A poetry slam, a book about mothering, and other readings that are almost 100% guaranteed to have nothing to do with primary season going on tonight.

At Third Place Books, Elizabeth George is reading from Careless in Red. George is the mystery series writer who killed one of her main characters in the last book in this series. It caused a huge uproar among her readers—I guess one of the unwritten rules of writing a mystery series is that you’re not allowed to kill any of the main characters or change anything important, because readers don’t like actual change in their mysteries—and, even though I’ve never read any of her books, it made me fall in love with Elizabeth George.

At the University Book Store, William J. Bernstein reads from A Splendid Exchange, which is about the history of trade. For some reason, this fascinates me. I’m about the farthest thing from an economist that there is, but I’m probably going to wind up reading this book. I can’t explain why. It certainly doesn’t have anything to do with the cover, which is super-bland.

At the Good Shepherd Center on Capitol Hill, Bethany Wright and Roberta Olson, the authors of many books of poetry and such, will read as part of Subtext’s reading series. Subtext does good work supporting non-commercial writing, and we should all pay attention to them, even if we don’t appreciate all the writers they bring on: the scene would be a lot poorer if there was no Subtext reading series.

And to bookend the Reading Tonight post with mysteries, Dominic Stansberry reads from The Ancient Rain, which is a mystery that has something to do with the Beats. This is sure to be exciting, because nobody’s ever published a book about the Beats before. If you were going to this reading, please consider going to Elizabeth George instead.

Also, from the 7th through the 10th, Dinaw Mengestu, author the The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, will be reading at various libraries throughout Seattle. Check the Library’s listing of events on their website. There will surely be a reading somewhere near you.

For your non-Mengestu readings needs, consult the full readings calendar.