I love the cover of David Shields’s new book (a man about to jump off a big building in a big city), I love its title, How Literature Saved My Life, I love the way the thinking in the book meanders from subject to subject, idea to idea, insight to insight. Lastly, I love the way Shields sculpts his sentences: no waste, no mistakes, no excitement, no surprises, no extremes, and seemingly no exertion. This UW professor never lets his deepest ideas fall below the cool, steady surface of his prose. (University Book Store, 4326 University Way NE, 634-3400, 7 pm, free)