Recent Stories in Literature

It's that time of the year, again, and isn't it fantastic? The Northwest Flower and Garden Show returns with a literary theme, featuring dozens of authors and speakers, including Ed Hume, Graham Kerr, and local favorite Ciscoe Morris. Spring may still be months away, and summer only a hopeful dream, but the Northwest Flower and Garden Show can ease the pain.

Within the Washington State Convention Center, attendees can pretend that their backyard is not overrun with blackberry brambles. Or, that they have a backyard. Ah, yes, I remember the days of planting cherry tomatoes in milk jugs, lovingly tended on a tiny, apartment patio. I'm not sure which is worse: the blackberries in my current yard, or the periodic shower of used kitty litter from the apartment upstairs, back in the day.

2/21/2011 12:05 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Thrilling Tales
Story Time for Grown-Ups
Monday lunch hour series at the Central Library.

2/21/2011 6 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Tunisia, Egypt, & Beyond: Protests, Politics, Change
Forum Discussion
Tunisian author and artist Rajaa Gharbi; Professor Olufemi Taiwo, director of Global African Studies at Seattle University; and Marwa Maziad, Fellow, Middle East Center, University of Washington Jackson School of International Studies, address the events in north Africa and the Middle East.... (more)

I'm not a big fan of Hallmark Holidays, or holidays in general, really, but if you are, well, have fun. More joy to you.

This week's readings feature a terrible dilemma: on Friday, both Maxine Hong Kingston and Connie Willis are speaking, at different venues, at the same time! Terrible, awful news! Don't Seattle's booksellers speak to each other? This is criminal scheduling, absolutely unacceptable. I protest! Moreover, I strongly protest! Rise up against the negligence of event planners, I say, rise all you bibliophiliacs; revolt against your oppressors, and make your voices heard. Vive la Révolution!

Ahem.

2/14/2011 12:05 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Thrilling Tales
Story Time for Grown-Ups
Monday lunch hour series at the Central Library.

2/14/2011 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss. Aye, Cap'n!

2/14/2011 6:30 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Ned Vizzini
It's Kind of a Funny Story
EBBC's Young Adult Book Group has a new regular day and time; do take note, please.

2/14/2011 6:30 p.m. West Seattle Branch Library
Seattle Opera
Don Quixote
The Opera previews Massenet's "Don Quixote."

2/14/2011 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Kevin Young
Ardency: A Chronicle of the Amistad Rebels
...Being an Epic Account of the Capture of the Spanish Schooner Amistad, by the Africans on Board; Their Voyage and Capture Near Long Island, New York; with Phrenological Studies of Several of the Surviving Africans

2/14/2011 7 p.m. Queen Anne Books
Patrick Radden Keefe
The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream
QAB's monthly book club. Repeats Wednesday, February 16.

2/14/2011 8 p.m. Century Ballroom
Nick Hornsby
High Fidelity
The Bushwick Book Club presents music inspired by this dreadful lad-lit novel. Decent movie, though.... (more)

If you don't yet know who Jane McGonigal is, you are missing out. Ms. McGonigal is a game designer and theorist who claims that gaming is necessary to the survival of the human race. Her new book, Reality is Broken, is an Epic Win. Watch her on TED and then go see her live on Thursday. Buy the book. Collaborate, cooperate, live the dream...

2/7/2011 12:05 p.m. Seattle Public Library
Thrilling Tales
Story Time for Grown-Ups
Monday lunch hour series at the Central Library.

2/7/2011 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss. Aye, Cap'n!

2/7/2011 6:30 p.m. Queen Anne Books
Sarah Blake
The Postmistress
Ms. Blake will read and sign. QAB has chosen this as their March Book Club selection.

2/7/2011 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Sailesh Chutani, Jessica Rothenberg Aalami, & Akhtar Badshah
Technology at the Margins: How IT Meets the Needs of Emerging Markets
Geeks save the world! "A must-read for nonprofit leaders and technologists who want to leverage the power of IT to help solve global poverty. Authors Chutani, Aalami, and Badshah have given the sector one of the best handbooks filled with stories, advice, and best practices." - Beth Kanter

2/7/2011 7 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Works in Progress
Open Mic
A monthly open reading series. Sign up begins at 6:30 p.m.

2/8/2011 -3/6/2011 Queen Anne Books
Book-It Theatre
Great Expectations
QAB has partnered with Book-It to promote the current production. Season ticket holders receive 15% off any title that Book-It performs. From 2/8/2011-3/6/2011, the company will be performing Dicken's overworked novel of narcissistic social climbers. Ahem.... (more)

This week, Jamie Ford is back in Seattle on another book tour for his debut novel; meanwhile, Ron Reagan fils is still on tour with his memoir of Ron Reagan pere, My Father at 100: A Memoir.

Frankly, the Reagan memoir is not that interesting. I've been trying to come up with something to say about it for a couple of weeks now, and keep butting up against the fact that President Reagan was a boring guy who had a somewhat exciting life. The Reagan family history, which takes up a good third of the memoir, could be about anyone in America, including my own near-ancestors. I'd hoped My Father would be livelier than Edmund Morris's (well-written, but ultimately soporific) Dutch, but instead, My Father is simply shorter--a kind of virtue in itself, I suppose.

And onto the calendar...

1/31/2011 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss. Aye, Cap'n!

1/31/2011 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Deborah Rodriguez
A Cup of Friendship
Ms. Rodriguez's last book was the memoir, Kabul Beauty School, which was entertaining, but apparently not strictly truthful. Or something. This one is listed as fiction, straight up.

