Dear Great Book Guru, Sea Cliff Beach is the place to be! A group of my friends gather every Sunday morning at the Cliffside Café run by the Potters of Foster restaurant fame and what fun it is with great food and camaraderie. This week someone brought up a book he had just finished and strongly recommended - about an island bookstore. Any thoughts? Beach and Book Lover

Dear Beach and Book Lover, A perfect book to read at the beach … or just about anywhere: THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY by Gabrielle Zevin.  A. J. Firky is the quirky, very unhappy owner of Island Books - a failing bookstore in an island community. A.J.’s beloved wife had died in a car accident the year before the story opens.  He is despondent, having lost interest in everything - the bookstore, his few friends, even reading, a former passion of his. Quotes from favorite books are scattered throughout the novel. He dreams of selling a rare book of Poe poems, the  bookstore, and leaving the island forever - when he finds a package on his doorstep.  From that moment on, A.J. makes decisions that transform his life.  The local police chief and he start a true crime book club, parents gather to discuss books on child rearing, and he rediscovers - yes - children’s literature.  The Island Book Store becomes the true center of the community and all the while mysterious characters and incidents reveal themselves for a completely satisfying conclusion. Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru,  I’m looking for a great Father’s Day gift for my dad. I know he loves non-fiction, particularly something about American history.  Anything new you would recommend?  A Good Daughter

Dear Good Daughter,  I have a great recommendation: Erik Lawson’s newest book: THE DEMON OF UNREST.  Lawson has written many books of non-fiction all of which read like mesmerizing novels and this latest is no exception. The book covers the few months between Lincoln’s election and the beginning of the Civil War with the fall of Fort Sumter. Lincoln, Jefferson Davies, and other familiar figures play decisive roles, but it is the little known characters Lawson introduces that make this an unforgettable, hard to put down book. One of these was Henry Villard, a German teenager, who ran away to America,  assuming  a classmate’s identity so he could not be traced. He began writing for various American newspapers, exposing the horrors of slavery and eventually helped in the election of Lincoln.  He went on to marry the daughter of the anti-slavery campaigner Willian Llyod Garrison and acquired the New York Evening Post and The Nation magazine and various railroad and steamship companies.  Another little known but crucial player in Lawson’s book was Mary Chesnut who describes the night leading up to the siege of Charleston with its sumptuous dinner: the pate fois gras, biscuit glace, and champagne frappe.  These exquisite details are described as a backdrop to the monumental forces at work leading the nation into a war where there were 750, 000 casualties. The book is made up of these fascinating characters who played roles small and large in this immense tragedy.  Highly recommended! 

 

Dear Great Book Guru, What a weekend in Sea Cliff - first the Porchfest with 30 bands playing on porches and lawns all over the Village and then the Landmarks House Tour with 300 plus people visiting six of Sea Cliff’s unique homes. During the Porchfest one of the band members said she had to get home to finish a compelling sequel to Colm Tobin’s BROOKLYN.  Are you familiar with the book? Huge Porchfest Fan

Dear Huge Porchfest Fan, LONG ISLAND is Colm Tobin’s sequel to his very popular novel and movie adaptation BROOKLYN.  Set in 1976 – twenty-five years after BROOKLYN ends, the novel opens with Eilis living in Lindenhurst, Long Island with her husband Tony Fiorello and her two teenage children. They live in a family compound of sorts with his parents, his brothers, and their families where large boisterous Italian Sunday dinners color (or cloud) her existence.  Eilis still feels the outsider and yearns for her family back in Ireland whom she hasn’t seen in twenty years. When she learns of Tony’s infidelity, she decides to return to Enniscorthy, the small village where she was born. From this point on, the story is told from the perspective of Nancy - her childhood friend - and Jim Farrell, the man Eilis loved and left twenty-five years before.  Jim never married and has been carrying on a discreet affair with Nancy - a recent widow.  With the arrival of Eilis and her Americanized ways, all of Enniscorthy is thrown into turmoil, especially Jim and Nancy.  The story has many exquisite details and subplots leaving the reader wondering what ending to wish for. A compelling read and highly recommended!

