Dear Great Book Guru,  Last weekend I attended the Women’s March on Washington with friends from the North Shore LI group organized by Carolyn Mazzu Genovesi.  It was an incredible experience I will always remember.  We had many wonderful conversations and one of them was about good books we had recently read. Someone mentioned a new novel about women, parenting, and Brooklyn. I think my book group would really enjoy it. Any thoughts on this?  Marching From Washington

Dear Marching From Washington,  We were in D.C. too  –  and yes,  much thanks to Carolyn for her amazing job of organizing and inspiring  so many of us.  The book you are considering is CLASS by Lucinda Rosenfeld.  Karen Kipple is a forty-five years-old mother of a young daughter, wife of an out- of- work lawyer, and head of a non-profit food bank. The book is set in Brooklyn and deals with  a myriad of issues: schools, food, friends, clothes- all filtered through a prism of race and class. At times darkly humorous and always brutally insightful, CLASS is a fast moving tale rich with compelling details and memorable characters.  Throughout, we question how far Karen will go in pursuit of her unique version of social justice. Recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru,  I was with a group of friends this week at their annual “Beat the Winter Blues” party and someone mentioned a new book- a literary thriller- set in a boys’ school in England.  She said it was a compelling read but couldn’t remember the title.  Does it sound familiar?  Beating the Winter Blues

Dear Beating the Winter Blues,  Sounds like a great idea for a party and yes, I know the book: DIFFERENT CLASS by Joanne Harris.  Told from the dual perspectives of  veteran Latin teacher Roy Straitley and a former student who remains nameless through most of the book- this novel shifts back and forth between 1981 and 2005.  In 1981, a murder occurred at St. Oswalds’s School for Boys and three of Straitley’s students were somehow involved.   A charismatic teacher and friend of Straitley’s, Harry Clarke is implicated and imprisoned but the murder remained unsolved.  Now in 2005, one of the students returns as headmaster to rescue the school from insolvency bringing in technology and a new faculty, overthrowing 500 years of scholastic tradition.  Soon it becomes evident that someone has been hiding a horrific secret.  Despite a darkly menacing overlay, there is much biting humor as students and faculty adapt to the new world of the 21^st century.  An insightful study of the British class system and public school milieu in particular, this is a worthwhile read- recommended!

Hope to meet up with many of my readers Saturday at the March on Washington!

Dear Great Book Guru, I am planning on joining friends next weekend for the Women’s March on Washington. We will be leaving Sea Cliff Saturday at 5:30am and returning late that night. While there will be much talking and some sleeping, I would like to take something along to read.  Any suggestions?

 Marching in Washington

Dear Marching in Washington,  I have a wonderful, thought-provoking, very short book  (160 pages) about two women who also undertake a long journey. It’s ELEVEN HOURS by Pamela Erens.  Lore, a speech therapist, arrives alone in the emergency room of an uptown New York City hospital about to give birth. Franckline is a midwife labor room nurse on call that night.   As the evening and labor progress the two women share with us their life stories.  Lore tells of a painful childhood and a devastating breakup with her longtime lover. Franckline recounts her early fascination and skill as a midwife in Haiti with perceptive insights into her courtship and marriage. At first, the women warily assess one another, but soon a bold intimacy develops.   Their alternating stories create a rhythm that mimics the stages of labor so when  birth comes, we feel as if we have been part of a violent, heroic struggle.  Not a tale for the fainthearted but certainly recommended for most readers!

Another book I read this week that I found fascinating and definitely worthwhile:

Dear Great Book Guru,  I am headed this week for a family holiday party in Point Lookout.  There are many readers among the group and someone will surely ask what I have read lately.  With the holidays, I have fallen behind in my reading so can you suggest something I can “bring to the table”?   Holiday Party Goer

Dear Holiday Party Goer,  I just finished a harrowing but rewarding novel by  Edna O’Brien: THE LITTLE RED CHAIRS.  Set in the small rural village of Cloonoila in the west of Ireland, the story opens in fairytale fashion with the arrival of a mysterious stranger who evokes fear and wonder in all who meet him.   We hear from ten villagers as they come to know Doctor Vlad .  Sister Bonaventure, an elderly nun, is his first patient, and she finds great comfort in his massages and herbal remedies.   The local priest too is quickly won over while Diarmuid, the village school teacher, remains wary of this “visionary healer.” But it is Fidelma- the beautiful young wife of an elderly man- that we long to protect from Doctor Vlad. When the truth of his identity comes to light, we are horrified at the enormity of his sins and the depth of Fidelma’s suffering. We travel from Cloonoila to London to The Hague, with these journeys reinforcing the mystical quality of the novel, as we come to witness the struggle between the forces of good and evil embodied in Vlad and Fidelma.  Recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, With the new year about to begin, I would like to read a book about things that matter- really matter.  Do you have any suggestions?

