Book Readings, Blogging, and Other Literary Pursuits

Photo by Ibarionex Perello

Bookblogger Laila Lalami of MoorishGirl will be reading from her new book, Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits, tonight at 7:30 pm at Beyond Baroque in Venice. Lalami, although currently a SoCal expat, lived in Los Angeles for many years. She wrote this on her blog about coming back for a Duttons' reading yesterday:

"I hadn't been back in Los Angeles more than an hour when a Land Rover honked at me for actually stopping at an intersection. Ah, I'm back home, I thought. The smell, the sounds, the smog, the three or four languages I could hear at the coffee shop while I was waiting for my order, the big headlines that read "Storm Watch 2005" because there's been, like, two inches of rain, the surly actors slash waiters, the lights of the big city all around me--I'd missed it all."

Hope and Other Dangerous Pursuits is about people trying to make the dangerous crossing from Morocco to Spain on an inflatable boat. They are risking death for a different existence, and Lalami explores how - and why. The Beyond Baroque reading is co-sponsored by the Levantine Cultural Center of Los Angeles. Lalami gives away a book at every reading (ranging from Sherman Alexie to Leila Aboulela) and there will be live music tonight as well. Beyond Baroque: 681 Venice Blvd. (310) 822-3066.