Dear Great Book Guru, With the Sea Cliff Baseball/Softball season about to begin - I’m throwing out the opening pitch - I cannot contain my excitement! However, while I’m a great fan of the game, I do like to have a good book with me at all times. Do you have something to recommend for me when things slow down on the field? Ardent Book and Baseball Fan.................................. Dear Ardent Book and Baseball Fan, Emma Straub, one of my favorite authors and owner of my absolute favorite bookstore “Books Are Magic” in Brooklyn, has just come out with a new book: AMERICAN FANTASY. Set on a cruise ship hosting three thousand fans of a 1990’s fictional band, BoyTalk, this three-hundred-page novel introduces us to the world of aging boy band fandom from the perspectives of Sarah, the cruise ship manager, Keith, the fifty year-old member of the band, and Annie, one of the band’s multitude of fans. Annie is on the cruise reluctantly – her sister Katherine, a diehard fan, had convinced her to come along. Things were going badly for Annie - she was recently divorced, her daughter had moved out, and she had just learned her job of two decades had been given to a young intern influencer. When her sister breaks her leg and is unable to go on the cruise, Annie tries desperately to get out of the trip to no avail. Very soon into the four-day voyage, her spirits lift, she relives the exuberance of her teen years, and a shipboard romance develops. This is a fun read that contains some profound insights into what it means to revisit one’s past and revive earlier passions - highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, It has been a wonderful week of celebrations: Easter and Passover feasts, family and friends gathering for seders, egg hunts, and lots of chocolate! As always when we are together, the topic of good books comes up. One of the partygoers recommended a book set in a nail salon… any thoughts? Holiday Book Lover.......................... Dear Holiday Book Lover, PICK A COLOR by Souvankham Thammavongsa is a beautifully written look into a world many of us think we know …but do we really? Set over one day in a small nail salon, this short novel (under two hundred pages) introduces us to a myriad of characters described by a first-person narrator, Ning, owner of the shop. Her five employees all wear Susan name tags, identical black dresses, and have the same hairstyles so that their privileged clients assume their “Susan” is always ready, always available to meet their needs. There is a practiced script the workers follow – carefully enunciating “pick a color” twice and quickly offering a “ten dollar” special if a customer objects to a price. Throughout the day, Ning and her employees talk in their native language about their customers with great humor, insight, and – yes - crudity. Ning lives alone above the shop in a sparse studio apartment, and we learn that she had been a famous boxer in her earlier years. Lessons she had learned in the ring come back to her as she maneuvers the intricacies of her daily existence. This book is a subtle look into the immigrant experience, workplace relationships, and the shifting dynamics of power. Highly recommended!