Results tagged “marksarvas”

L.A.'s very own debut novelist and litblogger extraordinaire, Mark Sarvas, will be reading from his first novel Harry, Revised tomorrow night at 6pm @ Hotel Cafe as part of the Tongue & Groove reading series. Harry, Revised is set in L.A, features several of your favorite & not so favorite neighborhoods, highlights the darker perils of plastic surgery, examines a bevy of relationships gone awry, and offers a hilarious take on the bizarre and oh-so-L.A. spinning class culture. Sarvas is an excellent reader, especially with such funny material to read and with The Hotel Cafe as a backdrop, it promises to be a quintessentially L.A. literary evening.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) will discuss The Good Fight: Hard Lessons From Searchlight to Washington with Rob Reiner 7:30pm @ UCLA, James Bridges Theater

Mike Farrell presents Just Call Me Mike 7pm @ Book Soup

Some of our favorite independent bookstores in LA (Skylight Books, Vroman's, Diesel, Book Soup) have been targeted by scammers claiming to be some of our favorite writers.

John Landis signs his John Landis 7pm @ Borders, Santa Monica

The West Hollywood Book Fair, now in it's sixth year, will take over West Hollywood Park this Sunday from 10am - 6pm. We like to think of the WeHo book fair as the calmer, cooler cousin to the LA Times Festival of Books - great authors, excellent panels, live readings and good food - but much easier to navigate. As with any festival, planning the who/what/when is key...especially when trying to pack it all into one day.

This week Oprah takes on Osama. If you're thinking the Queen of Daytime might bring something soft and fuzzy to the table, no way. She's not telling Osama to keep a dream journal. She's going hard news, for two whole episodes. In fact, she's fearmongering up a storm: What should you be worried about? she demands. Meet the man who met Osama Bin Laden! How vulnerable are we to another attack?!? OMG, is the sky falling?

Apparently this city really loves its awards shows and the sinister underbelly of The Cos. LAist had one of its biggest weeks yet and for that we say, "thank you." Hopefully, next week, some former child actor will hijack an orange line bus and we can continue appealing to the masses.

Mark Sarvas has championed local reading series, excoriated the LA Times Book Review, and tirelessly blogged about all things literary on his site The Elegant Variation. With its smart writing, frequent updates and splashes of wicked humor, it has become required daily reading — for both Angelenos and folks in the Big Established Publishing World in NY. He is also a founding member of the LitBlog Co-Op (more about that below), which announced its latest book recommendation — Garner by Kirstin Allio — today. Mark has helped raise LA's literary profile, reminding the rest of the world that we're not just about breast implants and lunch at The Ivy.

LAist chatted with Kevin Smokler a few weeks ago about his new book, Bookmark Now, and now you've got the chance to do so as well. If you didn't catch him last night at Skylight Books, you can hang with him and Lynn Isenberg and maybe some of us -isters (ed. note -- mainly me) tonight at Book Soup. The word nerd party starts at 7 PM.

After an exhausting — and possibly soggy — day at the LA Times Festival of Books tomorrow, literati of the most fun persuasion will be heading to Chinatown for the Vermin on the Mount reading series. Held at the Mountain Bar, this Vermin is co-produced by Swink Magazine, and promises to be both liquor- and literature-friendly. Readers coming in from afar include poet Alex Lemon, Steve Almond (My Life in Heavy Metal), and litblogger Moorishgirl (aka Laila Lalami); local litbloger Mark Sarvas of The Elegant Variation is on the bill too, with fellow Angelenos Julianne Flynn and Lisa Glatt (The Apple's Bruise). With martinis from the bar, you'll be perfectly equipped to take in this new ratpack.

Martini Republic points out that the LA Times "scooped the blogosphere" in announcing the launch of The Litblog Co-Op. The Litblog is the brainchild of Mark Sarvas who runs the LA Based blog, Elegant Variation. More interesting to us than the Times beating most of us to the punch on this story is that the web version of Scott Martelle's article actually includes a hotlink to the LBC.

Sarvas pretty much echos our feelings about Wasserman's editorship of the section. He writes:

Now, since Wasserman's apparently only "likely leaving", we'd like to urge Wasserman in the strongest possible terms to follow your impulses and skeddadle. We'll even help you pack your books. Really, the door's that way.

Continue reading "LA Times Book Review Editor On His Way Out?"

Description: Pinky's Paperhaus features authors playing guest DJ.

L.A.'s long-neglected literary scene is due some media attention, but we’re disappointed that Los Angeles City Beat forgot to mention the big literary guns enticed to speak at the consistently excellent ALOUD and ZACALO programs presented by Los Angeles Public Library.