1/31/2011 7 p.m. Temple De Hirsch Sinai
Michael J. Sandel
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
Professor Sandel challenges us to examine the ethical foundations of public issues.... (more)

Edmund Morris, who was scheduled to visit the SPL back on December 10, 2010, will finally share the third volume of his definitive biography of Theodore Roosevelt on Wednesday, 1/26.  The first volume won a Pulitzer, don'tcha know. Unfortunately, Town Hall has Sherry Turkle booked at the same time, which causes a dismaying conflict between history and modernity.

Also highly recommended this week are Stephanie Coontz at Town Hall tonight, discussing The Feminine Mystique 50-ish years later; tomorrow's lecture about dark matter by Richard Panek; and Inaugural poet Elizabeth Alexander on Thursday, 1/27, at Kane Hall.

1/24/2011 12:15 p.m. UW Bookstore
City Club
A Conversation with Dr. Phyllis Wise
A public interrogation of the UW (Interim?) President; go ask about budgets, research, tuition, and curriculum.

1/24/2011 7:30 p.m. Benaroya Hall
Seattle Arts and Lectures
Elizabeth Strout
SAL presents the Pulitzer-winning author of multiple novels.

1/24/2011 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss. Aye, Cap'n!

1/24/2011 7 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Stephanie Coontz
A Strange Stirring: The Feminine Mystique and American Women at the Dawn of the 1960s
The social historian and Evergreen State professor "analyzes the impact of Betty Friedan's groundbreaking 1963 book on the generation of white, middle-class women electrified by Friedan's argument that beneath the surface contentment, most housewives harbored a deep well of insecurity, self-doubt, and unhappiness ... Coontz contends that Friedan's great achievement was uplifting so many women out of despair even if her book ignored the problems of working women, especially blacks, and tapped into concerns people were already mulling over ... This perceptive, engrossing book provides welcome context and background to a still controversial bestseller that changed how women view themselves."- Publishers Weekly

1/24/2011 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Susan Noyes Platt
Art and Politics Now: Cultural Activism in a Time of Crisis
The local art historian and critic considers art that engages issues such as war, terrorism, and racism.... (more)

This week's calendar features a number of revisits from local artists, poets, and authors, so if you missed Kangas, Baskas, or Perillo last year, you have another chance this week.

For something completely different, the Seattle Public Library now offers free music downloads, via Freegal. Get it? Free and legal music downloads. Patrons can download up to three songs per week from the website; just click through to the Digital Books & Media page, scroll down past the Overdrive link, and there you go.

Also, please join The SunBreak in congratulating Susan Hildreth, head librarian of the Seattle Public Library. On December 22, 2010, the United States Senate confirmed Ms. Hildreth's appointment as Director of Museum and Library Services by President Barack Obama. She will begin her term at the end of this month. Then will begin the search for a new City Librarian... woe.

01/17/11 6 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Claire Dederer
Poser: My Life in Twenty-three Yoga Poses
The reading will begin at 7 p.m., after a reception with the author. "Dederer's humor is tangy and precision-aimed ... A book reviewer and social critic with bylines in The New York Times, Slate, and Vogue, Dederer acidly deconstructs hip, politically correct Seattle ... Dederer writes superbly and offers sharp insights into family dynamics as well as hatha yoga's impact on American life." – Donna Seaman, Booklist

01/17/11 6 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Thought Leaders Discussion
Cascadia: A Vision for a Restorative Future
Island Press presents a panel discussion of sustainability and change.

01/17/11 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

01/18/11 4 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Perry Moore
Hero
After School & Beyond, the EBBC Young Adult Bookgroup, will discuss this surprising and delightful story of a young, gay superhero. Highly recommended for all ages, by the way.

01/18/11 6 p.m. UW Bookstore
Michael Honey
All Labor Has Dignity
Honey has collected a group of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches that focus on economic justice.

01/18/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Cory Doctorow
Little Brother
Speculations, the EBBC SFF Bookgroup, takes on Cory's YA novel of child labor, technology, privacy, and government. Awkward when it's not overly facile, the story nonetheless resonates with anyone who's ever played Farmville or feared the Department of Homeland Security. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

01/18/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Kurt Timmermeister
Growing a Farmer: How I Learned to Live Off the Land
The founder of Cafe Septieme wrote a book: "Timmermeister begins his enterprise with little farming know-how. As he cultivates his agrarian education (often through trial and error), he reflects on self-sufficiency, sustainability, and the industrialization of food production. While narrating over two decades of the farm's history, he describes such tasks as installing bees in a new hive, making apple cider, buying livestock, and slaughtering a pig ... Part memoir, part manual, this refreshingly candid account doesn't oversell its author or a political message." – Lisa Campbell, Library Journal

01/18/11 7 p.m. The UW Club
Naomi Sokoloff & Susan Glenn
Boundaries of Jewish Identity
This discussion of the short fiction of Sayed Kashua, an Arab citizen of Israel, will include a dessert reception.

01/18/11 7:30 p.m. Open Books Poem Emporium
Belle Randall
The Coast Starlight
The local poet shares her first collection in quite a while. Go welcome her back.

01/18/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Parag Khanna
How to Run the World
Khanna asks whether we are entering a new Enlightenment, courtesy of Bill Gates and Bono.... (more)

The literary calendar is packed this week, but snow is once again predicted for the region. Should we actually get a weather event, please call ahead to confirm that the reading event has not been canceled.

01/10/11 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

01/10/11 6:30 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Northwest Independent Editors Guild
Show and Tell
Guild members will also be swapping office supplies. Allegedly.

