Book Notes: Alexis M. Smith to read at Auntie’s
Portland novelist Alexis M. Smith will read at Auntie’s Bookstore on Friday in a program sponsored by the EWU Visiting Author Series and Get Lit.
Smith will read from her 2012 novel, “Glaciers” (Tin House Books, $10.95). The story centers on a day in the life of Isabel, a 20-something thrift-shopper, whose quest for love and the perfect vintage dress is set against the decay of urban life and melting glaciers in her native Alaska.
Smith will speak at 7:30 p.m. at Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave. For more information, call the store at (509) 838-0206.
Dino-mite
Through the Triceratops Poetry Project, graduate-student teachers from Eastern Washington University headed into local third-grade classrooms to teach poetry. Now those third-graders have been invited to read their completed poems at Auntie’s on Saturday.
The fun begins at 2 p.m. at Auntie’s. Call the store for more information.
Think & Drink returns
Humanities Washington is bringing its Think & Drink series back to Spokane with “On Different Tracks: Race, Class and Education” on May 12.
Raymond Reyes, associate academic vice president and chief diversity officer at Gonzaga University, will lead the conversation, which will be moderated by Shann Ray Ferch, author of “American Masculine” and a professor of leadership studies at GU.
The event will begin at 7:30 p.m. at Lindaman’s Gourmet Bistro, 1235 S. Grand Blvd. Admission is free. For details, visit www.humanities.org/ programs/think-drink.
Scholars wanted
Speaking of Humanities Washington, the search is on for new members of the organization’s speakers bureau.
Speakers travel the state giving presentations on topics such as history, food, film, photography, popular culture and literature. Speakers are selected based on their expertise and ability to offer insight that sparks discussion with audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The application deadline is April 25. To apply or for more information, visit www.humanities.org/ speakers-apply.
A year on the list
Fifty-four and counting.
That’s 54 weeks on the New York Times’ list of best-selling trade paperbacks for Spokane author Jess Walter and his novel, “Beautiful Ruins.”
The 2012 novel hit No. 1 on that list for the week of May 5, 2013 and has hung on since.
Also on the list for a year and two weeks? “Where’d You Go, Bernadette?” by Seattle author Maria Semple, and “The Light Between Oceans” by M.L. Stedman. “A Game of Thrones” is right there, too, at 56 weeks. It’s then a big jump to the next-longest tenured, “Fifty Shades of Grey,” by E.L. James (at 109 weeks, apparently not EVERYONE has read it), and a huge gap to the reigning king of the trade list, Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist.” That megaseller – at 65 million copies sold –has been on the Times’ list for 299 weeks. Five years, nine months and some change.