Book Markers 11.29.12

The Other Matthiessen

    He’s got the same long, patrician face, wavy hair, and, at least in his author photo, the familiar denim button-down. Not unlike a certain Sagaponack nature writer and Zen practitioner. Then, too, his just released debut novel spans “love in the ruins of the Mayan Yucatan” and “landscapes, rivers, and tidal estuaries” of the northeastern U.S., on to “the wayward collision of nature and civilization.”

    To put a fine point on it: Peter Matthiessen Wheelwright, architect, Parsons professor, and nephew of Peter Matthiessen, will read from “As It Is on Earth” at Canio’s Books in Sag Harbor on Saturday at 5 p.m.

Lit Lunch

    So just who is this Kati Marton? Beyond, that is, the TV journalism, the occasional hefty work of history (“The Great Escape: Nine Jews Who Fled Hitler and Changed the World”), and the new, slimmer work of Francophilia and uxorial loss, “Paris: A Love Story.” Who attracts and marries both Peter Jennings and Richard Holbrooke? Some answers will be available to those in attendance at Sunday’s noontime authors lunch and fund-raiser for the Friends of the John Jermain Memorial Library at the American Hotel in Sag Harbor.

    And joining the din of clinking silverware and rattling ice cubes will be the voice of Michael Shnayerson, the event’s other guest, who took a break from chronicling the questionable behavior of rich Hamptonites for Vanity Fair to help Harry Belafonte write “My Song,” his memoir. The cost of the lunch is $50, and the contact is Chris Tice at [email protected].