Dear Great Book Guru, I was at the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor’s exciting Crawl for a Cause where someone mentioned a new book. People couldn’t decide whether it was a novel and a collection of short stories, but all agreed it was a great read. Does it sound familiar? Fan of the Coalition................. Dear Fan of the Coalition, Over the years, I have read Allegra Goodman’s short stories in “The New Yorker” magazine so I was delighted to discover she had brought many of them together and added some in THIS IS NOT ABOUT US. She describes it on the cover as “fiction”- not exactly a novel or a collection of short stories but something quite unique. Told from the perspectives of multiple family members, the book opens with a defining event: the death of Jennie - the youngest (73 years-old) of three sisters. Sisters Helen and Sylvia have a bitter, years-spanning feud over an apple cake that is served at the funeral, and the remaining sixteen stories are about the sisters, their husbands, children, and grandchildren. We get to see these characters in a myriad of situations: applying for college, Nutcracker auditions, divorces, new glass frames, job interviews…It’s a great treat to meet up with peripheral characters we have met earlier who reappear telling their versions of events. Interestingly, the stories confirm that yes – it IS all about us - as we see ourselves in the complex fabric that makes up this and every family. Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, I am very excited about an upcoming event here in Sea Cliff at St. Luke’s Community Hall - “A Dinner and Play!” Apparently, the play is based on a Barbara Pym novel. Do you know anything about the novel? Interested in Pym....................................................... Dear Interested in Pym, Barbara Pym’s 1930’s novel CRAMPTON HODNET has been adapted by Dan DiPietro, directed by Fred Stroppel, and will be performed with over twenty Sea Cliff folks taking part. Pym has written twelve books - any of which I would highly recommend - but I must admit this is one of my favorites. Set in Oxford with its ancient colleges and medieval rituals and written decades ago, the novel has a surprisingly modern tone. It is a very funny take on village life - a village peopled by quirky characters including pretentious professors, young romantics, philandering spouses, and interfering relatives. There are two intersecting plot lines: the middle-aged Francis Cleveland’s dalliance and the lonely but very witty Jessie Morrow’s passionless affair with Stephen Latimer - a young curate (he forgets her name as he is proposing to her). Crampton Hodnet is the name of a fictional village invented by Latimer to cover for an early misadventure. Tangled romances, misread moments, and furtive escapades all make for a great read and a hilarious evening of theater. Highly recommended!