01/10/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Elsie Hulsizer
Glaciers, Bears and Totems: Sailing in Search of the Real Southeast Alaska
Rescheduled from November, when our little snowstorm caused the cancellation of all life in Seattle, one hopes the weather holds long enough for the local writer to finally say her piece. Or perhaps not, since the previously threatened PowerPoint presentation is still on the evening's agenda.

01/10/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Allison Stanger
One Nation Under Contract: The Outsourcing of American Power and the Future of Foreign Policy
This book should be required reading for the "government is too big!" crowd. Them are fightin' words, a meaningless catchphrase tossed out by the misguided, the uninformed, or those who would deliberately mislead the public for questionable purposes.

01/11/11 10 a.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Thom Ditty
Storytime
Apparently, the monorail has been wrapped into a Harry Potter billboard for the month of January, in conjunction with the Pacific Science Center exhibit. Mr. Ditty works for the Seattle Monorail. Somehow this is all supposed to make sense.

01/11/11 6 p.m. High Point Branch Library
Poetry Workshop
Get feedback on your writing from a panel of poets. (Meep!)

01/11/11 6:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Helena Norberg-Hodge
The Economics of Happiness
The author of Ancient Lessons: Learning from Ladakh will screen her documentary film about the global movement for economic localization. The showing will be followed by conversation with David Korten, John de Graaf, and Fran Korten.

01/11/11 6:30 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Michael J. Sandel
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do
The Global Issues & Ethics Book Group meeting examines Wall Street, immigration, affirmative action, marriage, and religion with one of the more interesting books of political philosophy to be published in the past few years. Professor Sandel will not be on hand, unfortunately, but your neighbors will. Join them to discuss liberty and the common good.... (more)

After far too long, Michael Pollan--author of six books, numerous articles and essays, and semi-official voice of the sustainable food movement--returns to the Pacific Northwest. On January 15th, Benaroya Hall will host Mr. Pollan's talk on "In Defense of Food: The Omnivore's Solution," a cute title for a serious topic that he has been flogging since 2002.

I've been a fan of Pollan's writing since A Place of My Own: The Education of an Amateur Builder was released, back in 1997. (The title was reprinted in 2008 as A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams.)

Pollan's gentle and funny memoir tells the story of his family's relocation to a place in "the country" and his efforts to build himself a modest (ahem) writing studio out back. Written in the intimate, thoughtful narrative voice that has since become his trademark, Pollan has gone on to write four more books that have increasingly focused on agriculture and sustainability.

The startling success of 2006's The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals turned Pollan into a household name beyond the food-obsessed coasts, due in part to both the text's accessibility and the publisher's excellent timing. Released just a year after the inauguration of World Environment Day in 2005, and the series of sustainability conferences that accompanied it, The Omnivore's Dilemma helped to propel the concept of "locavore" out of food-geek ghettos and into the mainstream--in 2007, the Oxford English Dictionary added locavore to its lexicon. (Even my rural Mississippi parents know what the word means, now.)

Disturbing in both concept and detail, The Omnivore's Dilemma explicated the complicated and deeply irrational food system which both sustains and sickens Americans. Pollan has stayed with the topic, publishing In Defense of Food in 2008 and Food Rules: An Eater's Manual in 2009. With each new book, Mr. Pollan has built his case for eating simply and thoughtfully, a campaign which dovetails neatly into closely allied movements such as Slow Food, organic standards, GMO regulation, and food justice.... (more)

I may have taken Monday off due to poor planning. Or it may have been part of a sinister plot. I'm reaching, here, people. Not that anything happened. The rest of the week looks interesting, though.

Greg Bear is not pimping Hull Zero Three, tonight, instead signing a Halo tie-in novel at UW Bookstore. The rest of the week is heavy on poetry, both local and imported, with Ben Lerner in town from Brooklyn, and several group readings from home-grown writers.

There's also a sprinkling of sports, science, music, and dance to keep Seattleites intellectually well-rounded, if physically still rather pale and wan. Not as pale and wan as deceased honorees Gerry Garcia and Gypsy Rose Lee, but on the vampirish side, nonetheless.

01/04/11 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Greg Bear
Halo: Cryptum, Book One of the Forerunner Saga
The local SF legend has penned a game tie-in novel. I'm ambivalent about this. On the one hand, everybody needs to eat, right? And if anyone can write a good tie-in novel, it is Mr. Bear. But still, it makes me feel ooky. (Although, not as ooky as calling a grown man, "Mr. Bear.")

01/04/11 8 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Castalia Reading Series
Group Reading
UW folks read their work.

01/05/11 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Megan Snyder-Camp, Laura Shoemaker, & Sarah Steinke
Poetry Reading
EBBC hosts three local poets whose last names all start with an S. One of those odd little things that strike me as funny, what can I say?

01/05/11 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Doug Merlino
The Hustle: One Team and Ten Lives in Black and White
Back in the '80s, Seattle was trying really hard to be integrated and post-racial, with varying degrees of success. One effort was an integrated student basketball team. Merlino looked up the members, twenty years later, to gauge the results. This is a "sports" book that I will definitely be reading.

01/05/11 7:30 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Scribes
Group Reading
Alums from Hugo House's Scribes program read.... (more)

The publishing industry, and the attendant publicity machine, drops off the face of the planet the last week or two of every year. Everybody deserves a vacation, and those people work like dogs, so I don't begrudge them the annual vanishing act. As a result, though, the literary calendar is feather-light.

