Hit the Books: A Roundup of Literary Events for Readers
By Troy Segal
Book lovers, rejoice: In the spirit of summertime, we present lectures, talks, and readings geared toward the literary-minded. Whether your tastes run to beach novels or political memoirs, the classics or cookbooks, here are samples from our bestsellers’ list.
James Joyce fans around the world commemorate June 16 as Bloomsday—it’s the day on which his character Leo Bloom traverses Dublin in Ulysses. Symphony Space‘s celebration features celebs such as actress Cynthia Nixon and National Book Award-winning author Colum McCann reading choice Joycean short stories.
Actress and Twitter queen Jenny Mollen reads aloud from her memoir I Like You Just the Way I Am: Stories About Me and Some Other People, aided by her husband and fellow thespian Jason Biggs on June 18 at the Bryant Park Reading Room.
King of ’cue Neal Corman — owner of Virgil’s restaurants — shares stories and tasty tips about the smoked stuff from his Virgil’s Barbecue Road Trip Cookbook at Barnes & Noble TriBeCa on June 25.
On June 26 at the Morgan Library & Museum, several poets of today recite and comment on the wordsmiths of yesterday — such giants as Edna St. Vincent Millay, William Carlos Williams, and Langston Hughes — all featured in the museum’s exhibit Gatsby to Garp: Modern Masterpieces from the Carter Burden Collection.
New York Times bestselling kids’ book author Rainbow Rowell (Eleanor & Park and Fangirl) shares excerpts from her first novel for grownups, Landline, about a troubled marriage and a magical phone, at Barnes & Noble TriBeCa on July 8.
Lee Grant in Shampoo. Photo: lecinemadreams.blogspot.com
Actress Lee Grant (Shampoo, Valley of the Dolls) discusses her life, career, and new autobiography, I Said Yes to Everything (which she will be selling and signing), with fellow thespian Alan Alda at the 92nd Street Y on July 10.
John Dean, the White House Counsel during the 1970s Watergate scandal, talks about old secrets and new revelations, based on his just-published, provocative book, The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It, at Barnes & Noble Upper West Side on July 30.