Reader, Meet Author
[Note: Last week, the comma that normally follows the word "Reader" in the title was inadvertently left off. Anyone who really feels strongly about that is invited to attend June Casagrande's signing at the Wilson Boulevard Olsson's in Court House this Wednesday at 7 p.m. She wrote a book about you, so eat your shoots and leaves and attend. 2111 Wilson.]
MONDAY
The Folger Shakespeare Library hosts Pulitzer prize-winning poet Charles Simic as he reads from My Noiseless Entourage, and unlike a lot of prize winning poets, Simic writes for actual people—not just the judges of major literary prizes. There is a difference. 201 East Capitol St. SE., at 7:30 p.m. $12.
TUESDAY
My Dear Journalist:
I hope this missive finds you well. It’s been months since we’ve last spoke. No, I still don’t know how Elisabeth Bumiller has a job. She’s softer than Dairy Queen ice cream, I know. Maybe she banged the right person…who can say. Anyway, I’m afraid you can’t crash here over Memorial Day. I know I promised you, but my wife’s mother is going to be in town, and I just know she’s going to want the sleeper sofa. I keep telling my wife that one of these days, she just ought to call her mother on one of her passive aggressive bluffs and get her a room at the Ramada and she how she likes it when she has to tip the maid. But she never listens to me. Anyway, sweet journalist, I will look for your story about the municipal tax increase in the City Section. Until then, I remain,Yours,
Sam.
Samuel Freedman discusses Letters to a Young Journalist. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW., at 7 p.m.
THURSDAY
According to Morris Berman, America has crossed a socio-political point of no return and we are now plunging headlong into an abyss of cultural rot, political defeat and economic ruin, all detailed like the prelude to an autopsy in Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire. On the bright side, Danica Patrick is nice and pretty and she wrote a book called Danica: Crossing the Line and she drives a car that goes really, really fast. Voom! Berman: Olsson's Books & Records, 418 7th St. NW., at 7 p.m. Patrick: Barnes & Noble, 555 12th St. NW., at 7 p.m.
Also, fans of dreamy magazine writers will not want to miss Sebastian Junger's appearance at Politics and Prose, where he will discuss his new book, A Death in Belmont, in which he examines the possibility that a handyman who worked in his childhood home may have been the real Boston Strangler. Fans of creepy potential serial killers are encouraged to stay home. 7 p.m.
FRIDAY
A few years ago, many of you read Eric Schlosser’s searing expose of the fast-food industry, Fast Food Nation. Now, some time has passed, you’ve had some children of your own and they won’t stop yapping at you about wanting those Happy Meals. Well, Schlosser will be in town discussing his younger-audience-oriented Chew On This tonight, so bring your filthy brats out to have him gross the hell out of them and shut ‘em up once and for all. At Politics and Prose, 7 p.m.
Also, Madeleine Albright argues in The Mighty and the Almighty that the state might be better off harnessing the power of religion to achieve its goals on the global stage. You’d probably agree if you knew just how awesomely cool Zoroastrianism is. Did you know: Freddie Mercury was an adherent? Yeah, DCist rests its case. Barnes and Noble, 3040 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20007, 7:30 p.m.
SUNDAY
Franklin Foer may have sussed out how soccer explains the world, but another writer, close to home, found the sport enriching on a personal level. In Soccerhead, Jim Haner, dragged into coaching a youth soccer team in College Park, discovers the game’s history and importance through his nine-year-old charges. Politics and Prose, 5 p.m.