This week we've got two readings featuring local authors: Jayne Ann Krentz continues her Arcane Society novels with book number ten, and The Best Music Writing series offers the 2010 edition. Both are yummy holiday reading, suitable for making the bathtub a slightly less depressing place to hide while your relatives duke it out elsewhere.

12/28/10 12 p.m. Seattle Mystery Bookshop
Jayne Ann Krentz
In Too Deep
The first novel in a new Arcane Society set, The Looking Glass Trilogy. The book is quite good. The cover is, unfortunately, quite dreadful. I have chosen to protect you, our loyal readers, from the trauma. Don't say I never did anything for you.

12/28/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Ann Powers, Sean Nelson, Chris Estey
Best Music Writing 2010
"Best of" collections can be challenging. Occasionally, I think the editors of such volumes are brachycephalic cretins who should seek other work. Not so with the Best Music Writing series—the books have consistently featured smart, modern pieces that somehow manage to hang onto relevance (and humor) long after the original publication date.

Elliott Bay Books & Cafe was visited by a flash mob, by the way. Local choreographer Bobby Bonsey managed to get a few hundred Janet Jackson fans together on Sunday to hit Pioneer Square, University Village, and Capitol Hill. Apparently, Ms. Jackson is going on tour in 2011, but she seems to be leaving it up to fans to choose the cities she'll visit. The day's mobs were intended to encourage her to make Seattle one of her tour dates.

The video stutters, but you get the idea:... (more)

Self-publishing may be the wave of the future, but it has hazards. Just ask Phillip R. Greaves, author of The Pedophile's Guide to Love and Pleasure: A Child-Lover's Code of Conduct. Greaves was arrested in Colorado on charges issued by the Polk County, Florida sheriff's department and now faces extradition. The charges include distributing "obscene material depicting minors engaged in harmful conduct," according to CNN.

Seattle powerhouse Amazon.com briefly sold the book, despite complaints and threats of boycott from consumers. Amazon initially defended sales, telling TechCrunch , "Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable.  Amazon does not support or promote hatred or criminal acts, however, we do support the right of every individual to make their own purchasing decisions," before realizing that they were being incredibly, indefensibly stupid, in addition to violating various and sundry laws. Amazon removed the title in early November.

No less disturbing to the youth of America, but not in any way illegal, Archie Comics will publish two very special issues guest-starring Barack Obama and Sarah Palin. Issue #616, featuring the duo sharing a milkshake (an image that will scar me for life) comes out on Wednesday, December 22, just in time for Christmas. Issue #617 will be released on January 26, 2011. Dan Parent is the illustrator responsible for the brain-bending mash-up.

On a far less disturbing note, Brian Selznick, author of 2007's amazingly wonderful The Invention of Hugo Cabret, has written a new book. Wonderstruck tells the story of two children, Ben and Rose, respectively living in 1977 and 1927. The novel is half pictures--Rose's story--and half text--Ben's story. The book is currently scheduled for publication in September 2011.... (more)

Because nothing else is happening. Not a single reading, signing, or lecture is scheduled, so you might as well read something. Might I suggest The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe? Or better yet, crack open A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain to get a head start for January, specifically the Bushwick Book Club's next event.

Last night, SunBreak editor-at-large Josh Bis and I (separately) attended Seattle's Bushwick Book Club at the Can-Can. Ten or so local musicians performed music inspired by C.S. Lewis's classic children's book and it did not kill me. I was pleasantly surprised, actually, despite missing the first half-hour (Not my fault! My invite had the time listed as 9 p.m.).

The music was good, if somewhat predictable: Edmund and the Turkish Delight are central to the story, and dominated the performances. (Josh was deeply disappointed that "no real Turkish Delight [was available] on the premises," but I suffer from Applet & Cotlet-induced PTSD, and thus was happy to be spared that particular horror.)

The next Book Club will be held on January 16th at 8 p.m. The performers will have to come up with music for Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. It should be a good time.

Over in the other Washington, Greg Clugston of Salem Radio Network News produced the annual White House Basement Christmas poem, proving that while the New York Times and NBC/ABC/CBS might get better space (upstairs), the White House press corps basement dwellers probably have more fun. Read it and weep:... (more)

The annual midwinter meat-feast is imminent, so cookbooks dominate the (rather slim) literary events this week. Local chefs Greg Atkinson and Ethan Stowell, and urban homesteader Amy Pennington, are appearing at local venues. Also on the calendar are the one and only Nancy Pearl, and Greg Bear, author of one of my favorite creepy-SF stories, Blood Music.

12/13/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

12/13/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
David Rohde & Kristen Mulvihill
A Rope and A Prayer: A Kidnapping from Two Sides
"In suspenseful prose, he recounts his abduction and she describes her efforts, along with those of the Times, to secure his release ... Possibly the most informative segments of the book are the masterly observations of life with the jihadists, the chaotic Pakistani tribal areas and the topsy-turvy war itself. This potent story of love and conflict ends well, but not without making some smart and edgy commentary on terrorism, hostage negotiation, political agendas, and the human heart." – Publishers Weekly

12/14/10 11:30 a.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
ReAct Theatre
Holiday Storytime
Actors will present classic holiday stories near the castle.

12/14/10 6 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Greg Atkinson
Northwest Essentials: Cooking with Ingredients That Define a Region's Cuisine
The NW chef presents a revised and enhanced edition of his very important guide.

12/14/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Greg Bear
Hull Zero Three
SF master Greg Bear is in town to promote his widely anticipated new novel. Whee!

