Dear Great Book Guru, My book group has been gathering  for over twenty-five years and is now meeting virtually. We are all distracted and a bit uneasy about our first cyber meet-up.  Do you have a good book we could begin with?  Cyber Newbie

Dear Cyber Newbie, I have the perfect book for your group: Anne Tyler’s REDHEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.   This is the bittersweet story of Micah Mortimer - a forty-two year-old man who lives alone - a self-employed tech expert, a superintendent of his small apartment building in Baltimore - a creature of habit as people would say.  We follow him through his days and nights as he consistently misreads people and situations (and, in fact, some inanimate objects!).  Of course, it is hard not to see ourselves in his bewildered customers as they struggle to explain to him their computer travails.  When his well-ordered albeit colorless life is upended by a series of encounters with an errant college student, an aggrieved woman friend, and an old college lover, we wonder if he will be able to see how his life could be much, much happier.  What we have in Micah is a good man who finds comfort in the distractions of ritual and routine…. until he doesn’t.  As in all Tyler’s twenty or so novels, the characters are funny, touching, and sometimes uncomfortably familiar.  Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, Last week you gave me a suggestion for my virtual book group which worked out very well - a combination book and movie.  We enjoyed comparing the two and those who are finding it hard to read during these stressful times were able to watch and discuss the movie. Do you have another combo we could use for next week?  Reader Viewer

Dear Reader Viewer, My virtual book group just finished a stimulating, rewarding discussion of Christopher Isherwood’s 1964 novel A SINGLE MAN and its 2009 movie adaptation.  Over twenty-four hours, we follow George - an Englishman living in Los Angeles - a gay man in his late fifties who is dealing with the death of his long-time partner Jim who was killed in an automobile accident eight months earlier.  The story opens as he wakes from sleep and immediately thinks of Jim.  He is indeed a grieving widower - a fact unacknowledged by society or himself.  We are with him throughout the day as he fights with his neighbors, teaches his classes, works out at his gym, watches a tennis match, shops at the supermarket, dines with a woman friend from England, flirts intellectually with a student who has followed him home, and finally drifts off to sleep. It is a beautiful story of love, grief, and eventual solace.   George - a single man in many interpretations of the phrase - is Everyman.  The movie follows George’s day in a completely different manner but both are highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, For the last ten years, we have spent April in Venice. We love the city, its museums, its churches, its restaurants, its amazing light and its canals.  Well, this year, of course, we will not be in Venice, but we will be at home with lots of time to read.  Can you think of a book that is fast moving (so hard to concentrate) and evocative of our beloved “La Serenissima?”

Vicarious Venetian Voyager

Dear Vicarious Venetian Voyager, 

While there are always the Donna Leon novels with her unforgettable Brunetti, recently I read a wonderful psychological mystery set on the upper Eastside of New York City, Bedford-Stuyvesant Brooklyn, and finally - and largely – Venice: A BEAUTIFUL CRIME by Christopher Bollen.  Two young men meet in Manhattan and quickly fall in love.  Nick Brink has moved here from a repressive family situation in the Midwest. Clay Guillory was raised in Harlem and is still grieving the deaths of his mother and his elderly mentor.  When they meet, Nick is in a relationship with an older, sophisticated antiques dealer. The story quickly moves to Venice where the two young men plot an elaborate con involving a wealthy American, counterfeit silverware, and decaying real estate.  The storyline is clever and complicated with many surprise turns. The best part of the book for me - and I think for you - is how beautifully and accurately the mysterious allure of Venice is captured.  The perfect book to read in these times!

Dear Great Book Guru, In these troubling times, I find it very hard to concentrate when I read.  There is so much time and I would like to spend some of it with a good book.  Do you have any thoughts on this? Anxiously Distracted

Dear Anxiously Distracted, I very well know what you mean. I have found myself going for comfort foods and comfort books this last week.  I’m going suggest you consider John Grisham’s oeuvre.  He has written over 35 novels and - interestingly- in rereading some of them, I found there was still a strong surprise ending.  From the first A TIME TO KILL to the latest THE GUARDIANS, these legal thrillers share a common theme. The lead characters are usually young, vulnerable people - frequently new lawyers -  who find themselves in perilous situations where they should fail but somehow triumph: over mega institutions, the health insurance behemoths, the FBI, organized crime, corrupt politicians…. The endings are seldom predictable and not always happy, but the reader’s attention is kept throughout. Most are set in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana with richly colorful local details. At their core these novels reflect Grisham’s interest in social justice, particularly capital punishment and racial profiling. Another strong plus for his novels, Nassau Library System’s eBook platform LIBBY lists 48 books and 31 audiobooks  for Grisham - all available to borrow (except the latest  THE GUARDIANS).   

