Dear Great Book Guru, I was at Sea Cliff Beach for breakfast the other day (amazing avocado toast by Foster’s Javier!} when the question of parking came up.  Most people would prefer to walk to the beach but that walk back up the hill discourages even the most fit… so many drive leaving everyone with the search for parking and it can be quite a search. Someone mentioned a book which deals with parking  and its ramifications. Does this sound familiar?  Seaside Parker

Dear Seaside Parker, I recently read a quirky albeit fascinating book by Henry Graber: PAVED PARADISE- How Parking Explains the World. Graber’s contention is that parking has had a crushing effect on multiple aspects of American life. Since the advent of the car, we have spent precious resources and demolished our homes and cities in a quest for increased car storage.  Our most valuable real estate is handed over for largely free car storage, while curbside parking changes businesses, residences, and our very image of self. Public transit is sacrificed to the gods of car storage, zoning laws are predicated on it,   and public space is curtailed – all so that there are “homes” for cars. Graber travels across the country from New York City to Los Angeles and every major city in between to show the impact of car parking. He goes so far as to blame the present housing shortage and rise in homelessness to this obsession with parking. His goal is to show us the folly of our present day thinking and to offer us solutions for this perceived madness. Recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, The Fourth of July weekend here in Sea Cliff is filled with great events: the Patriotic Bike Parade, Happy Birthday USA, and the Reading of the Declaration of Independence on Village Green. So much to do …but I am always ready for a new book - perhaps a mystery?  Summer Mystery Maven

Dear Summer Mystery Maven, Every summer I look forward to reading a new Donna Leon novel and I was not disappointed with her latest, SO SHALL YOU REAP, her 32^nd in the series. And what a treat it is!  All 32 books feature Guido Brunetti, a world weary, very wise Venetian police commissioner. These novels are gentle literary mysteries with many references to opera, Henry James (Brunetti’s wife Paola is a professor of American literature), Proust, and the ancient Roman philosophers. Food and drink are described in great detail, as are the canals and neighborhoods of Venice - often little known to tourists. In this latest book, Brunetti investigates the murder of a Sri Lankan  man who has been living illegally in the country for many years. A Buddhist who has lived a circumspect life, the man seems a most unlikely victim of violence. When Brunetti discovers a trove of books and pamphlets dating back to Italy’s 1970’s  political unrest, he struggles to connect the present to the past - and wonders where his own youthful revolutionary beliefs might have led him.  As usual the crime is overshadowed by the intellectual musings of this complex man. Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, July is one of my favorite Sea Cliff months - so many great events plus all those Sunset Serenades to enjoy! I would love to read a book set on Long Island that captures some of the summer vibe. Any suggestions?  Fan of Sea Cliff Summers

Dear Fan of Sea Cliff Summers, Emma Cline’s THE GUEST is set entirely on Long Island’s East End and covers one summer week.   Alex is a twenty-two-year-old - bright, beautiful, and …homeless - thrown out by her New York City roommates for not paying rent, drug use, and stealing from them. She has been banned from local restaurants and bars, and is being stalked by Dom - a mysterious, threatening character from whom she has stolen a large amount of money.   But in a “lucky” move she meets Simon a much older, very wealthy man who has a home in the Hamptons - where we first meet Alex. A few weeks into her stay, she angers him and she is once again looking for shelter. The rest of the book is a Homeric-like odyssey; she travels throughout the Hamptons meeting an assortment of mostly very wealthy, unscrupulous characters who she beguiles, bewitches, and betrays only to be trapped by her own missteps. The novel is a suspenseful tale of one woman’s misguided attempts to survive, but it is also a harsh indictment of a money-driven society that treats people with shameful disregard. Alex is not blameless, but it is hard not to see her as a victim.  Highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru,  I am  very excited about all the wonderful things going on in Sea Cliff this summer - from the Village-wide Garage Sale, to Sunset Serenades, to the James Joyce Jaunt… and so much more!  Of course, I am always looking for a good book to read - perhaps a mystery.  Any suggestions?  Sea Cliff Summer Swooner

