Mac Griswold on “The Manor”
A trip into Shelter Island’s deep past — to say nothing of down “the slave staircase” at the island’s storied Sylvester Manor — awaits the historically curious on Saturday at 3 p.m., when Mac Griswold discusses the particulars of her new book, “The Manor: Three Centuries at a Slave Plantation on Long Island.” The talk, part of the Sag Harbor Historical Society’s annual meeting, will take place at the Annie Cooper Boyd House on Main Street in that village.
Long Island Books: (Not So) Bad Boy“Bad Boy”
Eric Fischl
Crown, $26
One of the lasting impressions I have of Eric Fischl was a night at the Parrish Art Museum, where he was in discussion with an adjunct curator about Fairfield Porter’s influences. The curator, who is no longer with the museum, had developed an elaborate theory regarding Diego Velasquez’s influence on Porter, an idea at which Mr. Fischl scoffed.
Kids’ Reviewers Impaneled
Reviewing children’s books: all delicacy and tact, or a merciless weeding out? At the Amagansett Library on Saturday, a panel of reviewers will discuss what makes a good children’s book, what criteria goes into an evaluation, and even what might make one “literary.”
Fortunate Son“Indiscretion”
Charles Dubow
William Morrow, $25.99
There are no perfect lives. Even people who seem to have it all, whose births appear to have set them on a course that ensures success and happiness, even those fortunate few encounter trouble along the way. And does having it all invite being taken down a peg? Moreover, what if you have it all and still desire more? What then?
Children’s Books Powwow
Children’s books: So many think they can write them; so few actually do so with skill. Now, for Children’s Book Week, the Amagansett Library has rounded up some top practitioners for panel discussions starting at 6 p.m. this Saturday and continuing next Saturday, May 18.
Dogs for Steinbeck
You say John Steinbeck Weekend is news to you? Never mind that and simply give in to the charm of the “Travels With Charley” dog walk on Saturday starting at 8:30 a.m. at Havens Beach in Sag Harbor. Jill Rappaport of the “Today” show, known as an advocate for the four-legged, is the host, and the beneficiaries are the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons and the Bay Street Theatre, where the walk will wind up with a “bagels and bones” reception.
Seedy Montauk: A Novel ViewThere’s no rock ’n’ roll and just a few mentions of drugs in Nanci E. LaGarenne’s new novel, “Cheap Fish,” but it’s all about Montauk and has sex, salty language, intrigue, and a murder mystery, all aboard a high-class floating brothel called the Lily Virginia in the middle of the ocean.
The characters were not based on real people but may carry the qualities of some or a few rolled into one, Ms. LaGarenne said. Readers, though, are having a lot of fun wondering who’s who from the Montauk bar scene, mostly Liars’ Saloon, which plays a central role in the book.
Long Island Books: Paths to Freedom“The Underground
Railroad on Long Island”
Kathleen G. Velsor
History Press, $19.99
Storytelling Techniques
Memoir: It’s all the rage, whether you’re a reader, a writer, or a publisher. How about workshopper?
Poets Laureate, Ho!
National Poetry Month: Get it while you can, versification fans. At Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor, to name one outlet, a couple of county poets laureate, Ed Stever of Suffolk and Linda Opyr of Nassau, will step to a lectern or its approximation to read starting at 5 p.m. on Saturday.
All Her Ducks in a RowBack in June 2000, Eva Moore of Montauk was reading a story in The East Hampton Star about a family of ducks rescued from a storm drain near Kirk Park by members of the Montauk Fire Department and a visiting tourist. Immediately, the author of some 22 children’s books realized it would make a good picture book. It took more than 10 years to find a publisher, get it illustrated, and get it on bookstore shelves, but just a couple of weeks after its Feb. 1 release, it had already won an award and sold more than 10,000 copies.
Out of Alaska
There’s more to Alaskan poetry than John Haines. Serge Lecomte, for one, who will read his work, including from his 2010 father-to-daughter collection, “Lauren at Two,” tomorrow starting at 6:30 p.m. at Neoteric Fine Art in Amagansett.
