Author, poet reading at Auntie’s

This is usually a slow time for authors shuffling through Spokane.

But a couple who will read from their respective works on Wednesday at Auntie’s Bookstore just might prove interesting.

Jodi Varon and David Axelrod, who not only are married but who both teach at Eastern Oregon University, work in different writing styles.

Varon’s memoir is titled “Drawing to an Inside Straight: The Legacy of an Absent Father.” It tells the story of her – I’m quoting an e-mail here – “growing up in the Jewish ghetto of West Denver in the 1960s, the daughter of a Ladino-speaking cattleman gambler, whose luck turns catastrophic when he wagers the family business.”

Axelrod’s collection of poetry, titled “The Cartographer’s Melancholy,” won the 2004 Spokane Prize for Poetry (now called the Blue Lynx Prize for Poetry) sponsored by Eastern Washington University Press.

Montana author William Kittredge said Varon’s book “crafted a richly evocative portrait of 1960s Denver with the delicate touch of a watercolorist.”

Poet Sandra Alcosser said Axelrod’s poems make “the important discoveries, the ones that counterpoise suffering against the world’s beauty.”

Varon and Axelrod will read at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Auntie’s, 402 W. Main Ave.

Score it as an error

I received a couple of e-mails concerning my notice in last week’s column about “Rain Check: Baseball in the Pacific Northwest” (Society for American Baseball Research, 128 pages, $14.95 oversize paper), a collection of stories edited by Mark Armour.

What I forgot to point out is that all of the book’s great photos come from the collection of Seattle resident David Eskenazi.

“An independent financial planner, Dave is among the Northwest’s top three or four collectors of baseball ephemera and memorabilia,” said Jim Price, who both wrote for and proofread the book.

“Without Dave’s photos, let alone his guidance and Mark Armour’s editorial work, the book would not have been possible, at least at this level.”

Another reader, Mark Mohr, added that both Eskenazi and Price appeared in an hourlong documentary that he produced, “Spokane Indians: A Century of Baseball.” To order VHS or DVD copies of the film, call Peak Video Productions at (509) 535-1212, or e-mail Robin Briley at robin@peakvideo.us.

Book club news

•In preparing for its first meeting of the year, which will be held Sept. 26 at the Cheney Community Library, the Friends of the Cheney Community Library Book Discussion Group is making copies of the first selection – “The Master Butchers Singing Club,” by Louise Erdrich – available in the library’s meeting room. Members are urged to check out only one book at a time.

The library is located at 610 First St. Call (509) 893-8280. For further information about the group, which is open to new members, e-mail Joan Tracy at jtracy@icehouse.net.

•Just a reminder that the August read for The Spokesman-Review Book Club is “I Sing the Body Electronic: A Year with Microsoft on the Multimedia Frontier,” by Fred Moody. I saw a paperback copy the other day at Auntie’s Bookstore.

September’s book is “Panda Diaries” ($16.95 paper) by Washington State University professor Alex Kuo. The book is published by the University of Indianapolis Press, which can be reached by phone at (800) 232-8634 or by e-mail at press@uindy.edu.

In October, we’ll read Rebecca Brown’s “The Gifts of the Body” (Harper, 176 pages, $12 paper).

As for November, one nomination has been for Gregg Olsen’s “The Deep Dark: Disaster and Redemption in America’s Richest Silver Mine” (Three Rivers Press, 416 pages, $14.95 paper). If no one has a better suggestion, that’s what we’ll go with.

Unless otherwise noted, all events are free and open to the public.

Book talk

•Dark City Mystery Book Group (“Devil’s Corner,” by Lisa Scottoline), 7 p.m. Monday, Auntie’s Bookstore, Main and Washington. Call (509) 838-0206.

•Moscow Public Library Book Group (“Running With Scissors,” by Augusten Burroughs), 6:30 p.m. Monday, Moscow Public Library, 110 S. Jefferson St., Moscow, Idaho. Call (208) 882-3925.

•What Are You Reading This Summer book series, noon-1 p.m. Wednesday, Tinman Gallery, 811 W. Garland Ave. Call (509) 325-1500.

•Whitman County Library Who Reads What Book Discussion Series (“A Prayer for Owen Meany,” by John Irving), 7 p.m. Thursday, Colfax Branch, 102 S. Main St., Colfax. Call (877) 733-3375.

The reader board

•Jodi Varon (“Drawing to an Inside Straight: The Legacy of an Absent Father”), David Axelrod (“The Cartographer’s Melancholy”), readings, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Auntie’s Bookstore.

•Frank Zafiro (“Under a Raging Moon”), signing, 3-7 p.m. Saturday, Coeur d’Alene Hastings, 101 E. Best Ave., Coeur d’Alene. Call (208) 664-0464.