Dear Sea Cliff Summer Swooner, Last week I read a captivating mystery you might enjoy: THE EDEN TEST by Adam Sternbergh.  The prologue opens with two bodies being removed from a wooded upstate New York retreat, so we know the ending (or we think we know), but who are the victims, how did they die, and what about the other ten characters that we meet up – what role did they play?  We are transported back a week as Daisy - an aspiring actress and wife of Craig - is planning to attend a couples’ retreat week in an attempt to salvage her marriage.  Craig – her husband of three years - has a plan for the week too - to tell Daisy he is leaving her for another woman.  His bags are packed and are in the trunk of his car with a Caribbean getaway in mind.  Things change rapidly when the couple begin to reveal secrets about themselves. A series of strange encounters and flashbacks make for a terror-filled read.  Soon we realize that none of the characters we meet are who they seem and instead we have stumbled into a bizarre version of Eden…. Recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru, Many of my friends have been praising a book that came out last year - a book they say is very, very funny, very sad, and a book for our times. Any thoughts?   A Fan of Friends’ Recommendations

Dear Fan of Friends’ Recommendations, The book undoubtably is Bonnie Garmus’s LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY - a great favorite of mine and many! This debut novel opens in 1952 as a brilliant doctoral student Elizabeth Zott is ousted from UCLA because her advisor Dr. Meyers has sexually assaulted her and - in defending herself - she has stabbed him with a pen. Shortly after, at her first job at a  research institute, she meets Calvin Evans who - alone of all the scientists there - recognizes her brilliance and falls in love with her and her mind.  Soon into the book Evans dies and Elizabeth finds herself alone, jobless, and pregnant. Throughout the novel, she meets an array of characters - most sinister and craven but some extraordinarily supportive. At one point Amanda, daughter of a TV producer, steals the gourmet lunches Elizabeth has lovingly and painstakingly prepared for her young daughter Madeline.  Outraged, Elizabeth confronts Amanda’s father who is immediately taken with her brilliance and beauty - so much so that he offers her a job as a TVs celebrity chef. The show becomes enormously popular as viewers feel empowered by her strength and talent.  There is a Dickens-like feel to much of the book as Elizabeth learns of early abandonments and lost parents who reappear with large fortunes. Overall, however, this is a tale of women’s struggles in the workplace then and now. Highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru, Some of my book group members have asked for nonfiction, but many of us would rather a novel.  Can you think of a nonfiction choice that might read like a novel?  Battling Book Clubbers

Dear Battling Book Clubbers, I have the perfect book for you - THERE WILL BE FIRE by Rory Carroll.  The subtitle reads “Margaret Thatcher, the IRA, and Two Minutes That Changed History.”  Now this certainly does not seem like an interest-grabbing topic but…. this is a fascinating tale of terror, politics, and passionate loyalties. On October 12, 1984, an IRA bomb exploded at the iconic Grand Hotel in the resort city of Brighton, England. The goal was to assassinate the prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, in hopes of toppling the British government and bringing justice to a divided Ireland. The first part of the book introduces us to the men and women involved in the plot plus background on the harrowing conditions which motivated them. Then we are brought to the hotel where we meet the many British officials gathered for an annual political convention – the luxurious quarters, elaborate meals, and fine dress are all described.  The tension builds as we wonder who will die, who will be gravely injured, who will escape harm.  The carnage that results is horrific, and our sympathies shift from the rebels to their victims. In the epilogue we move to the present and learn of the unforeseen consequences of the bombing that still reverberate throughout Europe.  A fascinating and troubling tale - highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, I was at Sea Cliff Bistro last week with friends and our conversation turned to the sea and sailing.  Someone mentioned a new book that sounded very exciting - about a shipwreck, mutiny, and murder.  Any thoughts?   Fan of the Sea

Dear Fan of the Sea, David Grann’s latest book is THE WAGER and what a story he tells! The Wager was a British warship built in the grandest of styles and outfitted for a secret mission to plunder a Spanish vessel purportedly filled with gold and other treasures. The Wager left England in September of 1740 and was not heard from again for 283 days when a flimsy craft arrived in Brazil with a small crew of very ill and disoriented men. They told an amazing tale of suffering and survival against all odds. The British public immediately proclaimed them heroes and rewarded them with honors and cash.  It seemed like a wonderful ending…. until six months later another boat of survivors arrived in Chile and accused the original mariners of mutiny, murder, and cannibalism.  Who is to be believed? The British courts convene a court martial to determine who is telling the truth - the sailors found guilty would be hanged. Grann describes in detail the crew and officers involved and the suffering they endured and the secrets they hid. He also skillfully analyzes the public’s reaction to this strange turnabout in fortune, Ultimately we are all left to question what would we have done if we had been aboard the Wager…. highly recommended!