The Book Seen December 3-10, 2009
Literary Events around town for December 3-10. All events are free unless otherwise noted.
12.3|Thursday
John Ashbery at NYU, 7pm. Ashbery reads from his book of new poems, Planisphere. The winner of many awards, he has received two Guggenheim Fellowships and was a MacArthur Fellow from 1985 to 1990. Note Venue: Vanderbilt Hall, Tishman Auditorium, 40 Washington Square South. Tip if you go: impress your friends with what a planishphere is. info
12.4|Friday
Jonathan Lethem at BookCourt, 7pm. Lethem returns to his "home Court" to complete his 8-night marathon reading of his entire new novel, Chronic City. His website plugs it as "the astounding read-till-you-drop closing party, featuring back-up readers from the stock company of The National Theater of the United States of America," whoever those guys are. Should be a fun, if lengthy, time. Tip if you go: pack a lunch. info
12.5|Saturday
Nothing doing. Get drunk on red wine at home and read The Rime of the Ancient Mariner with your sweetheart til you pass out. Tip: If you don’t already own it, and you’re too cheap and lazy to pick up a Coleridge collection at your local bookstore, the full text is here.
12.6|Sunday
Nothing doing. You’d think in a town this big there’d be a solid reading lined up. Try going to the Drama Bookshop on the west side. Chances are some actor will be there reading aloud from True West. That counts. Tip if you go: Oh, wait, never mind, the store’s closed on Sundays. See? These are important tips!
12.7|Monday
Terry Teachout at Lincoln Center B&N, 7:30pm. Teachout, The Wall Street Journal’s cultural critic (you’re probably used to seeing his face drawn in dots), is getting rave reviews for Pops, his biography of Louis Armstrong, aka Satchmo, aka Pops. See him in all his natural skin-tone glory. Teachout, not Satch. The closest you can come to Pops is at Flushing Cemetary. Tip if you go: check out the new fountain at Lincoln Center if you haven’t yet. It’s pretty magnificent. info
12.8|Tuesday
Malcolm Gladwell, James Wood, Christine Smallwood, and Caleb Crain at the Tishman Auditorium, 8pm. N+1 throws together a snappy little panel on "Evangelicalism and the Contemporary Intellectual." Tip if you go: go ironic and wear a t-shirt asking "What would Wood do?" Or at the very least shout "Amen" after each point the heathens make against Faith. info
12.9|Wednesday
Colum McCann at 192 Books, 7pm. McCann will read from his 2009 National Book Award winner, Let the Great World Spin. 192 Books is a lovely little bookstore way over on 10th Avenue in Manhattan and it’s really hike over there when it’s freezing. TIp if you go: be careful not to look in McCann’s eyes, ladies. You’ve been warned. info
