Book Markers 06.06.13

David Margolick on “Dreadful”

    Here’s a title to prick up your ears: “Dreadful: The Short Life and Gay Times of John Horne Burns.” Burns, a conflicted man of no small measure of inner turmoil and anger, came out with “The Gallery” in 1947, a debut collection of related stories praised for its descriptions of wartime Italy. It contained an early depiction of what it was like to be gay in the military and sold 500,000 copies.

    And then came a sophomore slump that would last the rest of Burns’s life. (His second book was based on his experiences teaching at the Loomis School in Connecticut.) He drank, sank into depression, returned to Italy, and died of a brain hemorrhage in 1953 at the age of 36.

    The author of “Dreadful,” David Margolick, a contributing editor for Vanity Fair who lives in Sag Harbor, will read from it at Canio’s Books in that village on Saturday starting at 5 p.m. Mr. Margolick’s previous book was a tale of the civil rights era, “Elizabeth and Hazel: Two Women of Little Rock.”

Reading and Party at Barnes Landing

    Fans of prose, poetry, art, and the lush greenery and twinkling waters of the hamlet of Springs, take heed: It’s time once again for the Barnes Landing Writers and Artists Showcase, happening Saturday at 2:30 p.m. at the Barnes Landing Association meetinghouse at Barnes Hole and Water’s Edge Roads.

    Lisa Dickler Awano, who put the happening together, is doing double duty as one of the readers, to be joined by Fran Castan, Elaine Marinoff, Dee Slavutin, Susan Bell, and Hiroo Dickler Awano. What’s more, Lewis Zacks, Michelle Murphy, and Dave Bennett will display and talk about their artwork. A neighborhood cocktail party follows.

About the DiMaggios

    Tom Clavin of Sag Harbor, perhaps the most prolific sports biographer around, will read from his new one, “The DiMaggios,” on Saturday at 2 p.m. at BookHampton in East Hampton.

    Coming hard on the heels of books about two other baseball greats, Roger Maris and Gil Hodges, this one attempts to answer, among other questions, why Joltin’ Joe wasn’t happier, as he seemingly had everything — looks, stratospheric talent, endorsement deals, and, for a time, Marilyn Monroe. His brother Dom, on the other hand, lived something more of an American Dream life, with a loving family and a successful business career when his baseball days were over.