MONDAY
What a weekend of basketball! It’s going to be hard to come down from over the next few days, so step off gradually. Go check out Tom Graham and Rachel Graham Cody as they discuss Getting Open: The Unknown Story of Bill Garrett and the Integration of College Basketball. It’ll help to augment your game IQ, which may be feeling a little shattered after all your Big 10 picks got spanked. Barnes & Noble, 3040 M St. NW. Mon., 7:30 p.m.

TUESDAY
Huge day for author events in town. Out in Reston, music fans and aficionados of sentimental British romantic comedies will want to schlep out to Reston to discuss all things pop musical with Nick Hornby, author of A Long Way Down and a personal fave, Fever Pitch (which was unfortunately made into a craptastic flick about the Red Sox). Closer to home, the mega-influential Erica Jong drops by the Olsson’s in Arlington to discuss her latest, Seducing the Demon, in which she discusses her life as a writer and why Martha Stewart doesn’t like her. Hornby: The Center Stage, 2310 Colts Neck Road, Reston, 8 p.m. Jong: Olsson's at 2111 Wilson Blvd., 7 p.m.

Also, James L. Swanson, author of Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln's Killer, celebrates his 90th straight week discussing his book with locals. The six of you who haven’t been to one of his signings can join with the diehards determined to go to all of them at Olsson’s in Alexandria, 106 South Union Street, 7 p.m.

WEDNESDAY
Kimora Lee Simmons is coming to town to sign copies of her new book, Fabulosity: What It Is and How To Get It. One of you, be a dear, won’t you, and volunteer to be her designated driver? The life you save may belong to a DCist writer. Borders, 913-A Capitol Centre Boulevard, Largo., 7 p.m.

THURSDAY
ESPN’s Mike Greenberg will be in town to discuss his new book, Why My Wife Thinks I’m An Idiot. Be there to console him by pointing out that his wife probably thinks the people on Cold Pizza are bigger idiots. Barnes & Noble, 3040 M St. NW. Thu., 7:30 pm.

FRIDAY
Back in 1969, Kevin Phillips foretold The Emerging Republican Majority. So, now that it’s emerged, how’s everything working out for Kevin? The answer, a combination of gloom, doom and major uh-oh’s, is expounded upon in American Theocracy. Phillips comes to Politics and Prose to enumerate the many coming disasters. 5015 Connecticut Avenue, NW., 7 p.m.

SUNDAY
So, now that Kevin Phillips has given us all the big ol’ bringdown, what are we gonna do this weekend? How about crochet our sorrows away with Stitch ‘N Bitch’s Debbie Stoller, author of Stitch 'N Bitch Crochet: The Happy Hooker. She’ll be hanging out at Politics and Prose, adding some witty zing to those brandished crochet hooks. 1 p.m.