Greeting the New Year with Trepidation

Dear Greeting the New Year…. As a Christmas present, I asked for Peter Singer’s newest book: ETHICS IN THE REAL WORLD.  Singer is the controversial Australian philosopher who teaches at Princeton University, and is widely known for his early work “Animal Liberation” the handbook of PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals).  This new book is a series of eighty-two very short essays that deal with- as the author says “things that matter.” Topics include euthanasia, extreme poverty, the sale of kidneys, right to happiness,  what makes for a good life, are chimpanzees people, should smoking be banned, is all human life sacred, does religion make for a better people… plus seventy- three  additionally provocative essays.   Ultimately, he poses the question “does anything matter?”  These might seem like difficult topics to consider at this festive time of year, but Singer presents them dispassionately with this reader finding comfort in confronting indeed “things that matter.”  Highly recommended!

With music makers in hand, join us near the Village Green for the ringing of bells at midnight of New Year’s Eve….everyone welcome!

Dear Great Book Guru,  My friends and I are planning a New Year’s Eve dinner party here in Sea Cliff. How I would love to add a literary piece to the evening’sfestivities!  We would need something short, meaningful, and seasonal. 

Literary New Year’s Reveler

Dear Literary New Year’s Reveler,  I have the perfect piece for your dinner party: James Joyce’s “The Dead”- the finest short story ever written.  This is the tale of a dinner party to celebrate the new year at the home of two elderly sisters in Dublin over one hundred years ago. The descriptions of delicious food and drink, the sparkling conversation and lilting music make for delightful reading but there is so much more going on here.  We meet the self-important, courtly Gabriel, the sisters’ adored nephew; his wife Gretta; the easily intimidated and intoxicated Freddy Malins;  his tedious, complaining mother Mrs. Malins; Lily, the young troubled servant girl… plus a whole array of colorful partygoers. There is a feverish litany of past parties, achievements, slights, and political barbs with the story’s climax coming as the party ends.  Gretta is in a melancholy mood as she remembers a boy she had known many years before.  Gabriel immediately becomes jealous and questions her fidelity only to learn the boy had died decades ago. Michael Fuery had despaired when Gretta decided to leave their small village for boarding school; he came to her window on a brutally bitter night to bid her farewell. He died shortly after, but the devotion he showed that night was still vividly alive for Gretta these many years later.  Gabriel laments his own pettiness and lack of passion in contrast to young Michael Fuery’s.  The story ends with Gabriel looking out as the snow covers Ireland, falling “upon all the living and the dead.”  Highly, highly recommended!

The people who brought you the Scrooge Stroll and the Joyce Jaunt are preparing a dramatization of “The Dead” early in 2017.  Watch for more details!

Dear Great Book Guru,  So many fun things to do this weekend in Sea Cliff – lots of parties, cookie swaps, and on Sunday at 5pm the lighting of the new Menorah on the Village Green ! Any good books to recommend for a busy holiday celebrant?

Loving the Holidays

Dear Loving the Holidays,   I have just finished  a short, beautifully written and very disturbing book: THE SPINNING HEART by Donal Ryan.  Set in a rural Irish village as the economy crashes in 2008, this debut novel tells the stories of a community whose world has gone awry.  A local construction company- the prime source of employment for the village- goes bankrupt and its corrupt owner flees the country. His family, his workers, and their children face this new impoverished reality with varying degrees of grace and bitterness. Each chapter is told by a different character so by the end of the book we have heard from twenty- one villagers with their stories revealing starkly contrasting views.  We hear a six-year old girl’s concerns about parental strife, her parents’ fears of economic ruin, an aging patriarch’s shame at his son’s illicit dealings, the son’s unspoken plea for forgiveness…. This is a work of  enormous beauty, some humor,   and offers  great insight into the Irish psyche- highly recommended!