There’s a lot going on tonight, including a reading by two poets, a reading by a woman who writes romances for what used to be called ‘soccer moms,’ a book about Mount Everest, a book about aging brains, a book about which way God would want you to vote (and because it’s written by a liberal, God wants you to vote liberally), and a $45 wine reception for Salman Rushdie, who will be reading for free tomorrow.

Also: Julie Salamon reads at Third Place Books from Hospital: Man, Woman, Birth, Death, Infinity, Plus Red Tape, Bad Behavior, Money, God and Diversity on Steroids. It’s about one day in the life of a hospital, and it looks really interesting.

And: George Lakoff, who wrote Don’t Think of an Elephant, reads from his new book, which is titled The Political Mind: Why You Can’t Understand 21st-Century American Politics with an 18th-Century Brain. I like Lakoff okay; a customer at a bookstore once described him to me as basically a Noam Chomsky that more people can understand. But there’s a place for that, too.

In addition: At the U Village Barnes & Noble, we have a reading for In Justice: Inside the Scandal That Rocked the Bush Administration, which is about the wrongful firing of U.S. attorneys, by one of the attorneys in question.

But: Richard Bausch, who is a great writer, reads from his new novel, Peace, at Elliott Bay book Company. If you haven’t read Bausch’s short stories, you really should. I haven’t read the new one, but I’m looking forward to it.

Full readings calendar, including tomorrow’s Rushdie readings, can be found on our Books page.