Mr. Good Barge“Bolero”
Joanie McDonell
Thomas & Mercer, $14.95
I’ve noticed that when reading mysteries I can usually tell from the opening chapter if I’m in for an enjoyable ride. With “Bolero,” Joanie McDonell’s first Nick Sayler adventure, I knew within a few paragraphs that I was in good hands. The tone is smart, the setup intriguing and fast-paced, and the protagonist appealingly eccentric.
Rattray to Be HonoredThe life and achievements of David G. Rattray, a poet and translator who was born and grew up in East Hampton, will be celebrated in Manhattan next week with a day and evening of readings, film, and visual art on the 20th anniversary of his death.
Mr. Rattray was the brother of Everett Rattray, the longtime editor and publisher of The East Hampton Star, and uncle to his son, David E. Rattray, the current editor.
Long Island Books: Like Father, Like Son“In the Land
of the Living”
Austin Ratner
Reagan Arthur Books, $25.99
The follow-up to his award-winning debut, Austin Ratner’s second novel, “In the Land of the Living,” is the story of fathers and sons, stepfathers and surrogate fathers, brothers-in-arms and brothers estranged. It may be read as multiple bildungsromans; or as a tragic family saga of ambitious, fatherless men looking for acceptance in genteel — a k a gentile — America; or as a satire of manboys with congenital hemorrhoids.
Misfits, Unite!Ever feel that modernity has gotten so strange you must be living on another planet? In “The Twinning Project” (Clarion Books, $16.99), Robert Lipsyte of Shelter Island posits a second Earth created by alien scientists to study evolution. But humans, as humans will, have made a mess of things (our stock-in-trade: war, starvation, genocide, environmental degradation), and the project is being abandoned — no more Earths.
Caro Does It Again — and Again
Robert A. Caro won the National Book Critics Circle Award for biography last Thursday for “The Passage of Power,” the latest installment in his magisterial, multipart assessment, “The Years of Lyndon Johnson.” Two earlier books in the series have won the same award. This year’s ceremony was held at the New School in New York City.
Long Island Books: Buy Low, She Said“The Richest Woman
in America”
Janet Wallach
Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $27.95
Long Island Books: More Than the Eye Can See“Saul Steinberg:
A Biography”
Deirdre Bair
Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, $40
Saul Steinberg’s sharply ironic drawings became so well known in the 20th century that the term “Steinbergian” was readily understood as a reference to a perceptive and piercing wit that stemmed from some slightly off-kilter way of looking at the world.
A Life in Livres“Monsieur Proust’s
Library”
Anka Muhlstein
Other Press, $19.95
Anthropologists have suggested that societies without writing have a linear sense of time, while in literate societies the sense of time is cumulative. It stands to reason, then, that the great novel of the last century, with its accumulative thrust and ruminations on the past, was also a book about, well, books.
A Look at Love’s Not-So-Secret IngredientAnyone who has been in a long-term relationship knows that there is only one real secret to its success and that’s commitment. Mort Hamburg knows it too, and he has used the theme to anchor a new photo book profiling couples, famous and not, who have built long and flourishing lives together. And this is not his first rodeo.
In the Name of Security“Cheating Justice”
Elizabeth Holtzman
and Cynthia L. Cooper
Beacon Press, $26.95
Get Frondutti“Dead Anyway”
Chris Knopf
Permanent Press, $28
Meet Arthur Cathcart, a 42-year-old, 40-pounds-overweight freelance market researcher. He is the protagonist of Chris Knopf’s 10th novel, “Dead Anyway.” He describes himself as a “vigorous schlump” and “a Samurai of the Information Age,” though when we first encounter him, he seems more a samurai of snacking, noshing his way through several meals in the first few pages.
Yes, spring seems far off. And yes, Major Jackson sounds like an important figure in the Battle of Antietam. Neither is the case, however, and both will converge Wednesday for the start of that season’s months-long series of readings and talks at Stony Brook Southampton. Writers Speak happens weekly at 7 p.m. upstairs in Chancellors Hall.