12/14/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Bill Shore
The Imaginations of Unreasonable Men
Why and how do some people persist despite "skepticism, doubt, and logistical and financial obstacles." Why, indeed? Promises to be an interesting talk.... (more)

Veteran muckraker Rick Anderson has long been one of the pleasures of occasional thumbings through the Seattle Weekly. He's institutional memory in a town that likes to forget the unpleasantness of its rowdier days. Writes Anderson:

Civic scandals used to mean something in Seattle. Gunslinger Wyatt Earp paid off City Hall to operate his 1890s gambling joint here. In the 1950s, bar owners were leaving lunch bags of money on their counters for beat cops who threatened to shut them down if they didn't. A half-century later, aging mobster Frank Colacurcio did what he could to keep corruption alive with a political payoff scandal known as Strippergate.  

His true-crime expedition Seattle Vice, from local publishers Sasquatch Books, uses the life of stripper magnate Frank Colacurcio to tie together Seattle's frontier years with its internet-age reinvention. The long-lived Colacurcio died at 93, and was a crime figure with connections for about three-quarters of a century, beginning with a morals charge for having sex with a 16-year-old girl when he was 25. He was defended by pre-Governor A. D. Rosellini, but was convicted.

Sixty years later, Rosellini would prove to be "part of the effort led by Frankie to provide cash to family and friends that would be forwarded as individual donations to the three Council members, Nicastro, Wills, and Compton." It was quickly dubbed Strippergate, and Colacurcio's attempt to negotiate favorable rezoning of a strip club's parking lot blew up into something far bigger, ending the Council careers of the three mentioned. Rosellini, it appears, was guilty only of poor judgment.

As Anderson tells it, this kind of canoodling is purely traditional, stemming from the Seattle "Nice" that visitors hear so much about. Whether it's true tolerance or just an unwillingness to be bothered, as late as the mid-'50s madam Nellie Curtis was running a string of brothels in Aberdeen; she'd moved out there after paying off Seattle's police cut into her profit margins too substantially. (Payoffs to the SPD continued through the 1970s, when gay bars found that money could keep busts away.)... (more)

This week's readings and signings are all about the gifts. History buffs will want to check out readings by Edmund Morris [CANCELED!] and James Bradley, both of whom have serious Teddy Roosevelt biographies out, or Charles Wilkinson, who opens a window on the Siletz people. Science geeks will be interested in seeing Stan Fields at Town Hall tonight, while Science Fiction geeks should head to Pilot Books for Ted Chiang and Erik Owomoyela.

If the current state of American politics raises your blood pressure and makes you froth at the mouth, or you have a Red-state relative that you really want to piss off, get a book signed by Joshua Holland, Wendell Potter, or Doug Massey, and send it off with your very best wishes. For relatives you don't loathe and despise, there is Sam Verhovek's history of the jet airplane or John Richardson's A Life of Picasso, both of which have local relevance while being non-confrontational.

Trying to lure someone you actually like to Seattle? David Volk gives the scoop on how to live in Seattle on the cheap, while The SunBreak contributor Jay Friedman shares how to eat well. Art, poetry, and music round out this week's list.

12/06/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

12/06/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
David Volk
Cheap Bastard's Guide to Seattle
It really all depends on your definition of "cheap." Or, perhaps, "bastard."

12/06/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Matthew Kangas
Burning Forest: The Art of Maria Frank Abrams
Seattle art critic and curator Kangas will discuss the work of local artist and Holocaust survivor Marina Frank Abrams.

12/06/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Stan Fields
Genetic Twists of Fate
The UW professor explains that it really is all your parents' fault.

12/07/10 10 a.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Jeannie Ianelli
The Polar Express
Celebrity story-time, or so B&N claims. Who the hell is Jeannie Ianelli?

12/07/10 11:30 a.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
ReAct Theatre
Holiday Storytime
Actors will present classic holiday stories near the castle.

12/07/10 7 p.m. Bellevue Regional Library
Candace Dempsey
Murder in Italy
Not technically within my coverage zone, but our editor has a big thing for the Amanda Knox story, so I'm currying favor by including the reading.

12/07/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Christian Lander
Whiter Shades of Pale: The Stuff White People Like, Coast to Coast, from Seattle's Sweaters to Maine's Microbrews
Play a round of White Bingo during your next car trip. Fun for the whole family. (Hint: The answer is "mayonnaise.")

12/07/10 7 p.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Joshua Holland
The Fifteen Biggest Lies about the Economy: And Everything Else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs, and Corporate America
The editor and senior writer at AlterNet will discuss his book.

12/07/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Truman Capote
A Christmas Memory
UW Book Buyer Brad Craft will read the holiday story.

12/07/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Sam Verhovek
Jet Age
"Seattle journalist Sam Howe Verhovek, author of Jet Age, moderates a discussion with those who designed, built, sold, and flew the iconic jet airliner: Joe Sutter, legendary Boeing 707 engineer and "Father of the 747"; test pilot Brien Wygle; engineer Peter Morton; and PanAm stewardess Paula Clark. The event also features rare photographs and promotional film footage of the 707." - UW

12/07/10 8 p.m. Pilot Books
Feminist SF
Book Club ...

Tuesday marked the last day of Nanowrimo, also known as November to those who didn't spend the last 30 days writing. Seattle's Hydrophobic Ducks did their hometown proud, coming in first in Total Word Count for the sixth year in a row with 57,839,962 words. I'm sorry (not really) to say that in our average word count battle with the Atlanta Pandas we crushed them: Seattle came in at 3,254 more words per WriMo than A-town. Who's hot now, Hotlanta? Ssssss...

