Might see Sedaris – then again, might not

All 400 seats have been sold for the David Sedaris reading Saturday at 2 p.m. at Auntie’s Bookstore.

All hope is not lost, however. Auntie’s still has some standing-room-only tickets – or at least it did late in the week.

The procedure is the same as for the regular tickets: Go to Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave., and purchase a copy of Sedaris’ new paperback, “When You Are Engulfed in Flames.” They will issue you a standing-room-only ticket for the event.

You’ll have to stand back amongst the shelves, but true fans won’t mind. Call Auntie’s at (509) 838-0206 if you have any questions.

‘Aimee Semple McPherson’

The acclaimed biography “Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America” (Harvard University Press) is now out in paperback.

This is of local interest because the author, Matthew Avery Sutton, is an assistant history professor at Washington State University.

The Atlantic called the book a “thorough and absorbing portrait of a wholly original figure.”

Original is an understatement. McPherson was the leading evangelist of the 1920s, combining sex appeal with fire and brimstone.

She became notorious for, among other things, disappearing from a California beach in 1926 and turning up a month later in Mexico. She claimed to have been abducted.

‘Beer Baron of Boise’

Here’s a new book that combines two of our prime interests: beer and regional history.

“The Beer Baron of Boise: John Lemp. Millionaire Brewer of Frontier Idaho” (Heritage Witness Reflections Publishing) is about the man who built a fortune out of supplying suds to early Idahoans.

The author is Herman Wiley Ronnenberg of Troy, Idaho, a longtime educator and writer. He is an authority on the brewing history of the Northwest and the author of 1993’s “Beer and Brewing in the Inland Northwest.”

Contact Heritage Witness Reflections Publishing at ronn@idaho.tds.net or (208) 835-6511.

Weintraub at Auntie’s

Stanley Weintraub – author, historian, biographer, National Book Award finalist and expert on George Bernard Shaw – will read at Auntie’s Bookstore on Monday at 7:30 p.m.

Weintraub has an exceptionally long list of books to his credit: 34, some of them best-sellers, most of them critically acclaimed.

At Auntie’s he’ll be reading from his most recent project, a series of books focusing on Christmas in wartime, ranging from “Savannah at Christmas: A Civil War Story” to “11 Days in December: Christmas at the Bulge.”

Washington Post reviewer Jonathan Yardley called Weintraub “a gifted, accomplished biographer and literary historian.” He’s visiting Spokane from his home in Delaware.

It sounds like he’ll provide an exceptionally erudite evening at Auntie’s.