Tonight, we have a poetry slam. Every time that I type “poetry slam,” I want to type “pottery slam,” which I think sounds like something that somebody should put on. How could a pottery slam not be a lot of fun?

Firstly, Scott Simon, the NPR correspondent, reads from his new novel, Windy City, at the Moore Theatre. Windy City looks really good, but I haven’t read it yet—another victim of too many books, too little time here at The Stranger Book Corral—and you know that Simon will actually be able to read his own work, which makes this the readings equivalent of a sure thing.

Up at Third Place Books in Ravenna, which is a nice, cozy bookstore with a bar in the basement, Nancy Leigh Harless reads from Womankind: Connection & Wisdom Around the World, which is about the worldwide “sisterhood of Womankind.”

And up at the Third Place Books mothership store in Lake Forest Park, Jodi Picoult is reading from Change of Heart, which is another of her ‘ripped-from-the-headlines’-style novels. This one is about the death penalty and organ donation, and it involves a convict with Messianic powers, which sounds vaguely familiar. A lot of people feel really strongly about Jodi Picoult, and they buy her books every year when they’re released, like clockwork. I’ve tried to read two of her books, and I couldn’t get anywhere with them, because I felt, with the telegraphed plot twists, the egregious coincidences, and the forced dialogue, that I might as well be watching bad television. But then, telegraphed plot twists, egregious coincidences, forced dialogue, and ‘ripped-from-the-headlines’-style novels are what people criticized Dickens for writing, back in the day, so maybe, one day in the future, after I’m dead, the 10,000,000 Picoult fans will have the last laugh.

Full readings calendar, including the next week or so, here.