Callie Miller

While we try to keep our lit event listings strictly...listings...we can't help but notice that a very slow week in book readings, signings and author events has resulted in a proliferation of erotic, sexy and just plain porn star events. What are the chances this has to do with the most over-hyped flower holiday of the year? Rather high, we'd guess. Monday Chris Abani presents Virgin of Flames 7pm @ Vroman's Tuesday Gayle Brandeis...

The shooting script for Little Miss Sunshine has been bound into a book. Go figure. We've never really understood the need to make a book of a script and then have that book of the script signed as if it's, you know, a book. However. We do feel that in this case there are some particularly LA-esque reasons to attend the Book Soup signing today at 5pm: A) If the delicious dysfunction of Little Miss...

If walking the "self-guided" tour of downtown's art galleries during the Downtown LA Art Walk isn't your idea of a good time, consider being guided by a poet who plies you with alcohol and whispers words of poetry in your ears at each stop. Sound better? We thought so. Poet Ed Rosenthal and Teka-Lark Lo lead the Poet's Art Walk tomorrow night and you'd be crazy to miss it. Consider it guidance for those...

Monday P.J. O'Rourke signs On the Wealth of Nations 7pm @ Book Soup Adam Gopnick reads Through the Children's Gate 7:30pm @ Skirball Cultural Center Tuesday David Mamet signs Bambi vs. Godzilla 7pm @ Book Soup Edward Humes signs Monkey Girl 7pm @ Vroman's Norman Mailer discusses Castle in the Forest with David Ulin 7:30pm @ Writers Guild Theater Daveed Gartenstein-Ross presents My Year in Radical Islam 7:30pm @ Barnes & Noble Santa Monica...

Monday Calvin Trillin discusses About Alice 7pm @ Vroman's Norah Vincent presents Self Made Man 7pm @ Borders Century City Tuesday David Ulin, LA Times book editor, talks with Calvin Trillin 7pm @ Central Library Rachel Ballon signs The Writer's Portable Therapist 7pm @ Dutton's Brentwood Deborah Eisenberg presents Twilight of the Superheroes 7pm @ Hammer Museum Wednesday Chris Abani presents The Virgin of Flames 7pm @ EsoWon Books Felicity Huffman & Patricia Wolf...

While we often find the Oprah's Book Club phenomenon to be akin to the American Idol business model in that it bumps book sales to unimaginable heights just at her mere choosing (that kind of power is a little creepy, no?), we were pleased to learn that this time around, Oprah has chosen an author unquestionably deserving. In what seems to be a pointed attempt to banish all memory of the Frey affair, Oprah has...

You've seen it all day. We've seen it all day. We refreshed and refreshed as we waited for a new banner ad to appear in Yahoo's top right ad space. No luck. So now, as we count down to an appropriate moment for Happy Hour drinking to begin, we must ask the obvious: What the hell is David Beckham doing on a white horse? Riding in to save the future seasons of LA's own...

As we've pointed out, it is awards season in Los Angeles in more ways than one. While the Academy Award debating will rage on for weeks, bookish types can ante up their betting losses or collect their winnings now - some awards have already been given. Los Angeles resident Susan Patron has won the 2007 John Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children's literature for her young adult novel The Higher Power...

Look. We know how it's going to go down. By this time tomorrow, Oscar nominees will be announced and madness will ensue. There will be the campaigning amongst friends. The mad dash to see the films you haven't seen. The endless questioning about who should win, who shouldn't win and who should never be allowed to direct again. In certain circles, the mad "What will they wear? Who will they wear?"debating will also begin....

Monday Robert Fagan discusses The Notebooks of Robert Frost 7pm @ Vroman's Rebecca Liebermann signs We Are Still Here 7pm @ Dutton's Brentwood Josh Peter discusses Fried Twinkies, Buckle Bunnies & Bull Riders 7pm @ Studio City Branch Library Tuesday David Lynch presents Catching the Big Fish 7pm @ Borders in Westwood Martin Amis discusses House of Meetings 7pm @ Central Library Robert Stone & John Densmore in conversation about Remembering the Sixties 7:30pm...