There are a ton of events tonight, including a book about being powerful and unemployed; a novel based on a true family history; the first night of Comixtravaganza, the Seattle Public Library's month-long cartoon appreciation festival at the Queen Anne branch; a couple of mysteries; and a book release party for the poetry collection Black Edens: Nocturnes that will feature harp and "chamber pop."

And then there's even more going on. The central branch of the Seattle Public Library, not to be outdone by its Queen Anne Branch, is hosting David Huerta tonight. Huerta is a poet from Mexico City. Before Saying Any of the Great Words is his latest collection of poetry.

University Book Store is hosting Larry Smith and Rachel Fershleiser. It All Changed in an Instant: More 6 Word Memoirs By Writers Famous and Obscure is a collection of memoirs that contain six words. While the brevity is admirable, one wonders if this idea would be better-suited to Twitter than an eminently disposable book. But still, you could show up and listen to the short memoirs tonight for free.

Hanson Hosein reads at Town Hall tonight. Hosein is hosting a discussion about how new technologies have changed the way people communicate under authoritarian regimes. This discussion is now very timely, considering Google announcing yesterday that it would not censor results on their Chinese search engines.

But the reading of the night is also at Town Hall. Joe Sacco is a cartoon journalist (that is a journalist who works in cartoons as a medium, not a journalist who is a cartoon). If you haven't read his book Palestine, you should check it out; it's becoming a classic of journalism. Sacco returns to Seattle tonight with his new book Footnotes in Gaza. Whether you've read Sacco's work before or not, you should go to this reading. Sacco isn't your standard cartoonist; he's funny, personable, and charming. You'll have a good time and learn things about parts of the world you should know more about anyway. I think in business-speak that'd be called a win-win.

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.