SUNDAY 1/4

Peter Sears, Doug Marx, Lynell Edwards
Poetry! Get yer poetry! The Corvallis-residing Sears is the author of The Brink, Marx was an Oregon Book Award finalist with his poetry collection Sufficiency, and Edwards has a debut, spanking new collection called The Farmer's Daughter. Mountain Writers Center, 3624 SE Milwaukie, 236-4854, 7 pm, $3


MONDAY 1/5

* Leon Trotsky: His Life and Ideas
Vittles and dialogue are on the table for this the first installment of the Freedom Socialist Party's weekly reading circle devoted to Helen Gilbert's book on Leon Trotsky, co-leader with V.I. Lenin of the Russian Revolution. Come for the grub, stay for the Power to the People, and if you want, prepare a little by watching the recent film Frida, in which we learn that a decrepit old Trotsky had an affair with the monobrowed painting wunderkind at the peak of her hotness. Yowza! Bread and Roses Center, 819 N. Killingsworth, 240-4462, 7 pm, dinner at 6:30 pm, $5 donation


WEDNESDAY 1/7

The Good Wife Strikes Back
Bring the 'rents to this one, or maybe just Mom. Londoner Elizabeth Buchan's popular novel is the story of a forty-something wife/mother (named Fanny Savage; ouch) who finds herself at a crossroads after a lifetime being undervalued. Annie Bloom's Books, 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, 246-0053, 7:30 pm, free

* Everybody Reads 2004 Kickoff
The Everybody Reads program is a wonderful thing: a two-month frenzy of citywide activity centered around a single book. Over 90 discussions, film screenings, performances, and other events are planned for the months of January and February, ALL geared toward getting YOU to read Ray Bradbury's seminal work Fahrenheit 451. Multnomah County Library expects thousands of people to read and discuss the book, forming a community dialogue in the truest sense of the phrase. Do you want to be left off the bandwagon? Hell no! Come tonight, pick up your copy of the book (hundreds of copies will be on hand to check out), grab your Everybody Reads calendar, and start readin'! AND meet new library director Molly Raphael! Wooooo HOO! Central Library, 801 SW 10th Ave, 988-5471, 5:30 pm, free