Acclaimed short story writer Richard Grayson has been keeping a diary since the summer of 1969 when he turned 18, a time recounted in his first published book of diary entries, SUMMER IN BROOKLYN. In LAST SUMMER IN ROCKAWAY, it's 1991 and he's turning 40.
The diary entries begin in Los Angeles, where Grayson goes for the first time to lead workshops at a writers' conference overseen by his oldest friend, a writer and editor he met in a second grade class in Brooklyn's P.S. 203.In California, Grayson learns that his bankruptcy has been finalized and that he has been accepted to law school at the University of Florida.
After a brief stay in South Florida to complete his teaching career at a community college, Grayson flies to New York for three months, living in the now-vacant beachfront apartment in Rockaway that had been his grandparents' longtime home.
Between visits to his grandmother in a nearby Long Island nursing home and excursions to Brooklyn and Manhattan for long lunches, dinners and walks around his native New York, trying to take everything in, knowing he will probably never return except as an infrequent visitor.
Grayson also reflects upon everything from the death of novelist Isaac Bashevis Singer and conditions in Rockaway's ghetto neighborhoods to whether one day the computer, TV and telephone will merge into one device.
Richard Grayson's previous diary books include SUMMER IN BROOKLYN: 1969-75; MORE SUMMER IN BROOKLYN: 1976-79; WINTER IN BROOKLYN, 1971-72; SPRING IN BROOKLYN, 1975; AUTUMN IN BROOKLYN, 1978; A YEAR IN ROCKAWAY, 1980; SOUTH FLORIDA WINTERS, 1981-84; WEST SIDE SUMMERS, 1984-87; LATE SPRING IN SUNRISE, 1982; INDIAN SUMMER: PARK SLOPE, 1985; SPRINGTIME IN LAUDERHILL, 1986; EIGHTIES' END: 1987-89; SUMMER IN NEW YORK, 1990; and FIRST FALL IN GAINESVILLE, 1991.
The book is also available on Scribd and Lulu for free online reading.
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