Dear Great Book Guru, The first Sunday in October is always Sea Cliff’s Mini Mart and this weekend I plan an early start before the crowds arrive on the scene. Of course, my first stop will be the Children’s Library with its great “pre-owned” books and toy sale. But that leaves the rest of the day for a good book- any recommendations?  Mini Mart Maven

Dear Mini Mart Maven, Let’s hope the sun shines all day Sunday because there is no rain date… But rain or not, I have a wonderful book for you to read this weekend: DID YOU EVER HAVE A FAMILY by Bill Clegg. In the opening pages we learn that June Reid has lost her entire family- her daughter, her daughter’s fiancé, June’s charismatic boyfriend, and her ex-husband- all in a fiery gas explosion on the eve of her daughter’s wedding.  Set in a lovely old Connecticut town, the story is told by the sundry people impacted by this tragedy: the caterer, the florist, the parents of the bridegroom, the mother of the boyfriend, the owners of the motel where the young couple had stayed, and of course June, herself.   As secrets are told and motives revealed, we come to understand how each of these characters played a role that night.   Beautifully written, the story offers a profound insight into the nature of grief.   A National Book Award and Booker Prize nominee – and highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru,  I have waiting all year for this weekend- yes, it is the Sea Cliff Civic Association’s Silly Shakespeare performance of “The Tempest” well -actually the company’s very own hilarious version: “The Tem-Pissed” with a strong “ Love Boat” overlay. It’s this week Saturday, September 26 at 5 pm at Sea Cliff Beach with a raindate of Sunday. But wait, I will need something to read while I wait for the show to begin- do you have a recommendation?   A Besotted Silly Shakespeare Fan

Dear Besotted,  I can appreciate your excitement and I do have an interesting book to fill the hours before “The Tem-Pissed” begins:  HOLD STILL by Sally Mann.  Miranda Best, who has a beautiful exhibit of her paintings this month at the Sea Cliff Library, recommended Mann’s book and it is quite wonderful, indeed.   Sally Mann is a world renowned photographer and this  autobiography  touches on her family, her art, and  her views on the South,  racism, death, memory, technique and more. . She writes about colorfully eccentric family members who traced their roots back to the Mayflower.  Texas billionaires, Connecticut drug dealing in-laws, and Virginia philandering philanthropists are all described in rich detail.   While Mann’s treatment of her mother is brutally frank and unsentimental, she is unflinchingly admiring of her father.  She also addresses the controversy surrounding the photos she took of her three young children that prompted wide criticism. Most startling is her assertion that photographs have destroyed our memories- when we look at a photograph we no longer  remember the actual event;  in fact,  seeing the photo alters our perception of the event.  A very entertaining and ultimately thought-provoking book- highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, This weekend  Sea Cliff is filled with a myriad of activities.  Saturday morning is the Good of the Village’s  golf outing through the streets and gardens of the Village, followed in the early evening by the world famous Antigone Rising’s performance at Sea Cliff Beach. Then on Sunday afternoon, is the Sea Cliff Civic Association’s annual Newcomers’ Party.  Busy weekend, indeed! Do you have a good book that I can read in between these wonderful events?  Enjoying September in Sea Cliff

Dear Enjoying September in Sea Cliff,   Sounds like great fun and I do have a disturbingly powerful book for you: IN THE LANGUAGE OF MIRACLES by Rajiah Hassib.  The Al-Menshawry family migrated from Egypt twenty years before the story opens and has been extraordinarily successful in assimilating into the community.  They live in the affluent New Jersey  suburb of Summerville where the husband is a well-respected physician with a thriving practice , his wife is active in community affairs, and their three children are good students with many friends. Then the unimaginable happens- the eldest son murders his high school girl friend and then kills himself.  The book begins a year after this tragedy as the townspeople and the girl’s family prepare for her memorial service.  The boy’s father insists he must be allowed to speak at this service. Everyone is outraged especially his wife and children who want only to move on, to find anonymity, and to build new lives. The story touches on religious bigotry, familial discord, cultural disconnects, the quest for forgiveness, and ultimately the need for redemption. Beautifully written and highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru,  I just arrived back in  Sea Cliff from the annual Barbara Pym conference in England and I am eager to read another Pym novel .  Is there one you would especially recommend? A Faithful Pymian

Dear Faithful Pymian,  The Pym conference is always a highlight of the year for the many Sea Cliff Pymians and this year was no exception.  Meeting up amidst the spires of Oxford with friends from around the world and listening as scholars and fans discuss the finer points of a beloved author’s works- what can be better than this? Today I am going to recommend one of her lesser known novels: NO FOND RETURN OF LOVE.  Set in post World War II London, the book tells the story of Dulcie Mainwaring, a thirty year-old woman working for the pompous albeit handsome  academician Alywin Forbes.  While she is gently obsessed with him, we the readers quickly realize he is a tediously arrogant philanderer - certainly not worthy of the lovely Dulcie.  As in all Pym’s novels, the plot is secondary to her cleverly humorous descriptions of people, places, and custom.  Those wonderful distractions that fill our lives are presented here in exquisite detail.  As the noted attorney Paul Marchese remarked- this is a perfect title for a perfect Pym piece.   Highly recommended as are all twelve Pym novels!