The Emerald City also brought in the most donations, once again, despite unemployment and recession. Seattle gave $10,004 to the Office of Letters and Light, our contribution to keeping Nanowrimo and the Young Writers Program going for another year. Donations are always being accepted, so consider giving in the name of the writers in your life this holiday season, or donate to Richard Hugo House. Hugo House runs year-round programs for writers, hosts readings, and provides space and facilities for youth and adults to write, connect, and learn. (/PSA)

Speaking of holidays, gifts, and being flat broke, cult crafter Twinkie Chan is in town this weekend to promote her deliciously whacked-out book Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies, available in bookstores November 2. I love this book like cooked foods, mostly because after 16 years (16!) of trying to teach my partner to crochet with zero success, Twinkie Chan managed to get her hooking within minutes, which means that I will not spend December hearing my dearly beloved shout, "Hey, can you make me a starting chain..." every time she begins another knitting project that requires basic crochet skills. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Twinkie Chan will be at Third Place Books in Ravenna at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, December 3. December 4 at 12:00 p.m. and December 5 at 2:00 p.m., she can be found at the Urban Craft Uprising 2010 Winter Show at Seattle Center. The Fiber Gallery in Greenwood will be hosting Twinkie Chan from 4:00-6:00 p.m on Sunday, December 5. Go, pet yarn, and learn how to make a cupcake hat, because who doesn't need a cupcake hat?

In other news, Portland-based puppeteer and writer Mary Robinette Kowal has been nominated for Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Fantasy Novel of 2010. Shades of Milk and Honey is Ms. Kowal's first novel. She's up against Kage Baker, who sadly passed away from uterine cancer in January 2010, and Canadian SFF heavyweight Guy Gavriel Kay, among others. I think this truly is a case in which it's an honor just to be nominated.... (more)

Tomorrow is the last day of National Novel Writing Month. Seattle's team, the Hydrophobic Ducks, is still in first place with a total word count of 49,289,518. Los Angeles, Germany, London, and New York City fill out the rest of the top five. I'll have the full wrap on Wednesday, after my hands quit cramping.

In the meantime, and if you're not participating, maybe you could read a book or something.

11/29/10 3 p.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Carolyn Douglas
Storytime
Rescheduled due to snow. Children's stories with anchor Douglas.

11/29/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

11/29/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Jack Shoemaker
presenting the work of Gary Snyder
Counterpoint Press editor Shoemaker presents reissues of Snyder's work, with a screening of a documentary about the poet.

11/29/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Antonio Damasio
Self Comes to Mind: Constructing The Conscious Brain
"...my head I'd be scratchin', while my thoughts were busy hatchin', if I only had a brain."

11/30/10 10 a.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Interagency Academy with Jordan Babineaux
Poetry Reading
The Seahawks player reads poetry with students from IA. Fabu.

11/30/10 6:30 p.m. UW Campus, Kane Hall, Room 120
Wes Jackson
Consulting the Genius of the Place
Jackson will be discussing "The Need of a 50-Year Farm Bill and What it Might Look Like".

11/30/10 7 p.m. Secret Garden Books
Molly Coxe
Benjamin and Bumper to the Rescue
Ultimate Tuesday reading with the author.

11/30/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Nancy Medwell
Eternal Moments
The Seattle-based artist presents her new book of photos.

11/30/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Fen Montaigne
Fraser's Penguins: A Journey to the Future in Antarctica
Our friends in feathered formal-wear are in grave danger! Send help.... (more)

Billy Collins needs a new publicity photo.

As everyone who has lived in Seattle for more than one winter knows, when it snows, this city shuts down. Have you looked outside? That's not flour. Not that there is much reason to leave the house, at least on the literary front.

Billy Collins is at Town Hall tonight, which will be fun for those who got tickets before they sold out. Collins is an enthusiastic and entertaining speaker, so his appearances are always a pleasure. Tomorrow, Jared Duval will visit Town Hall to discuss open-sourcing in the context of activism, and if you're in U-Village on Saturday, doing that post-ritual sacrifice shopping thing, stop by the Barnes & Noble to unload your kids onto David, the B&N Assistant Manager who has been scapegoated to keep the wee bairns occupied for an hour or so.

11/22/10 4 p.m. Barnes & Noble U-Village
Carolyn Douglas
Storytime
An anchor-person will "share her favorite stories with you." Hm.

11/22/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

11/22/10 7 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Billy Collins
Seattle Arts & Lectures
Collins served as Poet Laureate from 2001-2003, has published nine collections of poetry, and is a funny, funny guy. This might be a reason to leave the house, tonight. Alas, tickets sold out a month ago.

11/22/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Elsie Hulsizer
Glaciers, Bears and Totems: Sailing in Search of the Real Southeast Alaska
The local author and her husband hit the American fjords. There may be a PowerPoint presentation. You've been warned.

11/22/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Stephen L. Macknik & Susana Martinez-Conde
Sleights of Mind: What the Neuroscience of Magic Reveals about our Everyday Deceptions
The founders of the field of "neuromagic" want to hack your brain.

11/22/10 8 p.m. Pilot Books
Jacqueline Suskin
The Collected
Poetry reading and signing.... (more)

I confess, I'm having a hard time with this update. What can I say? Seattle is a juggernaut. It's kind of embarrassing; I'm not used to having a home team that wins. And yet, the Hydroponic Ducks are blowing the competition out of the water. What precisely is the proper etiquette for a beatdown?

As of this writing, the Word Count Scoreboard looks like so:
1. Seattle, Washington: 33,567,417
2. Los Angeles, California: 27,867,290
3. Germany, Europe: 26,704,975
4. London, England: 24,139,001
5. New York City, New York: 23,919,028

In our battle with Atlanta, Seattle continues to trounce A-Town, with an average word-count of 16,279 per Duck. The Atlanta Pandas trail at 14,057 each, giving Seattle a comfortable lead of 2,222. Seattle's still leading in donations, as well, pulling in about $2,500 over New York City's donors.

