Dan Webster

It's a good thing we chose David Long's third short-story collection as the September read of The Spokesman-Review Book Club. There might not be a fourth one.

And the masses have spoken. Well, it was a small mass of readers who responded to my invitation to supply nominations for The Spokesman-Review Book Club. But it was vocal. Since November 2002, when we tackled – a little ambitiously, I admit – David James Duncan's 656-page novel "The Brothers K," the club has maintained a book-a-month pace that has touched on some of the Pacific Northwest's great body of literature. Among those we have read: Raymond Carver, Ken Kesey, Marilynne Robinson, Chuck Palahniuk, David Guterson, Sherman Alexie and Charles Johnson.

It's been two centuries since Meriwether Lewis and William Clark made their historic trek West. In fact, 200 years ago to the day, the expedition was in southwestern Montana, seeking – with the help of the fabled Sacagawea – help from area Indian tribes. I got that fact from the Web site www.pbs.org/lewisandclark, which has about as much information about the expedition as you could possibly want. But … if you want more, then you might consider attending the "Meet the Authors" series that will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday and Aug. 17 in River Park Square. Jack Nisbet, author of the forthcoming book "The Mapmaker's Eye: David Thompson on the Columbia Plateau," will be Thursday's first featured speaker. His talk is titled "Visualizing Rivers: How the Plateau Tribes Introduced David Thompson to the Major Drainages of the Inland Northwest." He will be followed by Robert Carriker, professor of history at Gonzaga University and author of several books, including "The Natural History of the Lewis and Clark Expedition," who will deliver a talk titled "Sergeant John Ordway's Mysterious Salmon River."

In modern literature, it's often hard to tell what's fiction from what's nonfiction. And we're not even talking about the kind of nonfiction that clearly is fiction (can you say Jayson Blair?).

"The Complete 'Thin Man' Collection" ••••

It seems anymore that J.A. Jance visits Spokane on an annual basis. The author of two popular mystery series – one featuring Seattle detective J.P. Beaumont, the other Arizona sheriff Joanna Brady – was here just over a year ago to read from her Arizona-based thriller "Day of the Dead." Before that, Jance visited in August 2003 to read from her Brady novel "Exit Wounds." And she was here in September 2002 to read from "Partner in Crime," a book that featured both Brady and Beaumont.

He's grabbed our imagination, Harry has. Harry Potter, that is.

If you've ever had a desire to write a children's book, now's your chance. Well, not now, exactly. You'll have to wait until Sept. 10, the day the Inland Empire (now there's an antiquated term) chapter of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators will hold its inaugural Fall Conference of Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington at the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel in Worley, Idaho. The conference will offer speakers such as Terry Trueman ("Stuck in Neutral") and Deborah Nourse Lattimore ("The Winged Cat: A Tale of Ancient Egypt") addressing such topics as "The Art of Picture Books," "An Inside Look at Publishing" and "Plotting With Characters."

The old man must have been 80 years old. He was short, stooped and he didn't speak English. But that didn't stop him from trying to give us directions to MALBA, the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, one of the Argentine capital's most celebrated art museums.

There's nothing more charming than watching children cope with adult situations. Truth is they often handle them as well, and as gracefully, as their elders do. Grace is a fitting word when it comes to the documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom," a film conceived and written by Amy Sewell and directed by Marilyn Agrelo, because it involves dancing. And the very best of the film's 11-year-old dancers boast a grace that most will never possess.

Many book clubs take a summer break. I'm not sure why this is, though I suspect it's because some of us still harbor feelings for those summer-long vacations that we stopped having shortly after our 22nd birthdays. But not all stop meeting. And anyway, summer is traditionally the best time to tackle those books that you've always wanted to try but never felt as if you had the time. For example, the reading group that I've been a member of for the last few years is in the process of reading "The Adventures of Augie March," the 1954 novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Saul Bellow. Besides being 544 pages long (even in the Penguin Classics paperback reprint), "Augie March" isn't particularly easy to get through.

As I type this, I hold in my hand – well, not in my hand exactly – a book by Charles Johnson titled "Oxherding Tale." That is not the book that The Spokesman-Review Book Club will read for its July selection.

Kelly DiNardo is looking for some people who know Spokane. What the Washington, D.C.-based freelance writer wants is information about the late Edward Van Schaack. And why does she want it? I'll let her explain: "I am writing a biography of burlesque dancer Lili St. Cyr for Billboard Books, an imprint of Watson Guptill. The book is due to my editors next summer and will probably be out in the fall of 2006 or spring 2007.

For Kevin Noland, moviemaking is all about making connections. Take, for example, how he got "Dawson's Creek" actor Joshua Jackson to read the script for his film project "Americano."

About the third time I started writing this review of "Herbie: Fully Loaded," I finally got the lead actress's name correct. Lindsay Lohan, I typed. Not Hilary Duff.

Ernest Hemingway has been dead for 44 years, and yet the Nobel Prize- winning novelist is still influencing the lives of young American men. Case in point: Kevin Noland's film "Americano," a Hemingwayesque coming-of-age tale set in modern-day Spain.

Andrew Vacchs' fame is based on two main areas of his life. The first is his lawyerly crusading on behalf of abused children. The second is his series of detective novels featuring Burke, the investigator named after a 19th-century serial killer. Now, for maybe the first time, Vacchs (pronounced like "ax") is reaching for real literary success. His latest novel, "Two Trains Running" (Pantheon, 464 pages, $25) – from which he will read at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie's Bookstore – departs from his Burke tales but, reviewers say, is no less violent.

The weather goes back and forth between early spring (read: cloudy and cold) and late summer (read: sunny and hot), but nothing is keeping the authors away. The coming week is a rich one for those fans of literary readings, whether you prefer nonfiction, young-adult or romance novels. The highlights, all of which occur at Auntie's Bookstore in Spokane, include: “Chris Crutcher (7:30 p.m. Wednesday) – Spokane's own nationally acclaimed young-adult writer unveils his first work of fiction in four years (since 2001's "Whale Talk"). Titled "The Sledding Hill," the book is attracting Crutcher's typical good reviews.

Spokane young-adult author Terry Trueman has scored another award. On Thursday, Trueman will receive the Books Change Lives award from the California Center for the Book, a nonprofit group affiliated with the California State Library that promotes reading. The Books Change Lives award is presented to authors "whose work has changed lives and has consistently inspired students to enter" writing programs sponsored by the center.

Summer isn't necessarily the best time for literary events. So much sun, so little time. But Auntie's Bookstore is doing its best to bring in some worthy talent. Among the highlights ahead in the next few weeks, expect to see novelist Andrew Vachss and former Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic. Here's an abbreviated list: • Claire Davis, June 1: The Lewiston author will read from her second novel, "Season of the Snake."

It's tough to gain acceptance when you're socially unacceptable. That's what Walter is. That's what anyone would be who couldn't control certain of his own bodily functions.

It won't arrive in bookstores until July 16, but some area stores are already planning for the rush that's bound to accompany the release of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." This is book six of J.K. Rowling's unbelievably popular series about the young warlock Potter and his progress through the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The story has been documented in books, films and more Web sites than you could begin to explore in the lifetime of a Blast-Ended Skrewt.