Book Markers: 02.13.14

Chaskey on “Seedtime”

    Scott Chaskey, who, depending on your view, looks like Michelangelo’s vision of the Almighty or else a McCoy-hating Hatfield, has a new book out from Rodale, “Seedtime,” which comes with the explanatory subtitle “On the History, Husbandry, Politics, and Promise of Seeds.” Mr. Chaskey — need it be said? — runs Quail Hill Farm in Amagansett, but also, less famously, lives in Sag Harbor, and he’ll remain at home in that village for a reading and book talk at Canio’s on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Elaine’s: One Last Course

    Isn’t it about time for an ode to Elaine’s, the Manhattan restaurant that attracted the literary crowd — Plimpton, Vonnegut, Woody Allen, you name ’em — across a half-century until it was shuttered in 2011? Amy Phillips Penn thinks so, and she has begun work on a book about Elaine Kaufman’s storied Upper East Side establishment, “Elaine’s: Celebrating New York’s Celebrity Restaurant,” which is due out in the fall of 2015 from Skyhorse Publishing.

    Ms. Penn, a onetime East Hamptoner and former society columnist for The New York Post, is wondering if any Star readers might have tidbits they’d like to share about Elaine’s. They can be sent to [email protected]. And in case you didn’t know, there’s a new restaurant where Elaine’s was. It’s called the Writing Room.