Dear Great Book Guru, My friends and I are thinking of starting a small book group. Do you have any suggestions about how to go about this? Also, any books that might work really well for us?  Fledgling Book Clubber

Dear Fledging Book Clubber, I have belonged to many book groups over the years - in fact, there is one I have been attending monthly for 28 years.  My first suggestion is to choose short books - I know that sounds like trite advice but if you want consistent attendance, short is the way to go. A single venue also helps a great deal - the same home or restaurant. Thirdly, don’t get caught up in elaborate refreshments - wine and seltzer, maybe cookies are all that are necessary.  Of course, this is if you want your primary focus to be books - many prefer more of a social event. One of my groups just read a very good book that might be a fine first choice for yours: PASSING by Nella Larsen. The title comes from the practice of choosing to pass for a different race.   Written in 1929 and coming in under 200 pages, this novel - set in 1920’s Chicago and Harlem - tells the story of two biracial women Irene and Claire who were childhood friends. When they meet twelve years later, Claire confides she has been passing as white and has married a wealthy, virulently racist Chicagoan.  Drawn to Irene, Claire follows her to Harlem where - for a moment - she enjoys a double life filled with passion and danger. This book touches on questions of race, class, and gender all in the form of a fast-moving story.  Highly recommended!   

Dear Great Book Guru, Next week the Winfield Irregulars - with Sea Cliff’s own Joe Hughes - will be performing at the Metropolitan Bistro on Sunday, March 15 at 4pm. It will be agrand afternoon of Irish folk music plus good food and drink.  I am very excited, but there will be plenty of time for a challenging mystery. Any thoughts? Lover of Irish Music and Mysteries

Dear Lover of Irish Music and Mysteries, I am a great fan of Tana French - a writer of mysteries - all set in and around Dublin.  An exciting new TV series DUBLIN MURDERS is based on some of these novels. FAITHFUL PLACE is a favorite of mine. Faithful Place is the name of a gritty, crime riddenDublin housing project where Frank Mackay grew up. He left there as a teenager for many reasons: an abusive father, a detached mother, damaged siblings, and most of all - a broken heart. Frank had planned a midnight elopement to England with his girlfriend Rosie Daly. Rosie never showed up that evening but left him a note saying she had changed her mind. Neither Frank nor her family ever heard from her again. The next twenty-two years saw Frank marry, have a child, divorce, and eventually become a highly decorated undercover police officer, but he remained tortured by what he saw as Rosie’s rejection. Estranged from family and friends, he never returned to Faithful Place. Then during a building demolition, Rosie’s suitcase is unearthed and shortly afterwards her body is found. Frank is forced to revisit people, places, and beliefs he had long ago abandoned. We soon realize a terrible crime has been committed. This is a tale of Irish despair, decay, and eventual redemption.  Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, This weekend I will be at Dinner & THE DEAD at the Metropolitan Bistro. I had tried to attend last month, but it was quickly sold out. Well, it sold out again, but I learned my lesson and got my tickets early on. I’ve read “The Dead” by James Joyce many times, so now I would like to read a contemporary Irish writer to get me in the spirit of things. Any recommendations? Interested in All Things Irish

Dear Interested…. I recently read Kevin Barry’s NIGHT BOAT TO TANGIER - a New York Times choice as one of the ten top books of 2019. Two longtime friends, Maurice and Charlie - aging Irish gangsters - spend the night in a seamy ferry terminal awaiting the arrival of young Dilly - the estranged daughter of Maurice. The men have shared much - a sordid drug operation spanning many years, a failed real estate scheme, and…. Cynthia, Maurice’s wife. The hollow grimness of their existence, their menacing overtures throughout the evening, and the futility of their mission are all couched in horrifying albeit beautiful prose. Is it love these men share or is it simply a painful history? As chapters alternate between the past and present - between Ireland and Spain - we come to see how their dreams unraveled.  Highly recommended!