Callie Miller

The LA Wine Fest is upon us once again and this year's wines and special events make it somehow acceptable - even socially apropos - to sniff, swirl, drink and twirl your way through the weekend. The festival will be open and ready for sipping this Saturday and Sunday from 2pm - 6pm at the historic Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. There will be cheese pairings, olive oil offerings and blind tasting technique panels for those...

Nam Le was recently in town to read from and sign The Boat, a wildly diverse and intense collection of short stories that did not immediately strike us a short stories and which prompted an interesting dialogue. While we make a point in our author interviews to ask questions that would be of interest to our readers, we found that in this case, we were compelled to ask some pointed questions about our own reading...

A new view - up & out - from Watts Tower | Photo by Exquisitor via Flickr Monday David Wroblewski presents and signs The Story of Edgar Sawtelle 7pm @ Book Soup Rhys Bowen discusses and signs A Royal Pain 7pm @ Vroman's Joe Carducci presents and signs Enter Naomi: SST, L.A. and All That 7:30pm @ Family Tuesday Seth Greenland presents and signs Shining City 7pm @ Book Soup Jim Krusoe presents Girl...

Watch for Trains | Photo by Adan Garcia via Flickr Monday Jackie Collins signs Married Lovers 7pm @ Borders, Century City Robert Crais presents Chasing Darkness 7pm @ Book Soup William Cleveland discusses Art and Upheaval:Artists on the World's Frontlines 7pm @ Central Library Sandra Gulland discusses and signs Mistress of the Sun 7pm @ Vroman's Walter Mirisch signs I Thought We Were Making Movies, Not History 8pm @ The Wine Bar at The...

Open All Night Downtown | Photo by zabowski via Flickr Monday Paul Knobloch and Tosh Berman presents and sign The Dead All Have the Same Skin 7pm @ Book Soup Janet Evanovich signs Fearless Fourteen 7pm @ Barnes & Noble, 3rd Street Promenade Tuesday Jessica Brody presents and signs The Fidelity Files 7pm @ Book Soup Darin Strauss discusses and signs More Than It Hurts You 7pm @ Vroman's Deanne Stillman discusses Mustang: The...

Ed Park is in town this week to read from and sign Personal Days, his funny, frightening & frighteningly spot-on novel about modern-day office life in this time of mergers, acquisitions, and business books full of empty platitudes that encourage workers to "do whatever it takes" and "put the customer first." Employees go missing without reason and a rogue element shakes things up, all while they troubleshoot Excel and navigate tedious office parties. Think Office...

Denis Johnson, author of several books including Jesus' Son and the National Book Award-Winning Tree of Smoke, has the first of a four-part serial installment in Playboy's July issue. Playboy is playing it oh-so-smart and isn't providing the highly-anticipated Nobody Move work of fiction online. What's a Johnson fan to do? You can pony up and buy Playboy, or you can head on over to Jacket Copy, the lit blog at the LA Times, to...

Elephant in the Sky at Hollywood & Highland | Photo by huangjiahui via Flickr Monday Scott McClellan signs What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception 7pm @ Barnes & Noble, 3rd Street Promenade Phyllis Gebauer discusses and signs Hot Widow 7pm @ Vroman's Marianne Wiggins signs The Shadow Catcher 7:30pm @ Barnes & Noble, The Grove Salman Rushdie discusses The Enchantress of Florence with Carrie Fisher 7:30pm @ Writers...

Janelle Brown will be reading tonight at Skylight Books @ 7:30pm | Photo by Margo Silver Janelle Brown's debut novel, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, is just out and it's generating serious buzz for its funny, yet painful look at a family that can no longer keep up appearances. Brown will be reading tonight at Skylight Books @ 7:30pm. You moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles not too long ago. Why...

Diesel, A Bookstore, one of the lesser known (but not for long) indie bookstores in Malibu has announced plans to bring indie lit to Brentwood by setting up shop in a 1,500 square foot space in Brentwood Country Mart. When Dutton's closed in late April, many in the bookish community wondered how they could possibly fill the void and get their local lit fix. Now, after a full Dutton's-less month, the announcement of Diesel's arrival...