Dear Great Book Guru,  With these first days of March,  my thoughts begin turning to our lovely Village beach. Friends have mentioned enjoying a crime novel with rich nautical overtones set at a New York City beach.   Any thoughts? 

Slipping into Spring

Dear Slipping into Spring, I’m sure it is MANHATTAN BEACH by Jennifer Egan.  I loved her earlier A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD and this is indeed another winner- but with a very, very different approach.  In the first chapter, we meet  the three characters whose lives we will follow for the next twenty years. It’s 1934 and Anna Kerrigan and her father Eddie are visiting his business partner/mobster friend Dexter Styles at his mansion by the sea. The sea will play an ongoing role, perhaps even serving as the book’s fourth character.  Manhattan Beach is at the southern tip of Brooklyn and the story lines shift between here and Red Hook where the grown up Anna works in the naval shipyards, eventually as a diver as the nation prepares to enter World War II.  From beginning to end, the fates of all three are intertwined with the waters that surround them. Meticulously researching time and place, Egan gives us a fascinating mystery and a spectacular homage to New York’s waterways.

 

Dear Great Book Guru,  My friends and I are planning to attend the annual  Crawl for a Cause  a/k/a the Pub Crawl this Friday, February 23 to benefit Sea Cliff’s ever vigilant environmental group Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor. But before it begins, I’ll have a few hours to read a fast paced thriller.  Any thoughts?

Crawler for a Cause

Dear Crawler for a Cause,  The Coalition celebrated its 30^th anniversary last year and it continues to steadfastly protect our waters, so I hope all of Sea Cliff turns out for this fun event.  And, yes- I do have a quick enjoyable read for you: THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED by Mick Herron.  Maggie Barnes is a 26 year-old woman living alone in London, estranged from her family, friendless, no partner, and trapped in a dead end job sorting mail for a large international company.  Soon into the book, she is approached by a MI 5 agent ( think  America’s FBI) who convinces her to spy for the British government and save the nation from impending disaster.  This is a frightening, madcap look into a harrowing world of subterfuge, crime, and conspiracy theories with many plot surprises throughout.   Recommended!

 Dear Great Book Guru,   With the upcoming Presidents’ Week holiday, I am looking forward to plenty of time for some really good reading.  Someone told me about a joint book club sponsored by  the PBS NewsHour and the New York Times. I would love to have some directed reading, but I don’t know the book that has been chosen.  Are you familiar with this program?

Presidential Week Reader

Dear Presidential Reader,  I just finished the PBS/NYTimes selection for February: KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON by David Grann and it is an exceptionally compelling book. In the 1920’s, members of the Osage Indian nation were the richest people in the entire world. The land they lived on in Oklahoma was a fantastically vast source of oil and their lives were incredibly enriched  by this until…. suddenly leaders of the tribe began dying unexpectedly- there were murders, poisonings, shootings.  What was going on in this last refuge of the Wild West?  The newly formed FBI took the case on under the direction of its  young  director J. Edgar Hoover.  The story of this scandal and the early days of the FBI  makes for a fascinating read and a horrifying look into our national original sin. The treatment of  Native Americans and the role the FBI attempted to play in remedying these outrageous injustices makes for a sobering read.  Highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru,  I attended a lecture last week at the Brooklyn Historical Society on how democracies die.  It was both fascinating and horrifying.   Have you heard about the book that was at the center of this discussion? 

