Dear Great Book Guru,  I was with my friend Tina Marchese this weekend and she told me about the exciting Sea Cliff  Landmarks House Tour that will take place on Sunday, May 19. Ten houses!!!! I would love to read a book earlier in the day and then again perhaps when the tour is over. Do you have a good book you would recommend?  Lover of Landmarks

Dear Lover of Landmarks , Yes- I have a wonderful book for you: THE PRIVILEGES  by Jonathan Dee. It begins with a wedding and then goes on to chronicle the bride and groom's life together over the next twenty years.  Cynthia and Adam are a couple so in love with one another, so privileged that the rest of the world simply does not exist for them.  Their children , their parents, their friends, all play essentially minor roles in this- the  story of their life together. Reminiscent of The Great Gatsby, the novel showcases the effects of  great wealth, good fortune, and  youthful exuberance, and  New York with its intensively competitive culture serves as a colorful backdrop.  Always there is the sense that the characters will pay for their misdeeds but no- that is not the case: good and evil, reward and punishment,  do not exist in this novel of 21st century sensibilities. A disturbing but recommended book!

Major literary event:  Sunday, June 2 is author Barbara Pym's 100th birthday and the Pym Society of Sea Cliff will be celebrating by reading an early novel of hers:  CRAMPTON HODNET and gathering for sherry, tea, and sweets that afternoon. Contact me at annmdipietro@gmail.com if you are interested in participating.

Dear Great Book Guru,  Next Sunday is Mother's Day and I plan on taking my mother out to dinner - maybe Billy Long's Metro Bistro- and then  a movie and, of course,  I would like to buy her a book.  Any suggestions?   Devoted Son

Dear Devoted,   A great plan and I have both the movie and the book!  "The Great Gatsby" movie with Leonardo DiCaprio  opens this weekend which prompted me to reread the F.Scott Fitzgerald novel THE GREAT GATSBY.  While most of us are familiar with the story told by a young bond trader from the Midwest who finds himself enmeshed in the lives of his Long Island  millionaire friends,  I had forgotten, despite many readings of the novel ,how powerfully tragic the character of Gatsby is portrayed and how eerily noble he truly is.  Of course, the setting is familiar with North Shore mansions and roads playing a huge part in my enjoyment of the novel. Gatsby lives in nouveau riche 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 ?   In many ways this is a simple book  with a simple plot but Fitzgerald's  narrator Nick draws us in  and we are as shocked as he by the outcome. This is a book to be read over and over with new insights to be found each time. 

Dear Great Book Guru,  I am planning a trip to Italy in the next few weeks- of course, I will be back for all Sea Cliff's wonderful upcoming events: the Landmarks House Tour on May 19, the Memorial Day Parade, and the spectacular Village-wide Garage Sale on June 1- but meanwhile, I would like something to read to begin my Italian immersion .  We will be visiting the Amalfi  Coast region. Any suggestions?   An Amalfi Adventurer

Dear Amalfi Adventurer, We just came back from an amazing vacation planned by our friend Toni Montello, expert on all of Italy! One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to Pompeii and I'm sure you will want to go there too.  Robert Harris's POMPEII is a great mood-setter for this excursion. Set in Pompeii   69AD, two days before Vesuvius erupts, the novel gives a fascinating look into the culture, geography, and history of that ill-fated city. It is told from the perspective of a young engineer Attillius who has been sent from Rome to manage the vast aqueducts that provide water for the area. Something is terribly wrong- fish are dying, strange cracks are appearing, the water flow is slowing , and it is his job to find out why.  The lavish life style of the rich, the harsh existence of the poor and enslaved, and the political corruption that permeates the society are all recorded, but we alone know that it is all to end within hours.   A compelling read!

