THURSDAY 8/15
Mark Spragg
“It was horses that allowed me early on to step away from the love affair I maintained with myself.” Such quotes abound in Spragg’s new award-winning memoir, Where Rivers Change Direction, an exploration of the love between two boyhood friends and the woman who leaves them both. Annie Bloom’s Books, 7834 SW Capitol Hwy, 246-0053, 7:30 pm, $5
Shawn Levy
With its luscious art, fashion, and sex scenes, 1960s London was an almost impossibly fun time and place. Oregonian film critic, Levy, reads from her new book, Ready, Steady, Go!, which chronicles that era in sufficiently spicy style. Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St, 228-4651, 7:30 pm, free
FRIDAY 8/16
E. Lynn Harris
Harris’s new book, A Love of My Own, is about a young, hot magazine editor named Zola who dates three different men at once. Zola’s magazine is called “Bling Bling,” and features a contest called “The Sexiest Brothaman Alive contest.” Powell’s City of Books, 1005 W Burnside St, 228-4651, 7:30 pm, free
SATURDAY 8/17
Fifth Annual PikNuke
Join poetry lovers from across Oregon for informal poetry readings and free verse in the shadow of one of America’s most scenic nuclear cooling towers. Bring food, drink, and dogs. Toxic waste provided courtesy of Trojan Power. Contact Joe Wheeler (941-2300×146) for specific directions and info. Trojan Nuclear Power Plant/Recreational Area, The Columbia River along Hwy 30, 941-2300 x 146, noon-6 pm
MONDAY 8/19
Literature in Performance
Vanna O’Brien and guests will read classic bodice rippers. “Bodice rippers,” according to www.sepulchritude.com, are “historical dramas, period dramas, costume dramas… but always DRAMA!” Borders Books and Music, 708 SW 3rd Ave, 220-5911, 7 pm