Dear Great Book Guru, I am planning on attending the Sea Cliff Civic Association’s annual Newcomers Party – I am very excited to meet new friends and learn about Sea Cliff. I was wondering if you could recommend a book that might make for a good conversation starter? New to Sea Cliff............................. Dear New to Sea Cliff, I recently read Colson Whitehead’s COOL MACHINE. This is the third and final novel in a remarkable trilogy that recounts the history of New York City, particularly Harlem, starting in the 1950’s and closing in the 1980’s. To do this, Whitehead has us follow the career and times of Ray Carney. Ray has made an impressive life for himself and his family as a furniture dealer with a side career as a middleman - a/k/a fence - for stolen goods. As the book opens, he has been named Northeast Regional Dealer of the Month by an esteemed furniture manufacturer. The pride he takes is almost painful to observe as he sees this award as the pinnacle of achievement after a lifetime of financial, political, and emotional struggles. When he is lured back into another criminal “opportunity”, we wonder if he has deluded himself into believing he has truly made it in a world where ambition and success seem reward enough. Throughout, we empathize with Ray’s nostalgia for a time when he was young and everything seemed possible. Recommended!