Jeffrey Deaver will be appearing at Seattle Mystery Bookshop and at Third Place Books tonight. Deaver's paraplegic detective Lincoln Rhyme returns in his newest thriller, The Burning Wire. This series is a huge guilty pleasure of mine. Deaver was recently chosen to write the next James Bond thriller, which makes me a bit nervous; he is many things but he's not a prose stylist by any means.

The main branch of the Library hosts Jonathan Alter tonight. Alter wrote a great book about the first hundred days in the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt. Now he returns with a look at our most recent president, titled The Promise: President Obama, Year One.

And Hilary Thayer Hamann reads at Elliott Bay Book Company from Anthropology of an American Girl. This is a coming-of-age novel that became very popular before it was even picked up by a giant publisher.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here. And if you're planning on staying in and you're looking for personalized book recommendations, feel free to tell me the books you like and ask me what to read next over at Questionland.