There are a whole lot of readings tonight including a book at Third Place that involves wit, whimsy, and haunting images.

First, I'd like to turn your attention to Lindy's post from yesterday, which talked about a cookbook about fat. The event is hosted by One Pot and the author of the cookbook is going to be interviewed by Angela Garbes, who is one of my favorite people.

Michael Medved reads at Town Hall, from his book The 10 Big Lies About America. In the books section this week, Charles writes about the Seattle conservative's newest book:

Before examining them, some background on this Medved chap. He is the last man standing on the far right in far-left Seattle. He has a radio show, he is on TV a lot, he is in the habit of crossing his legs when he sits, and his upper lip often raises his broad mustache with the pride of a confident weightlifter. That is Medved. Now, his book.

You should read the whole thing. It's a great book review.

Up in the U District, Achille Mbembe, who some person or another calls "One of the most brilliant theorists of postcolonial studies today," reads from Rethinking the Future in a Neo-Liberal Age.

At Elliott Bay Book Company, Peter N. Carroll and Peter Glazer, who are members of the awesomely named Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, read from a newly discovered memoir called War is Beautiful: An American Ambulance Driver in the Spanish Civil War. A lot of ambulance drivers in the Spanish Civil War went on to write books. Maybe you could ask the editors of this memoir why that is. Bonus points if you call them "The two Peteys" during your question.

And at Open Books, we have two poets. It's that time of year, isn't it? It's dark at noon, there are rivers falling from the sky: It's time for poetry! Dan Kaplan and B.T. Shaw. Kaplan is the author of Bill's Formal Complaint, a collection of weird poems. Kaplan is good at coming up with bizarre images, like an orchestra full of armless people, and making them seem like solid, real constructs. Shaw has written This Dirty Little Heart, which is full of lovely poems about Byron and swimming. You can read a little more about Shaw's book here, including a sample poem that has one of my all-time favorite endings for a poem: "Meanwhile. Obviously. Night." If you can't get into the One Pot thing Lindy wrote about yesterday, this is the reading of the night.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here.