WEDNESDAY: Dear Mary Karr: When you title your memoir "Lit," we're going to expect it to be about literature, rather than alcoholism. Luckily, your book is so good that you're off the hook for your poor communication skills. It's a story of addiction and redemption, told with uncommon humor. Karr will be speaking and reading at Politics and Prose tonight.
» Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; Wed., Nov. 4, 7 p.m, free; 202-364-1919. (Van Ness)
Photo by Marion Ettlinger
THURSDAY: Nick Hornby became justifiably famous upon the publication of "High Fidelity," a gentle expose of the psyche of a certain species of adult who never really grew up.
The book was made into an equally popular and almost as excellent film, and Hornby continued to explore the concept of emotional arrested development in his subsequent books, the latest being "Juliet, Naked." Explore with him at Politics & Prose tonight.
» Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; Thu., Oct. 1, 7 p.m., free; 202-364-1919. (Van Ness)
Photo by Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post
TUESDAY: Frank Bruni follows the standard "What Do You Do After the New York Times" pattern by writing a memoir. He'll be reading from "Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater" at Politics and Prose.
You may wonder why a man with a food addiction would choose to be a restaurant critic, to which we say "When life gives you lemons..." Maureen Dowd will appear with him, for no apparent reason.
» Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; Tues., Sept. 29, 7 p.m, free; 202-364-1919, Politics-prose.com. (Van Ness)
Written by Express' Anne Polsky
Photo courtesy Penguin Press
FOR NEARLY 25 YEARS, author Lorrie Moore has been regaling readers with mischievous stories that find comedy in tragedy and vice versa. Her fourth novel, "The Gate at the Stairs," follows a young narrator named Tassie as she takes a job as an au pair for an eccentric and evasive couple. We put Moore on the spot (via e-mail) to discuss this long-gestating work, which is one of her best.
» EXPRESS: You've been working on this novel for nearly 10 years now. What took so long?
» MOORE: I was captured by space aliens and then a sort of Stockholm syndrome ensued. I have a list of prosaic reasons and excuses, such as being a working, single, book-reviewing mom, but I grow vaguely but perceptibly hysterical when I recite them, so I've decided to go with the space alien tale.
SUNDAY: Any bookstore that survives in today's economy should get at least some sort of medal. So Politics & Prose's 25th anniversary? That's definitely worth a party.
Head up there on Sunday to enjoy free food, live music and the smugness that comes with supporting independent bookstores.
» Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; Sun., Sept. 20, 4 p.m.-7 p.m., free; 202-364-1919. (Van Ness)
Photo by Nikki Kahn/The Washington Post
AUTUMN IS THE SEASON for literary blockbusters, when publishers haul out the biggest authors — and sometimes their weightiest tomes — for readers who left their thrillers and romances on the beach. This year is no different, and, locally, autumn means big events that are musts for bookhounds.
THURSDAY: Nick McDonell first hit literary heights when he was too young to buy cigarettes. Now he's 25 and on his third novel, "An Expensive Education" which is about a spy in the halls of Harvard — which just happens to be McDonell's alma mater.
Anyway, it's nice to see that this young talent is more than just "Hey, a 17-year-old wrote a book? That's amazing!" He'll be talking at Politics and Prose tomorrow.
» Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; Thu., Aug. 26, 7 p.m., free; 202-364-1919. (Van Ness)
AS A MUSICIAN, A WRITER and the official "music guru" for Chicago Public Radio's "This American Life," Jessica Hopper is used to being the subject of the story.
First, there was a disastrous 1992 Newsweek article about the riot grrl movement of the '90s that centered on Hopper, received phenomenal backlash from the scene and which she would rather not discuss. And then there's that story she wrote for Vice Magazine a few years ago that was edited to make it seem like she slept with the subject; the publication later apologized, admitting their decision to needlessly tinker with the piece "was an affront and discouragement to women writers."
Continue Reading "A Girl's Guide: Jessica Hopper at Comet Ping Pong" »
HARVARD PROFESSOR Alex S. Jones has written a book, "Losing the News: The Future of the News That Feeds Democracy," which is actually a backward-looking tour of the historical evolution of the American press — with detailed breakdowns of the First Amendment and its subsequent litigation, the meaning of objectivity, various business models and the like. Jones is a newspaper family scion with a deep background in journalism, but he dclines to chart a path forward for the news, instead writing a paean for it.
» EXPRESS: Your book mentions the reporters who exposed the corruption of ex-congressman Duke Cunningham, won a Pulitzer and lost their jobs in short order. That's really telling.
» JONES: It's stories like that, repeated again and again and again, that prompted me to write this book. The people who do the kind of journalism that those reporters did are the people who provide the factual news that we have our national conversation about and is the core of the mechanism we have for governing ourselves. Power needs to be watched. When newspapers lose the muscle to do that kind of reporting, we suffer as a society.
» EXPRESS: So many people visit a newspaper's Web site but don't buy the newspaper. Do you see that as the main problem?
» JONES: The problem is to find a way to continue to pay for high-quality journalism. The Web is going to make it very difficult to charge for news. People will not pay for something that they think they ought to be able to get for free. Newspapers [have to] trim their operational costs to be reflective of the new reality and more modest profit-margin expectations. It will be something that is more stripped-down. It is not necessarily going to be as profitable. But it can be a profitable enterprise, nonetheless.
Continue Reading "Putting it Into Words: Alex S. Jones on 'Losing the News'" »
WEDNESDAY: New Yorker lit critic James Wood has quite a following in the world of people who follow specific book critics. His new book, "How Fiction Works," is a collection of essays about the essential elements that make a well-told, well-formed story. Normally we wouldn't stand for anyone making sweeping judgements on something as broad as "fiction," but we trust James Wood. See him speak tonight at Politics & Prose.
» Politics & Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW; Wed., Aug. 19, 7 p.m., free; 202-364-1919. (Van Ness)
Addison Road