~Robert Frost

* I’M NOT WORTHY! Er. Anyway. There is no simple way to describe Neal Stephenson’s books; to attempt it is an exercise in absurdity, e.g. “…a 19-year-old monastic scholar is called to save the world from extraterrestrial catastrophe” [UW Bookstore]. That really doesn’t do Stephenson’s newest, Anathem, justice. Fortunately, Stephenson writes really, really well, so his books are able to rise above the feeble, tortured efforts of embattled copywriters. University Bookstore is hosting the writer behind Anathem, Snow Crash, and (my personal favorite) The Diamond Age, tonight, September 15th, at 7:00 PM. The event is NOT being held in-store: it’s at University Temple United Methodist Church, 1415 NE 43rd. Got that?

* Town Hall offers dueling authors tonight at 7:30 – 9:00 PM. A Prairie Home Companion host Garrison Keillor will be reading from his new book, Liberty, in the Great Hall, while NYT writer Jonathan Mahler and Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift talk about the case behind Mahler’s book, The Challenge: Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Battle over Presidential Power. A riveting look at the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on presidential power, The Challenge follows the story of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Osama bin Laden’s driver; Hamdan’s military lawyer, Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift; and the suit they launched to challenge the legality of military tribunals. Tickets are $5, for each, as usual.

* Linda Cohn broke barriers in sports journalism, a notoriously nasty boys’ club. She was the first full time female sports anchor on a (US) national radio network, she was often the first woman journalist in locker rooms, and she continues to be a role model for women. She recounts the good, the bad, and the ugly in Cohn-Head: A No-Holds Barred Account of Breaking Into the Boys’ Club. She’ll be reading and signing at Elliott Bay Books tonight at 7:30 PM.