Dear Great Book Guru,  School has opened and we are looking at Labor Day weekend- last chance for breakfast at Sea Cliff Beach Café- a favorite activity of so many of us.  I wonder if you have a really compelling book for me to read as the sun sets on another beautiful Sea Cliff summer?  Labor Day Beach Lounger

Dear Labor Day Beach Lounger, I have spent the last days of August reading a fascinating book: THE BROTHERS by Stephen Kinzer.  He asks the question  ”Why is America so hated in so many parts of the world?” and he answers “ The Dulles Brothers.”  John Foster Dulles and Allen Dulles were major players on the world stage throughout most of the twentieth century culminating in the 1950’s when John  Foster served as U.S.Secretary of State and Allen was head of the newly formed Central Intelligence Agency. The brothers plotted assassinations, overthrew governments, and saw themselves as singlehandedly  fighting the Cold War.  Cuba, Vietnam, Indonesia, Guatemala, Korea, most of Africa, and Eastern Europe are just some of the places that felt their wrath -a wrath that at times took on biblical proportions becoming for them truly a battle between good and evil.    Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson, Winston Churchill,  Nikita Khrushchev, Patrice Lumumba and Fidel Castro all come in for deft  scrutiny and vivid characterization. Interestingly, his concluding chapter tempers all that came before by placing some of the blame on the American ethos- that the story of the Dulles brothers is really the story of the American people.    Highly recommended! 

Dear Great Book Guru,  Well,  the time has come to bid a fond farewell to Summer 2015 and I will be doing just that at Roslyn Park this Sunday, August 30 at 6:30pm where my friends and I will gather for a family social and music by that great new band  Bittersweet; at sunset we will watch the beloved classic  “Muppets Take Manhattan” – all presented by the Sea Cliff Civic Association.  Before this great event, I would love to read a summer’s end book.           Sad to See  Summer End

Dear Sad to See Summer End, Yes- it has been a beautiful Sea Cliff summer, but I am sure fall will bring its own glorious events. For now, I suggest you read a very interesting and unusual novel- PRETTY IS by Maggie Mitchell.  This is a literary thriller that studies the changing nature of truth over time.  Seventeen years before the story opens, two twelve-year-old girls were kidnapped and spent six blissful  summer weeks  in a cabin in rural Connecticut with an abductor whom they  came to genuinely like. Zed chose Chloe, a child beauty pageant queen, and Lois, a national spelling bee champion, for reasons neither of the girls can understand, but both seemed to find in that infamous summer a reprieve from unhappy childhoods.   Memories of their captivity change as each in turn recounts those weeks’ events to the reader.  The Kraft macaroni dinners, the Nancy Drew mysteries they read, the advice Zed dispensed- all make for a cozy tale of sorts,  but what was it really all about?   A very interesting study of memory- recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, With just a few weeks until school reopens, I’d like to get some serious reading time in, but there are two great concerts coming up in the next few days: Chicken Head at Memorial Park on Thursday and The Rusty String Band opened by Boehm and Barker at the Beach on Friday. Do you have a fast moving, thought-provoking novel I can get into over the next week?       Not Wanting Summer to End

Dear Not Wanting Summer to End,   I have just the thing to cap off your summer:  the Sea Cliff Civic Association’s newest event : Muppets Movie, Music, and More- a family social on Sunday, August 30 from 6:30 to 9:30pm at Roslyn Park- but make sure you give yourself enough time to finish THE NEW NEIGHBOR  by Leah Stewart, this week’s recommendation. Ninety-year-old Margaret  Riley lives on a mountaintop in Sewanee, Tennessee- lonely, angry, and  reclusive-  when a new neighbor moves in across the way.  This new neighbor is Jennifer- also lonely and angry- and guarding a dangerous secret.  In alternating chapters, the women begin to reveal intimate details of their lives  - from Margaret’s World War II  horrific battlefield memories as an army nurse to Jennifer’s painful years with an abusive addict husband. The local librarian whom Margaret finds intrusive, the helicopter parent Jennifer befriends, Milo her young son, Margaret’s aggrieved niece… all make for wonderful background stories, but the book’s greatest strength lies in its ability to create an aura of darkening suspense. Highly recommended!