researcher in Galway University and lives with her partner, Detective  Cormac Reilly. Driving home late one night, she comes upon the body of Carline Darcy, heir apparent to the multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company, Darcy Therapeutics. The company is involved in funding university research, political parties, and a myriad of philanthropic projects.  Emma mistakenly gets Reilly involved and suspicion immediately turns on her. Was she jealous of the young heiress’s recent discoveries or was she afraid her research would be found to be fraudulent? The many faceted world of scientific espionage mixed with familial intrigue leaves the reader wondering who the real villain is and…. could it be our Narrator?

 Dear Great Book Guru, Having rung in the New Year with great enthusiasm, I am now ready to begin a year of intense and pleasurable reading.  Do you have a good book to start me off?  2024 Determined Reader

Dear 2024 Determined Reader, As a Christmas present, I received a very interesting, unusual book I think you might enjoy: BROOKLYN CRIME NOVEL by Jonathan Lethem.  Not a novel in the traditional sense, this is a series of anecdotes, short, short stories, musings - all connected by characters that remain nameless - identified only by nickname or type (Wheeze, Younger Brother, Bully etc.), or sometimes simply a letter (C). The book covers the 1970’s up to 2019 and is set in a small area of downtown Brooklyn - Boerum Hill.  The boys - and they are almost all boys - are living in a world defined by gentrification. Race, class and income all work to separate them but the Dean Street boys as they call themselves are linked by propinquity through the decades. The crimes they experience are at times petty and sometimes horrific, but certainly color their youth and adult lives.  Who is the narrator who recounts these tales? Only at the very end do know for sure. Critics have called this an autonovel - a fictionalized autobiography, but this work is much more: a history of New York City, a paean to childhood, a socioeconomic study of gentrification, but mostly a compelling story of lives shaped by place and time. Highly recommended!