Dear Great Book Guru, I was at my friend Diane Biolsi's birthday celebration the other night at the new restaurant in town- the Oak Room Tavern- when I overheard a heated discussion about a book that a group of women had just read. It was set in an Indian slum and traced the daily lives of its inhabitants . Everyone agreed it was a life transforming book but some felt it was too disturbing to recommend. Do you know the book and, if so, what is your opinion? Intrigued but Uneasy

Dear Uneasy, The book is BEHIND THE BEAUTIFUL FOREVERS: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katerine Boo. The author spent four years chronicling the lives of three families from a slum near the Mumbai airport situated just behind a strip of luxurious hotels and expensive shops; all the names are real, every event personally witnessed, everyone an individual the author met and interviewed. These residents earn their living from the trash that airport travelers discard: bottles, newspapers, cigarettes, metal trinkets, anything and everything. While everyone needs food, shelter, and good health to survive, very few here have even the barest of these. One of the most shocking revelations was the overwhelming corruption that pits doctors, police, judges, and teachers against the poorest of these slum dwellers . The question the author poses remains unanswered: there are so many poor, living such wretched lives just beyond worlds of great wealth and waste, why don't they rise up? Instead, so many turn their anger against one another. Yes, this is a disturbing book but one that leaves the reader astonished that "while it is blisteringly hard to be good in such circumstances, some people are good and many try to be…"

Dear Great Book Guru, I just started watching the PBS series Downton Abbey and am fascinated by the rigid rules that governed life on an English manor, by the legions of servants needed to maintain these ancient homes, and by the changes that time brought. Can you recommend a book that would replicate this viewing experience? Fascinated by All Things British


Dear Fascinated, Many people are discovering Downton Abbey; Season One is available at the Sea Cliff Library albeit with a long list of eager borrowers. However, I just finished a book I think you will enjoy very much: HOUSE OF TYNEFORD by Natasha Solomons. My friend Jen Scheffel who is a voracious reader had recommended it to me and I think she and I would agree that while this is not fine literature, it is a very moving tribute to a time and lifestyle long gone. Set in a beautiful village on the Dorset coast, the novel tells the story of Elise Landau, a nineteen year-old Viennese girl who with her opera singer mother and novelist father enjoys a charmed existence. They have a beautiful home filled with antiques, fine wines, and devoted servants. All of this changes with the rise of the Nazis; the family is forced to flee Vienna- some to New York, some to San Francisco, but Elise alone must go to England: as a housemaid until a more suitable arrangement can be made. The novel details the difficulties encountered in this brutal reversal of fortune. The manor house she arrives at in 1939 shares some of Downton Abbey's majesty, but by the end of the book, Tyneford and Elise's world have both been changed beyond belief.

Dear Great Book Guru, I am so excited- I just received an email from the Sea Cliff Museum that Ines Powell is giving a lecture on early Italian Renaissance portraits next week. I have heard Ines speak many times and it is always such a treat. While I love art history, the intrigue that surrounds art collecting has also been a great interest of mine. Are there any new books on this subject? Interested in Intrigue

Dear Interested, Yes, I too look forward to Ines's lecture which will be Tuesday, March 13 at 7:30 in Village Hall. Last month while visiting the Getty Museum in California , I read CHASING APHRODITE, a book that offers more than a glimpse into the world of art collecting. While this might seem like a topic of limited interest to the general reader, it turned to be an amazing tale of greed, elaborate tax evasion schemes, hidden bank accounts, secret island paradises, shady grave diggers, aristocratic criminals, billionaire misanthropes, Nazi collaborators, and avaricious academics- a real page turner. Written by two investigative reporters, Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino, the book traces the fortunes of the Getty Museum, as its staff and administrators, fueled by an enormous endowment, feverishly buy up ancient Greek and Roman art pieces . There are a myriad of fascinating characters but two stand out: Marion True, a Harvard educated art historian, who led the buying spree and ended up in the Italian courts for almost ten years, and, J. Paul Getty, the oil tycoon billionaire whose bizarre life style and lust for antiquities are at the root of this amazing "chase." Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, I was on the Pub Crawl last weekend- what fun! I made it to Metro Bistro, the new Oak Room, Partners, and Gallagher's -each was more crowded than the next. While I was waiting to get into Partners, I heard a group of people talking about a new book they had all read. It was set on the Amazon River and sounded like a great scientific adventure story. Do you know the book and, if so, would you recommend it? Fascinated by Amazon Adventures


Dear Fascinated, The Pub Crawl was fun- the Beach committee did a wonderful job and, despite the rain, everyone seemed to have a great time. I do know the book you mention: STATE OF WONDER by Ann Patchett. She wrote the very popular BEL CANTO and while both are psychological adventure tales set in South America, this latest novel focuses on scientific rather than political intrigue . The story opens in a Minnesota pharmaceutical company where researcher Marina Singh has just discovered her friend and fellow researcher has died in a remote village deep in the Amazon jungle. His wife asks Singh to travel to the jungle to reclaim his body, and the head of the company also wants her there: to complete the dead man's mission which was to bring back a native drug that extends human fertility indefinitely. The head of the research outpost is a strange, charismatic woman who intimidates everyone around her. Mix in a cannibal tribe, a series of catastrophic accidents, malaria-induced hallucinations, a score of fascinating characters, some corporate malfeasance, all topped with a generous dollop of romance and you have an exciting read with strong overtones of Joseph Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS.

