- Louisa May Alcott

• I heard an interview with David Carr, on NPR, over the weekend, but somehow missed the title of his book. It’s been driving me crazy. Fortunately, our local lit scene is on the job: Elliott Bay Books, the Seattle Public Library, and The Stranger have conspired to bring Mr. Carr to the Douglass-Truth branch of the SPL for a public interview by The Stranger’s book editor, Paul Constant. Indubitably, one of the topics covered will be Mr. Carr’s crack-addiction memoir, The Night of the Gun: A Reporter Investigates the Darkest Story of His Life: His Own. I bet you a nickel that the subject of James Frey also comes up, if only for comparison’s sake. Find out for yourself at 6:30 PM on Thursday, August 21st at the Douglass-Truth Branch Library, 2300 East Yesler Way.

• Up on Queen Anne, Rosanne Olson will be signing This Is Who I Am: Our Beauty in All Shapes and Sizes at Queen Anne Books on Thursday, August 21st from 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM. Queen Anne Books is hosting the reception for Ms. Olson as part of the neighborhood Art Walk, and is featuring the photography of Ms. Olson August through September. Even if you can’t make it for the signing, Ms. Olson’s collection of portraits is beautiful, thoughtful, and moving, well worth both the hill-climb and the cover price.

• On a lighter note, Friday August 22nd, Kelli Stanley will be signing her debut novel, the “Roman Noir” Nox Dormienda: A Long Night for Sleeping, at the Seattle Mystery Bookshop from noon until… she’s done? I realize this paints me as a geek of tremendous and incurable dorkitude, but I’m really excited to read this novel. There aren’t enough Roman-era mysteries in the world (shut up, there aren’t!) and Ms. Stanley, with a Master’s in Classics, is eminently qualified to correct the situation. Nox Dormienda is the first in a trilogy, according to her website, but ad praesens ova cras pullis sunt meliora.

• Also on Friday, the University Bookstore (U-District store) will be celebrating Dorothy Parker’s birthday with an evening of readings and tributes by Store staff. This could be fun, or it could be “terrible with raisins in it.” However the event turns out, it starts at 7:00 PM.

• If there is one writer I want to see this year, it’s Sarah Katherine Lewis, author of Sex and Bacon: Why I Love Things That are Very, Very Bad for Me, and Seattle Mystery Bookshop is hosting her on Saturday, August 23rd, at 5:30 PM. Ms. Lewis is a Seattle native, former sex worker, and foodie. This event is rated R, for coarse language, mature themes, and adult beverages, i.e. restricted to 21-and-over. It is very likely that this will be the last Seattle reading Ms. Lewis does for Sex and Bacon, so don’t miss out!