Dear Great Book Guru, Last weekend I was at a Midsummer’s Night Dream party and there was lots of talk about what to read for the rest of the summer.  Someone suggested reading a biography of Robert Oppenheimer- the subject of the much-acclaimed movie recently released.  Is there one you would recommend?  Midsummer Reader

Dear Midsummer Reader, Last month in anticipation of the opening of one of summer’s most touted movies, OPPENHEIMER, I read the book the movie is based on: AMERICAN PROMETHEUS by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin.  What an amazing tale! While over 500 pages, this book reads like a fast-paced novel.  Oppenheimer’s early years in New York City are colorfully presented with many anecdotes about his parents, school mates, and teachers and their influence on the young boy. The family’s history in Europe also adds to an understanding of where many of his beliefs and -yes - quirky behavior originated. His college years at Harvard and later in Germany present a colorful picture of his developing interest in the world of quantum mechanics and nuclear physics leading to his now famous appointment as head of the Manhattan Project and move to Los Alamos to oversee the making of the atomic bomb.  Throughout, we meet his many friends, enemies, lovers, and relatives – all of whom are described in exacting detail. The final half of the book deals with his spectacular fall from grace in the Cold War era with special attention paid to his chief nemesis, Lewis Strauss. The book presents us with a somber appraisal of a complicated man living in a complicated time.  Highly recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru,  We just came back from Sea Cliff Beach where we had a great lunch at the Potters’ Cliffside Café. Everything was delicious but the lobster roll and turkey wrap were particularly wonderful!  While there, I listened in on a couple’s conversation nearby (always a fun Sea Cliff thing to do) and they were discussing a new book - a noir mystery set in 1970’s Boston.  Sound familiar?  Loving the Cliffside Café

Dear Loving…. Dennis Lehane’s SMALL MERCIES is a newly published bestseller and well worth the read.  Set in the racially charged summer of 1974, the book deals with crime, race, and class - in and about an Irish American housing project.  Mary Pat Fennessy has lived there all her forty or so years, raised two children, married twice, and is struggling desperately to get out of debt. Her childhood friends are involved with the mob so when her daughter does not return home one evening, she turns to them for help.  She soon finds herself enmeshed in a world where violence is the norm and she is both victim and perpetrator. A young black man is found dead on the subway tracks nearby and we learn that his murder is connected to her missing daughter, the upcoming school desegregation rally, and a widespread drug operation. Mary Pat has a moment of epiphany when she realizes her long held beliefs have little basis in reality. The grief and contrition she feels is described in exquisite detail, but few of the other characters share her moral awakening. The reader is left to question if goodness will ever triumph.  Highly recommended!  

 

Dear Great Book Guru, Last week I was at Clifton Park for the Sea Cliff Civic Association’s Sunset Serenade ….what a night it was! LOVEPEACE was the band, and the music and mood were rhapsodic.  While there, I overheard a group of people talking about a new book that was quite a compelling read. It was about a murder trial, but it hit on so much more. Ideas?  Sunset Serenade Fan

Dear Sunset Serenade Fan,  TRIAL by Richard North Patterson is a much talked about legal thriller that came out a few weeks ago.  The story opens in the present as a wealthy, Harvard educated politician, Chase Brevard, is planning his next career move. A Congressman from Massachusetts, he is considering running for the Senate when he sees on CNN a breaking story about a black teenager accused of murdering a deputy sheriff in Georgia. The case is receiving national attention because the boy’s mother is a prominent political activist who has championed voter rights and her son was canvassing when the murder took place. They insist that he was targeted by the sheriff and the death was an accident. Brevard realizes the boy is his son and the mother a woman he knew from college. The novel then traces the lives of the couple from their first meeting up to the present showing how wealth, race, and privilege brought them all to this moment.  The actual trial is a tense exposition of the effects of media and legal maneuvering with a shocking outcome.   Highly recommended!

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!