Remember: Meet the Candidates is Thursday, March 8 at 8pm in Sea Cliff Village Hall. All three candidates for Village Trustee will be there.

Dear Great Book Guru, I was at the fabulous new Five Napkin Burger in Manhattan on 14 Street and 3rd Avenue this weekend . What fun and what great food! Chef Andy D'Amico has yet another winner. While we were there, one of the happy diners was going on about a book she had read long ago in college and had just reread recently with great pleasure. It was TO THE LIGHTHOUSE by Virginia Woolf . I have never read anything by Woolf since she always seemed so intimidating but this sounded very good. What do you think?
Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Dear Afraid, I was at the new Five Napkin Burger this weekend too and I agree: great food, great location, great restaurant! I do think you should give TO THE LIGHTHOUSE a try. It is a short novel (203 pages) divided into three parts: The Window which describes one day in the life of the Ramsey family ; Time Passes, the shortest of the three, covers the events of the next ten years; and finally, To the Lighthouse recounts one morning. It is a story of family, of marriage, of friendship but mostly it is a story of time - how we perceive it, how it changes us, and how in time our lives are lived "each alone." I listened to a beautiful reading of this novel on a set of CD's that I borrowed from the Sea Cliff Library; it added immeasurably to my understanding and appreciation, so I would recommend you do the same. This is not an easy read, but a very, very rewarding one!

Dear Great Book Guru, Presidents' Weekend is coming up and I am planning on spending it in Sea Cliff with friends and family but I always like to have a good book on hand- something unusual, something beyond my usual comfort zone. Any ideas? Willing to Throw Caution to the Wind


Dear Willing- I know just how you feel - this is the time of year to try something new and I have just the book for you - RIN TIN TIN by Susan Orlean. Let me make it clear: I am NOT a dog lover- well, I do have a dog of sorts although I think most would call Oberon faux- but I liked this book because it was so much more than an animal story. Orlean details the horror of war, the science of eugenics, life in orphanages at the turn of the century, the history of the movie industry, the birth of television, the evolving status of dogs and, finally she introduces us to the many fascinatingly obsessive characters that surrounded Rin Tin Tin. The story opens in a small town on the border of France and Germany- a very dangerous and brutal place in 1917 when Lee Duncan arrived as an infantry soldier . There are dogs all about serving a myriad of roles: bringing medicine, bandages, cigarettes to the wounded and, in the end, offering comfort to the dying .In this nightmarish world, Duncan finds two newborn pups that he names Nanette and Rin Tin Tin after a pair of lucky charms that were popular in France at the time. Nanette dies shortly after but Rin Tin Tin proves to be Duncan's lucky charm, indeed. He survives the war, returns home with this spectacularly intelligent dog and his fortune is made as Rin Tin Tin becomes star of countless silent films and later a hugely popular TV series. We follow the ups and downs of their life together and in between we learn about the cultural history of the 20th century. This is a wonderfully enlightening and tender story. I think you'll love it!

Dear Great Book Guru, Last night I was having dinner at Billy Long's Metro Bistro- what a crowd! There was a birthday celebration at the bar, great music at the front of the restaurant, and in the back a book group was meeting. In the midst of all the noise and excitement, I heard someone toasting Charles Dickens- apparently this year is the famed author's bicentennial. Do you have a good Dickens's biography I might read this month? Undaunted by Dickens


Dear Undaunted, Yes- Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812 so this week would be his 200th birthday! I recently read BECOMING DICKENS by Robert Douglas Fairhurst This is an interesting biography in that it focuses on Dickens's amazing capacity to reinvent himself . The mournful thought "what might have been and what was not" permeates so many of his works from "The Christmas Carol" to "The Tale of Two Cities" and the other fifty or so in between. When his secure, affluent childhood collapses into financial ruin, his young business partner commits suicide in despair, and his first (and perhaps only love) dies suddenly, Dickens begins anew but always with angst and regret. His characters are searching for security: both emotional and financial. Fairhurst captures the genius of the man and also his almost crippling neurosis. In many ways, Dickens is his own finest character. After finishing the book, I vowed that I would begin a year of Dickens's readings- a Dickens Society of Sea Cliff- and where would we meet? Perhaps a back table at the Bistro…