A Champion of Democracy

Dear Champion,  HOW DEMOCRACIES DIE by Steven Levitsky and David Ziblatt is perhaps the most thought provoking book I have read in the last few months.  While we usually picture democracies collapsing in violent chaos with tanks and militia in the streets, the authors show us that more frequently the very components of democracy–its constitution, courts, media, and elections- are used to destroy it.  They list four signs of its slow death: 1. denying the legitimacy of opponents 2.  condoning or tolerating violence 3.  showing  a willingness to curb civil liberties and/or the media 4. having only a weak commitment to democratic rules.  If one or more of these is present there is a strong possibility that democracy is in grave danger.  The authors also suggest that it is political parties that keep despots from coming to power and the post 1960’s primary system of nominating candidates has undermined the parties’ power.  The last and most devastating insight they offer is that at no time  in history has a democracy existed where all citizens- regardless of race or ethnicity- are equally empowered politically, socially,  and economically. Does democracy need inequality to exist? A disturbing question indeed!  Highly recommended…

Dear Great Book Guru,  For the last few weeks my friends and I have been trying to see as many of  the Oscar nominated movies as possible. Our favorites have included I, TONYA  and THE SHAPE OF WATER but we have a few more to see.   While on our way to one of the shows, someone mentioned a new literary thriller that uses classic movies to frame its story.  Does it sound familiar?   A Movie Maven

Dear Movie Maven, I just finished  THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW by A.J. Finn- and it is indeed an homage to many  noir movies of the past, especially Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW  but also SHADOW OF A DOUBT, VERTIGO,  and SUSPICION plus George Cukor’s terrifying GASLIGHT.  Anna Fox is a child psychologist who spends her days and nights spying on her neighbors. Because of an earlier traumatic event- which we gradually learn about- she suffers from agoraphobia.  Fueled by alcohol and heavy medication, Anna is a very unreliable narrator.  When a new family moves across the street from her, she takes an obsessive interest in their lives and soon sees and hears things she and the baffled reader must question.   However, there is no question this is a fascinating thriller... and highly recommended!

Dear Great Book Guru, We were at the Women’s March in New York City    last weekend with friends and family.  It was an amazing display of unity and activism.  The signs were wonderful- ranging from “Love Trumps Hate” to “Toddlers Against Tyranny.”  As we marched, we talked about many things,   including good choices for our book clubs.  Someone mentioned a new novel about Lincoln that sounded interesting- any thoughts?  Marching with the Many                                        

Dear Marching,  George Saunders’s LINCOLN IN THE BARDO  is an excellent book club choice. Although central to the plot,  Lincoln is only one of 166 characters we encounter in this very unusual,  award- winning novel.  Bardo is the place where the dead await their afterlife, possibly reincarnation, possibly damnation….  We meet Lincoln as he visits the crypt where his young son Willy lies after having just died of typhoid fever. The president’s grief is so intense that Willy cannot move on. The other ghosts- many who refuse to believe they are dead- share their life stories. There is the racist soldier who brags about the many women he raped, a miserly widow, a young mother who fears for her children, and a group of slaves that recount the horrors they have endured. Interspersed throughout are quotes from Lincoln scholars and journalists offering commentary on the events of the day.   Saunders tells an extraordinary tale- both beautifully poetic and ribaldry humorous- of love, grief, and redemption.  Highly recommended! 

Dear Great Book Guru,  I was at an annual gathering of friends:  “The Beat the Winter Blues Gala” last week. While we were dining and chatting, someone brought up a new book she had read- set in sunny Greece about a missing person, but she insisted it was not a mystery.   It sounded interesting… any thoughts? Seeker of the Sun

Dear Seeker of the Sun,  Yes, all of us could use some sunshine around now, but I’m afraid you won’t find it in Katie Kitamura’s A SEPARATION.  This is a dark novel set in London and southern Greece.  The unnamed narrator has been separated from her husband Christopher for over six months. She has little knowledge of his life but is aware he has had many affairs throughout their marriage. His mother, an ardent supporter of Christopher and our narrator’s nemesis, reluctantly reaches out to her when he stops returning calls.  Surprised the mother does not know of the separation, the narrator maintains the secrecy and heads out to the luxurious hotel resort where Christopher is staying. The remainder of this short novel teases us with clues about his life and possible end.  Throughout,  Kitamura offers us an study on what separates little lies and great betrayals, legal and personal misdeeds, and ultimately,  the need to know and the need to protect.  The beauty of Greece shines through this novel but there is no sunshine for its characters. Recommended!