Of course, there are 11 days left in November, plenty of time for L.A. to catch up. In theory. It's possible, is all I'm saying. Los Angeles currently has 4,067 WriMos active and homed. Surely, they can produce more words than 3,319 Ducks? All those screenwriters? Oh. Um. Nevermind. [Ed.: See, this is where our terrible weather pays off! Enjoy the beach, losers!]

Everybody was watching Apple this morning, awaiting the big announcement: would the iBeast finally launch their web-streaming subscription service? 'Fraid not, but almost as good--at least for fans of John, Paul, George, and that other one (Just kidding! We love you, Ringo!)--Apple and Apple Corps Ltd., the label that owns rights to much of The Beatles' repertoire, have come together after years of helter-skelter copyright disputes. As of today, the band's catalog is finally available on iTunes. That means a lot.

Closer to home, this week the Seattle Public Library switched its online catalog to software from BiblioCommons, a Canadian company. The new system has all the features of the old, with none of the bugs. It also looks great and comes with social media features that will appeal to younger readers. BiblioCommons allows users to share favorites on Facebook and Twitter, as well as interact within the BiblioCommons community. The new interface is fairly simple, but there is a how-to video available on YouTube for noobs. Patrons will need to create a username the first time they log on.

In a story just begging for a tasteless joke, Newsweek and The Daily Beast have merged. Tina Brown will become editor-in-chief of both, making her the first female editor of Newsweek. Separately, the two companies have been hemorrhaging cash, almost $40 million dollars in 2010. The new Newsweek Daily Beast Co. hopes to stanch the flow, but insider consensus seems to agree that this will not end well.

And yet another: Hugh Hefner has taken a page from Willy Wonka and is offering 10 "golden tickets" to the Midsummer Night's Dream Party at Playboy mansion. Tickets are hidden in ten random newsstand copies of the venerable titty mag. This is the first time Playboy has offered access to a party to readers. I, for one, think it's hysterically funny and hope that at least one winner sends their ticket to Gloria Steinem. Or Sarah Palin.

In case that left a bad taste in your mouth, or a scary picture in your brain, here is a little video to brighten up your day: Marcel the Shell (with shoes on.) Like a puppet, only smaller.

You should be going to BlogsGiving, tonight. In other news, after last week's multiple cancellations, I feel compelled to remind readers to please call to confirm an event, before you pay for parking. 'Tis the season for canceled and delayed flights, snow storms and black ice.

11/15/10 2 p.m. Secret Garden Books
Seattle Children's Theatre
Lyle the Crocodile
The Secret Garden Bookshop teams up with Seattle Children's Theatre to bring books to life.

11/15/10 6 p.m. Columbia City Theatre
BlogsGiving
A Benefit for Northwest Harvest
If I weren't dying of the influenza, I would be here.

11/15/10 6 p.m. Pilot Books
Writer's Group
"New exercises every week. Come prepared to write and discuss." Aye, Cap'n!

11/15/10 7 p.m. Elliott Bay Book Company
Justin Spring & Wendy Moffatt
A Great Unrecorded History: A New Life of E.M. Forster / Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade
Two great books about notable and noteworthy queers; one famous, the other infamous.

11/15/10 7 p.m. UW Bookstore
Kim O'Donnel
The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook: Vegetarian Recipes Carnivores Will Devour
Vegetarian cooking for carnivores. Don't ask me, I just work here.

11/15/10 7 p.m. Richard Hugo House
Rose Alley Press
Group Reading
Elizabeth Austen, Lana Hechtman Ayers, Oliver de la Paz, Nashira Priester, Belle Randall, Amy Schrader, Michael Dylan Welch, and others.

11/15/10 7 p.m. UW Johnson Hall, Room 102
Steven Simon
The Sixth Crisis: Iran, Israel, America, and the Rumors of War
"Exploring the three aspects of Israel-Iran-U.S. crisis, The Sixth Crisis provides the first full account of the situation since President Barack Obama took office, presenting a comprehensive look at the complex diplomacy underway to temper Iran's nuclear program and its implications on international security." - UW

11/15/10 7:30 p.m. Town Hall Seattle
Christopher Wills
Darwinian Tourist:Viewing The World Through Evolutionary Eyes
"From the underwater life of Indonesia's Lambeh Strait to an earthquake off the island of Yap, Wills demonstrates how ecology and evolution have interacted to create our world." - Town Hall

11/15/10 8 p.m. Pilot Books
Caitlyn McGehee, Emily Wittenhagen, & Zac Fulton
Group Reading ...

About half of Oliver Sacks' The Mind's Eye  is precisely what you've come to expect from the physician and professor of neurology and psychiatry: firsthand case studies of people facing unusual neurological obstacles, delivered by a kindly, curious observer.

A pianist has a degenerative condition that is slowly robbing her of the ability to read music (or anything else), another is stricken by aphasia following surgery to remove a blood clot. An author has a sudden stroke and loses his ability to read and remember much, but compensates by learning to read with his tongue; somehow, tracing the shape of letters with his tongue results in comprehension of the word he's spelled. If you're a long-time Sacks reader, you may find yourself learning less about neurology than the surprising amount of coping skills that people can marshal in these instances. 

