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!