 

Dear Great Book Guru,  I was at an event at the Sea Cliff Arts Council recently: Fred Stroppel’s iconic “Twisted Shorts” - eight extraordinarily funny vignettes - when one of the cast members mentioned a wonderful new book about a team of workers at a big box  store. It sounded interesting - thoughts?  Fan of “Twisted Shorts”

Dear Fan of “Twisted Shorts,” Adelle Waldman’s HELP WANTED is not to be missed!  Set in upstate New York, the novel introduces us to twelve people working in a huge box store -think Target or Costco - most of whom are members of Team Movement. These workers   clock in at 3:55am to unload the delivery trucks, stock the shelves, organize the merchandise before the store opens, and check out at 9am.  The work is grueling and their pay low. Hours are limited by management so there are no health benefits, vacation or sick time, but jobs in this part of the state are scarce and most of the workers have few qualifications for better jobs.  Waldman describes the lives of these workers in exquisite detail, and we feel great sympathy as we learn about their individual plights. When the store manager Big Will is promoted to another facility, everyone realizes there is a possible chance for advancement or at least some realignment.  The Team comes together in an elaborate plot to sabotage their hated self-absorbed crew leader Meredith, and we cheer them on.  While there is much humor throughout, we witness the underlying injustices low- wage workers encounter in the modern workplace.  A thought-provoking book on many levels and highly recommended! 

 

 

Dear Great Book Guru, Sea Cliff is beautiful all times of the year, but Spring is an especially wonderful time with tulips abounding and cherry trees blossoming. As always, my thoughts turn to a quest for a good book while enjoying the beauty around me…something meaningful and good for discussion.    Enraptured in Sea Cliff

 Dear Enraptured in Sea Cliff, I recently read a book a number of friends and family recommended: ALL THE SINNERS BLEED by S.A. Cosby.  Set in a fictional town in rural Virginia, the novel opens with a school shooting. The shooter is a young Black man who targets only one person - a beloved schoolteacher. Titus Crowne, recently elected as the first Black sheriff of the town, faces pressure from all sides as he investigates this murder.  The case quickly becomes racially charged when the young shooter is killed, and evidence reveals a series of murders going back decades.   Titus – a former FBI agent - had returned to his hometown with hopes of changing the existing criminal justice system which is plagued with widespread corruption.  His election was a surprise to many, and his supporters are dismayed when he is reluctant to pursue justice for the young man. A local neo-Confederate group attempts  to overthrow his election  and threatens his family with violence. Throughout, Titus must deal with childhood friends and enemies who call upon him to bring order to a town that is ready to explode with past and present vitriol.  A disturbing but worthwhile read - highly recommended!

 

 Dear Great Book Guru,  We had a great family Easter celebration recently,  and we  vowed to choose a book we would all read and discuss the next time we got together which will be in about a month.  We agreed we wanted something fast moving and attention gathering… any ideas?  Family of Readers

Dear Family of Readers, I am a big fan of John Grisham, having loved all forty plus of his novels and I believe his latest, THE EXCHANGE, is a good choice for your family.  Set fifteen years after his 1991 bestselling legal thriller THE FIRM, this book answers the question as to what happened to Mitch and Abby Mc Deere who disappeared from Tennessee at the end of the novel.  The Mitch we meet now is very very different - he is living in Manhattan, a partner in a hugely prestigious international law firm, and still married to Abby who is now a cookbook writer (allowing for some great descriptions of culinary extravaganzas). Whether coaching his young sons’ baseball team or attending opening nights at the Met, we sense a well lived, orderly life. So when he receives a call from a colleague in Rome asking him to represent a client in a dispute with the Libyan government, he is reluctant to get involved. Things quickly prove him right as he finds himself caught up in a monstrous kidnapping with international reverberations, eerily mirroring today’s headlines.  A great story dealing with many moral and ethical issues. Highly recommended!

 Dear Great Book Guru, I was at a glorious St. Patrick’s Day celebration where everyone was discussing a new book by a prize winning Irish author.  Some described it as hilariously funny, while others insisted it was a tragedy. All agreed it was very long but a very worthwhile read.  Does it sound familiar?   Perplexed but Interested

Dear Perplexed…. Paul Murray’s THE BEE STING is all these things and more. Set in contemporary Ireland, this 600-plus page book is the story of one family set over generations in which everyone involved makes a bad decision. It is told from the perspectives of Imelda, the beautiful wife of Dickie, owner of a failing car dealership; Cass, their surly teenage daughter who turns to alcohol to ease the tensions of adolescence; and PJ , her younger brother, who is being blackmailed by the town bully.  In each case these characters choose sometimes humorous, sometimes horrific solutions to their problems.  The economic chaos in Ireland plus catastrophic climate changes all work themselves into the story of a family in deep trouble and pain. Besides the four main characters, there are many others richly developed that add to the complexity and beauty of the novel.  The startling conclusion makes this family saga truly  a controversial mystery that leaves you  questioning much of what you have read.  Highly recommended!