Only four readings tonight.

Up at Third Place in Lake Forest Park, Jana Kohl reads from A Rare Breed of Love: The True Story of Baby and the Mission She Inspired to Help Dogs Everywhere. It’s about puppy mills, and it features a three-legged dog, which is always about the saddest, sweetest thing on the face of the planet. I especially have a soft spot for three-legged dogs named Tripod.

At the Seattle Public Library, Robert Thurman reads from Why the Dalai Lama Matters. I’m not a big fan of magazine articles titled “Why X Matters,” and a book with that title—especially one about somebody who hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people obviously care about—is way down low on my list of things to read. However, if you’re a weird fame tracker, Bob Thurman is the father of Uma. I doubt that Uma will be there, but you’d at least be one step closer to fame than you were yesterday.

At Elliott Bay Book Company, Jen Sookfong Lee reads from The End of East, about a family of Chinese immigrants getting used to Vancouver. That’s all I got on this one.

And up at the University Book Store, Nisi Shawl is reading from her new book, Filter House. Nisi is a local author who writes science fiction and also reviews books for The Seattle Times. She has turned me on to lots of books, and she’s a smart, pleasant, and lovely lady. Unless you’re fundamentally drawn to puppies or Uma Thurman, this should be the reading to attend tonight.

Full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is somewhere out there.