READINGS
* TOM STANDAGE
Standage talks about and signs The Turk: The Life and Times of the Famous Eighteenth-Century Chess-Playing Machine, which is about a mechanical man made out of wood who not only fooled the world, but inspired the development of the power loom, the telephone, the computer, and the detective story. University Bookstore, 4326 University Way, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
* JOHN OLSON and STEPHEN BARTELMEZ
Poet John Olson and stem-cell researcher Stephen Bartelmez will read in the final installment of the "Genetics and the Poetics of Life" series, held in conjunction with the Gene(sis) exhibit at the Henry Art Gallery. Open Books, 2414 N 45th St, 633-0811, 7:30 pm, free.
CHRISTOPHER PAUL CURTIS
Curtis, a children's author, will read his work and answer your questions. Curtis grew up in Flint, Michigan, and has written The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, and Bud, Not Buddy. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7 pm, free.
SPINDRIFT
Readings by Shoreline Community College students. Spindrift is the SCC literary magazine. Third Place Books, 17171 Bothell Way NE, 366-3333, 6 pm, free.
SARAH MANGOLD
Seattle poet Mangold is here tonight with her debut collection of poems, Household Mechanics. "When I think of an obvious alignment [with Mangold]," says C.D. Wright, from the book's foreword, "I think of the Objectivists." Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main St, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
MICHAEL DIDBIN
Local author Michael Dibdin reads from and signs And Then You Die. Recuperating from a car bombing, Aurelio Zen is laying low, waiting to testify in a mob trial. But men who are being mistaken for him are dying, and Zen is soon on the move and on the hunt. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry, 587-5737, noon, free.
NOELLE HOWEY
Howey reads from and signs Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods--My Mother's, My Father's, and Mine, a memoir about growing up in a transgendered family. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
* WENDY DONIGER
Doniger, a professor of the history of religions at the University of Chicago, reads from and discusses her excellent translation of Vatsyayana Mallanaga's classic text, the Kama Sutra. The new translation, which Doniger did with scholar and psychoanalyst Sudhir Kakar stands as the most comprehensive and honest translation of the book in the English language. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
* JOHN NANCE
Pilot, attorney, and airline analyst Nance signs Turbulence, his new thriller. Fed up with how their flight is going, passengers aboard a commercial plane start a mutiny, taking over the jetliner. Their peril comes from the government believing that hijackers with biological weapons have overtaken the crew. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 587-5737, noon, free.
NEW VOICES V
Students of UW's Extension Program will read selections from their works-in-progress. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 2 pm, free. Also Sun June 2, same place and time.
DUSE McLEAN and JOAN BURTON
This morning, McLean and Burton, co-authors of Urban Walks: 23 Walks Through Seattle's Parks and Neighborhoods (Thistle), offer a walking tour of the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood. It will begin at Elliott Bay Book Company and last approximately 90 minutes. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 10:30 am, free.
* WRITERS IN THE SCHOOLS: STUDENT READINGS
Seattle secondary public school students who have been part of Seattle Arts & Lectures' Writers in the Schools Program read fiction, poetry, and other creative writing. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 4 pm, free.
BRENDA MILLER
The editor of the Bellingham Review reads and signs her new book, Season of the Body. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
JAMES P. STEYER
Stanford professor Steyer, founder of JP Kids and Children Now, reiterates the issues raised in his book, The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Impact on Our Children. TV personality Rosie O'Donnell says: "[Steyer's] book has a lot of helpful recommendations for anyone with kids and a television. Check it out." Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 3 pm, free.
GERALDINE BROOKS
Brooks reads from and signs Year of Wonders, a haunting story of love and death in the time of the bubonic plague. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
BOB WALSH and STEVE RUDMAN
Written by journalist Steve Rudman, Who the Hell is Bob? chronicles a man who first came to Seattle to work with Bill Russell and the Seattle Sonics. Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
C.J. BOX
Box reads from and signs Savage Run, a novel about a game warden named Joe Pickett who is called to the scene of a massive blast, deep within the forest. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 587-5737, noon, free. Also at Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 5:30 pm, free.
MARCUS STEVENS
The Curve of the World is about an American businessman who gets lost "in the Congo." If only this book were about an American businessman who went to the Congo and opened a McDonald's with some enterprising Pygmies. University Bookstore, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.
JEFFREY LENT
New England's Lent reads from his new novel, Lost Nation, a novel about borders, about memory, about imagination--about every goddamn thing! Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
* CHRIS STROFFOLINO, NICO VASSILAKIS, and BRETT RALPH
Subtext continues its monthly series of experimental writing. This month features Chris Stroffolino, the author of (among many things) Cusps, Light as a Fetter, and co-editor of Cliffs Notes Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Nico Vassilakis, who lives in Seattle, collects shoehorns, and has written a book called Orange: A Manual. And finally, Brett Eugene Ralph, whose work has appeared in such journals as Exquisite Corpse, Mudfish, Conduit, and The American Poetry Review. Richard Hugo House, 322-7030, 7:30 pm, $5.
JAN GOLDSTEIN
Deepak Chopra says this about Rabbi Goldstein: "[Goldstein] shows so movingly that we are all capable of generating wonder." (What does Deepak mean by "shows so movingly"?) Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 5 pm, free.
* JAMES LEE BURKE
Burke reads his newest Louisiana-set Dave Robicheaux novel, Jolie Blon's Bounce. "To read a Burke novel," says Publishers Weekly, "is to enter a timeless, parallel universe of violent emotions and lush, brooding landscapes, where class and racial distinctions and family histories mold society." Zeitgeist Art & Coffee, Second and Jackson, 7 pm, free. For more info call Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600.
JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Goldstein's new book, One Dharma: The Emerging Western Buddhism offers "insight" and "other things." Elliott Bay Book Company, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, free.
