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Friday, January 8, 2010

Reading Tonight: The Rich, the Poor, and Jasper Fforde

Posted by on Fri, Jan 8, 2010 at 10:36 AM

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Several readings today.

Danielle Rama Hoffman reads at East-West Bookshop today. Hoffman is the author of The Temples of Light: An Initiatory Journey to the Sphinx, and she will reportedly take you on a "virtual tour of Egypt" tonight.

The Rendezvous is hosting something called The Off Hours Winter Reading. This is a reading featuring fiction by Ann Pancake, something that is not fiction by Kevin Craft, and poetry by Sierra Nelson, Caroline Moir, and Megan Snyder-Camp. Several of these authors are awesome, but unless you got a ticket, you won't see them tonight; the reading is sold out.

Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett read at Town Hall tonight. The Spirit Level is about the gap between the wealthy and the poor. These are the same authors who read at a Tom Douglas restaurant last night, informing the audience about class disparity over fancy appetizers and expensive drinks.

But there's no contest for the reading of the night. Jasper Fforde is reading at Seattle Mystery Bookshop and Third Place Books tonight. Fforde is the author of the Thursday Next series of books, which is a sci-fi series about a detective in a world in which people can enter and interact with novels. His new novel, Shades of Grey, is kind of like Flatland, only instead of geometry, it's about color; people are assigned colors based on their class and social status, and only the wealthy can afford to buy and enjoy a wide spectrum of colors. I started it a few days ago, and it's a lively, entertaining sci-fi novel. Give it a try.

The full readings calendar, including the next week or so, is here. And if you're planning on staying in and you're looking for personalized book recommendations, feel free to tell me the books you like and ask me what to read next over at Questionland.

 

Comments (3) RSS

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1
"virtual tour of Egypt" ? Is that like watching someone's vacation slides?
Posted by Lark Hawk on January 8, 2010 at 11:06 AM
2
In Shades of Grey people are sorted by how much color they can perceive, and some kind of "univisual" colors are piped into the landscape so everyone can enjoy them. It's a fun read.
Posted by BakerB on January 8, 2010 at 12:39 PM
3
I was scrolling past when I caught your reference to "Flatland." I fucking LOVE Flatland. I will check out Shades of Grey.
Posted by Cate B http://- on January 9, 2010 at 1:03 PM

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