By Invitation Only byJodi Della Femina

A wonderful book that gave me an insider's look at the big money, big romance, food wars, catering wars, restaurant wars, local newspaper fights, and comical vendettas that make East Hampton, America's most talked about small town.

The Chosen by Chaim Potak

This is a classic novel about the unlikely friendship that develops between two boys in 1940's Brooklyn. Reuven Malther is a secular Jew with an intellectual, Zionist father; Danny Saunders is the brilliant son and rightful heir to a Hasidic rebbe. Together they navigate the emotional terrain of adolescence and the demands of family and a crisis of faith when stories of the Holocaust begin to emerge on the shores of America.

The Chosen is a profound, deeply moving story of Fathers and Sons and of the enduring power of love.

THE POWER AND THE GLORY BY GRAHAM GREENE

In a poor, remote section of southern Mexico, the Red Shirts have taken control. God has been outlawed and the priests have been systematically hunted down and killed. Now, the last priest is on the run. Too human for heroism, too humble for martyrdom, the little worldly," whiskey priest" is nevertheless impelled toward his squalid Calvary as much by his own compassion for humanity as by the efforts of his pursuers.

ALL THE LITTLE LIVE THINGS by Wallace Stegner

This was a terrible book. It told the story of a couple suffering from the senseless death of their son and baffled by the engulfing chaos of the 1960's. They are especially troubled by Jim Peck, a messianic exponent of drugs, yoga and sex and Marian Catlin, an attractive young woman whose otherworldly innocence is very appealing and very dangerous.

THE POSTMISTRESS by Sarah Blake

In l940, Iris James is the postmistress in coastal Franklin, Massachusetts. Iris knows more about the townspeople than she ever will say, for example that Emma Trask has come to marry the town's doctor, and that Harry Vale watches the ocean for U-boats. Iris believes that it is her job to deliver secrets. Yet, one day, she does the unthinkable: slips a letter into her pocket, reads it and doesn't deliver it.

Meanwhile, Frankie Bard broadcasts from overseas with Edward R. Murrow. Her dispatches beg listeners to pay heed as the Nazis bomb London nightly. Most of the townspeople of Franklin think that war can't touch them. But, Iris, Emma and Frankie know better.........

The Postmistress is a tale of two worlds, one shattered by violence, the other willfully naive and of two women whose jobs are to deliver the news, yet who find themselves unable to do so. Through their eyes and the eyes of everyday people caught in history's tide, it examines how we tell each other stories and how we bear the fact of war as we live ordinary lives.

THE MASTERY OF LOVE BY DON MIGUEL RUIZ

The author illuminates the fear-based beliefs and assumptions that undermine love and lead to to suffering and dramas in our relationships. Using insightful stories to bring his message to life, Ruiz shows us how to heal our emotional wounds, recover the freedom and joy that are our birthright, and restore the spirit of playfulness that is vital to loving relationships.

SAG HARBOR BY COLSEN WHITEHEAD

The book is the little known story of the African-American part of Sag Harbor. It is a coming of age book and tells the story of a transformation from boyhood to manhood. There is no real designated plot but the stories, especially the coke and ice cream stories were wonderful.

The book makes you feel that you had summered in Sag Harbor.

The novel is lacking in character development. The reader would like to know more about Benji's parents and sister and why Elena never came home and encouraged Benji to leave once he graduated from college.