But in chapters titled "Face-Blind" and "Stereo Sue," more about Sacks himself creeps into the narrative. "I have had difficult recognizing faces for as long as I can remember," writes Sacks, admitting to what's known as prosopagnosia. "...I think that a significant part of what is variously called my 'shyness,' my 'reclusiveness,' my 'social ineptitude,' my 'eccentricity,' even my 'Asperger's Syndrome," is a consequence and misinterpretation of my difficulty recognizing faces."

As it turns out, there's a broad range of face recognition ability; at one end of the spectrum are people who can recognize the person who served them coffee once three years ago when they pass them on the street, and at the other are people who mistake their wife's head for a hat. 

In telling the story of Sue Barry, the woman who against all expectation gained stereo vision, Sacks details his own lifelong fascination with stereo viewers (he was a member of the New York Stereoscopic Society). So it's with some upset, turning the pages of "Persistence of Vision" that you discover (along with Sacks, it's written as excerpts from his diary) that the author has an ocular melanoma, a millimeter from the fovea.... (more)

In support of his latest thriller, Unreasonable Persuasion, Northwest author and Seattle police captain Neil Low introduces his Seattle Murder Mystery Tour through the streets of Pioneer Square. Hosted in partnership with Tigress Publishing, the tour visits some of Seattle's most notorious and haunted crime scenes.

Reservations are now open for the next scheduled tour on Thursday, November 18th, 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., beginning at the Seattle Police Museum (317 Third Ave S).

Join Low as the evening kicks off at the Seattle Police Museum, where guests will listen to a lively reading from Unreasonable Persuasion and enjoy a wine reception. While at the museum, try escaping a vintage set of handcuffs or get a 'mug shot' taken in an authentic jail cell from the 1930s. Next up, participants learn all about Seattle's dark and seedy past as Low takes them on a chilling mystery ghost tour through the streets of Pioneer Square and includes behind the scenes "insider" information from actual police files. The tour concludes with a signed, first-edition copy of Low's Unreasonable Persuasion--the #1 best-selling mystery trade paperback sold in Seattle (Independent Mystery Booksellers Association) during the month of September.

For more information or to make a tour reservation, visit Low's official website or contact Kristen Morris () at (206) 938-3571. Space is limited, and reservations are on a first-come, first-served basis. 21 years of age and over. Custom and private party tours are available with advance notice and as scheduling permits.... (more)

USA! USA! USA! We're wrapping up Week Two of NaNoWriMo with a strong showing from the U.S. teams. As predicted last week, Seattle took the lead on the Total Wordcount Scoreboard from Germany, although it happened much sooner than expected; by midnight last Thursday, the Hydrophobic Ducks had punted Germany to second place.

Current total wordcount standings are:
1. Seattle, USA:  21,247,145 words
2. Germany, Europe:  17,864,774 words
3. Los Angeles, USA:  17,645,372 words
4. London, England:  16,205,584 words
5. New York City, USA:  15,971,745 words

In average word count per writer, Germany still spanks the top five Total Wordcount leaders with 12,898 words each; Seattle squeaks into second of the group with 10,845; and London is third, at 10,122 words per person. L.A. and The Big Apple limp behind with less 9,000 words per WriMo. However, in some sort of crazy twist of language or verboseness, Sri Lanka is the official leader of average word count on the Scoreboard, currently racking up an incredible 142,399 words per WriMo, while Lithuania ranks second with a mere 22,342 words each.

The only location in the U.S. to even hit the "average" top five on the Scoreboard is Russellville, Arkansas, at number four with 18,992 words per participant. Fifteen people in Arkansas are taking our Ducks to the cleaners, based on average production per writer. Ouch! Fortunately, the Ducks are able to redeem our city's honor by leading in donations. If we can't win with words, we'll buy 'em off!... (more)

Armistead Maupin will be reading and signing Mary Ann in Autumn, his newest Tales of the City novel, tonight at UW Bookstore, at 7 p.m.

On August 8, 1974, the first Tale of the City was printed in The Pacific Sun, a Marin County newspaper. A fiction newspaper serial, the only thing to set the story apart from any other was that the author, the practically unknown Armistead Maupin, included frank depictions of urban gay life as part of the narrative. Mr. Maupin came out with the series, and to a large degree so did America.

No other work of fiction featuring major gay characters has been so mainstream, and therefore so influential, as the Tales of the City books. For thirty-six years, the only depiction of gay people familiar to much of middle America has come from Mr. Maupin. Even conservatives in Tennessee who refused to acknowledge the existence of Brokeback Mountain have seen the Tales miniseries, because how could anything starring Olympia Dukakis be subversive? She was in Steel Magnolias, for heaven's sake!

Much of the appeal of the stories lies in their very lack of challenging material. They are pure soap opera, full of the domestic dramas that the much touted regular Americans endure daily, in addition to those endemic to any marginalized group. The novels explicitly argue that most LGBT "issues" wouldn't be issues at all if it weren't for the Gay Factor. Everyone gets sick, has a first kiss, wants to love and be loved. Discrimination creates an environment in which being ordinary becomes an act of resistance.

Unlike most genre-ified (and therefore ghettoized) LGBT fiction, the gay, lesbian, and transgender characters in Maupin's books are a normalized element of the narrative, dominating only inasmuch as they are set in a locale in which LGBT issues are at the forefront of civic discourse. To quote Eudora Welty, the Tales of the City are about "what folks will up and do" when gays and lesbians are considered "folks." This was a revolutionary concept in American popular fiction when the first Tales was released. Shockingly, thirty-six years after the first Tales of the City story, our national civic discourse proves that the idea that LGBTs are "ordinary Americans" is still radical, still revolutionary.... (more)