Dear Great Book Guru,  I was at the Doherty Family Rubber Ducky Hunt this weekend and as usual, it was great, great fun!  The conversation soon turned to books with Big Jim Doherty mentioning that he was looking for a new mystery to put on his Kindle. None of us could think of one off hand. What would you suggest?                 Duck Hunt Devotee

Dear Duck Hunt Devotee,  How appropriate for the Duck Hunt- Donna Leon's newest book THE GOLDEN EGG (think the goose that laid the golden egg!). .. Leon is a native  New Yorker who has lived in Italy for over thirty years . Her stories are set in Venice and the hero of her 22 books is Guido Brunetti, a sophisticated, classics scholar turned police commissioner who relishes in family dinners and word games with his academician wife and two teenage children.  There is little violence if any in this mystery and we are unsure if a crime has been committed, but we do know that there has been an injustice that must be addressed.  A young man appears to have committed suicide, his mother is acting strangely, and , oh yes, there is no record of his ever having existed. With many asides about  cyber loss of privacy, political corruption, and spurious piety,  Brunetti more or less solves the case but was there a case to begin with?  An excellent read for the weekend!

Dear Great Book Guru,   I was at the Sea Cliff Yacht Club over the weekend and I noticed a  large group of people gathering for what I assume was a book signing by a local author. The crowd seemed very enthusiastic- I was wondering who the author was and if you had read his book?   Book Signing Spectator

Dear Book Signing Spectator, What a shame you didn't come join us! The author was Dan Fagin, a Sea Cliff luminary and journalist/author extraordinaire. He gave a riveting reading and a summary of his much acclaimed TOMS RIVER, the story of a town in southern New Jersey, a town whose name  over the years came be synonymous with tainted water,  industrial  pollution, and childhood cancers. Dan's book is a fascinating amalgam of science, politics, history, and biography. He weaves a story of valor and cowardice, virtue and corruption, from Basel, Switzerland to a factory town in central China,  but  the heart of the story is always the parents and children of Toms River who suffered much  and fought to find out why and how this could  have happened in their town.  Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru,  Some of my friends attended a book discussion with members of libraries from all over Long Island's  North Shore community .  What a great idea- to have scores of people read the same book and then gather to discuss it and share insights. Were you there and what book was chosen for this year's event? Sorry to Have Missed It

Dear Sorry, Oh yes, I would not have missed the annual Long Island Reads event which once again took place at the Metropolitan in Glen Cove.  Readers from Locust Valley, Sea Cliff, Bayville, Glen Head, Roslyn, Glen Cove, the Brookvilles, Oyster Bay, East Norwich,  and Glenwood Landing were in attendance, and the book discussed was SUTTON  by Long Island author J.R.  Moehringer.  It was great fun and John Canning did a masterful job in moderating the discussion.  SUTTON  is a fictional recapturing  of the life and times of the infamous  bank robber Willie Sutton. Told from the perspective of Sutton himself, the novel takes place on Christmas Eve, the day Sutton is released from Attica Prison.  He and a young  idealistic reporter and  a world weary photographer revisit  fourteen sites that played pivotal roles in Sutton's life.  We travel through time and place from his childhood in the early 1900's in downtown Brooklyn to all the boroughs of New York City in 1969. The anger felt by so many (including Moehringer himself)  towards the banking industry  permeates this book .   Throughout time there  has been a fascination with the "good crook" - think Robin Hood-  and Willie Sutton certainly qualifies as such. A fascinating read!

Dear Great Book Guru,  I was at a lovely Easter dinner party in Sea Cliff- delicious food and wonderful company- when the conversation turned to books. One of the guests mentioned having read an exciting novel that she said reminded her of the literary thriller bestseller GONE GIRL but it involved a gourmet meal.  Any thoughts?   Seeker of Literary Thrills

Dear Seeker,  We too had a great Easter and, in addition to delicious food and wonderful company, we enjoyed a spectacular production of "The Country Bunny and the Golden Shoes" in which Ethan, Lara, Jenna, Justin, Alexis, Daniel and Dan DiPietro starred. But back to the book you are asking about- THE DINNER  by Herman Koch. A bestseller in Europe, it was translated from the original Dutch and released here last month where it is already on everyone's must read list.  Set in a preciously pretentious Dutch restaurant, the novel opens with aperitifs and ends with digestives; in between we listen to two brothers and their wives discuss the holidays, real estate holdings,  their children.  The narrator is a  retired school teacher with serious sibling rivalry problems. His brother is a charismatic politician- think Bill Clinton- who is about to become prime minister if  only the two couples can find a way out of a horrific situation not of their making….or is it?  As we move from one course to the next,  our narrator reveals more and more about himself and his dinner companions until the final moment when we realize  that all evening we have been in the presence of pure evil.   Highly recommended !