Books

Readings Listings

by Rick Levin

*LEWIS MACADAMS

MacAdams is an environmental activist, poet (Live at the Church, Africa and the Marriage of Walt Whitman and Marylin Monroe, and, most recently, The Family Trees) and columnist for the L.A. Weekly. His most recent book, Birth of the Cool, examines the genesis of the idea of cool in American society, focusing on the years between World War II and the assassination of John Kennedy. MTV's Kurt Loder said MacAdams study "connects all the dots--Monk and Miles, Burroughs and the Beats, Pollock and Satre and Warhol and Dylan," while Jim Carrol called the book "a dead-on hit.... It's not just the facts he comes up with, but that the facts are so entertaining." Be there, or be square. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 8 pm, free.

BART BAXTER, JEFFREY CRANDALL, PETER PEREIRA

A hat-trick of local bards kick off the New Year with readings from recently published works. Baxter, a recipient of a King County Arts Commission Special Projects Grant, will recite from his latest collection, The Man with St. Vitus' Dance; Crandall will read from The Grief Pool; and Pereira, a poet/physician, will offer vocal renderings from his new chapbook, The Lost Twin. Elliott Bay Book Company, 101 S Main, 624-6600, 7:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

MARY LOU DICKERSON

Dickerson, a Representative of Seattle's 36th district, will read from her recently published book, Small Victories: Conversations About Prematurity, Disability, Vision Loss, and Success. "The personal life stories assembled in this book," says William Silverman, M.D., "will go a long way in helping us all comprehend what it means to grow up with visual impairment in the United States." Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

JANICE GOFF-LAFONTAINE

Goff-LaFontaine's new book, Reflections Between the Lines, was praised by Diane Carlson Evans of the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project as "a powerful book... a sanctuary for contemplation and understanding.... The eyes and stories of veterans photographed [in this book] confirm that war, and its aftermath, is tragic." Amen. Elliott Bay Book Company, 4:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

CURT COLBERT, DEANNA DUSBABEK, JILL HARDIN

Reading by three featured poets, plus an open mic. Wit's End Bookstore & Tea Shop, 770 N 34th St, 547-2330, 7 pm, free.

AMMIEL ALCALAY

Memories of Our Future is renowned poet and critic Alcalay's latest collection of essays. "Whether thinking about diaspora, memory, modernism, sacred texts or Juan Goytisolo," says Lynne Tillman, "[Alcalay] attends to voices that are excluded or silenced... a unique and important figure in contemporary literature." Elliott Bay Book Company, 4 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

*MARILYNNE ROBINSON

Robinson was a graduate student in English at the University of Washington when she began working on the manuscript that would become Housekeeping, a coming-of-age novel that was hailed as an immediate American classic upon its publication in 1981. The Washington Post Book World praised Robinson's PEN/Hemingway award-winning debut as "extraordinary... every sentence is a wonderful sentence, made just right... [the novel] proves that fine fiction is still being written." It's the kind of book that friends give friends. More recently, Robinson has published an astoundingly brilliant book of non-fiction entitled The Death of Adam: Essays on Modern Thought, which Kathleen Norris called "a valuable contribution to American life and letters" and "a goad to renewed curiousity." Presented by Seattle Arts & Lectures reading series. Benaroya Hall, 200 University, 621-2230, 7:30 pm, $7.50-$18.

NEILE GRAHAM, ROBERT GURLEY

Graham and Gurley are married poets, and tonight they will each read from their new works, Blood Memory and Radiant Measures, respectively. Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

SEATTLE OPERA BILLY BUDD DISCUSSION

Try as I might, I have never been able to locate any of the so-called "gay themes" in the works of Herman Melville--and especially not in his wonderful, postumously published novella Billy Budd. Nonetheless, this evening's event, entitled "Billy's Code: A Discussion of Gay Themes in the Work of Melville, E. M. Forster, and Benjamin Britten," will surely prove to be both entertaining and enlightening. It is being co-hosted by Seattle Opera Education Director Perry Lorenzo and wonderful novelist/Stranger contributor Rebecca Brown. Kane Hall, UW Campus, 634-3400, 7 pm, tickets required (available free at University Bookstore).

*DIANA GEORGE

See Stranger Suggests. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7 pm, $5-$7.

GEORGE JARECKE, NANCY PLANT

Jarecke and Plant are the authors of Confounded Expectations: The Law's Struggle with Personal Responsibility, a book that, according to John Howie, "provides a careful, clear and probing analysis of a complex case with major issues brought into focus... in a nontechnical, lively and interesting way." Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

*EDWARD HIRSCH

Hirsch is a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient and winner of numerous splendid awards for his poetry (the Prix de Rome, the National Book Critics Circle Award, an American Academy of Arts and Letter award for Literature and a MacArthur "Genius Grant"). Tonight he will be speaking on the subject of "How to Read a Poem and Fall in Love with Poetry," a lecture based on his bestselling book of the same name. Hirsch's most recent collections are Earthly Measures (named a N.Y. Times Notable Book of the Year) and On Love. Seattle Public Library, 1000 Fourth Ave, 386-4636, 7 pm, free.

EDWIN WEIHE

Weihe, the director of the Seattle University Writers Workshop, reads from and signs his debut collection of short fiction, Another Life & Other Stories. University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free.

JOHN STRALEY

Book-signing by the author of the mystery Cold Water Burning. Seattle Mystery Bookshop, 117 Cherry St, 587-5737, noon, free.

*THE MOVIE GENERATION LECTURE SERIES

Jon Bridgeman, a UW professor emeritus of history, will give the first in a series of six lectures about cinema and society. This evening's topic is "The Movies and the Progressive Era: Intolerance." Kane Hall, UW Campus, 543-3839, 7 pm, $12/$10 UWAA members and students (series passes also available).

MICHAEL COLLINS

Collins is an internationally acclaimed Irish writer now residing in Seattle, and this year will see the first U.S. publication of his most recent novel, The Keepers of Truth. "Michael Collins is undoubtedly an exciting talent, capable of writing razor-sharp prose and he has produced a gripping, stylish novel that deserves to be read," chimes the N.Y. Times literary supplement. Elliott Bay Book Company, 7:30 pm, tickets required (available free at store).

OTTO LANG

Lang is a life-long ski buff and Oscar-nominated film-maker (he directed Sonya Henie in Sun Valley Serenade). Tonight he will be discussing his life of snow-bound adventure and signing his new book, Around the World in 90 Years. Marco Polo Books, 713 Broadway E, 860-3736, 7:30 pm, free.

STAGE FRIGHT YOUTH OPEN MIC

Enough said. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave, 322-7030, 7 pm, free.