MONDAY
Andrea Mitchell will finally tackle the question that’s been plaguing television news viewers for the better part of the last decade: Why is no one willing to tell her that with each passing face lift, she looks more and more like a Hollywood version of an alien? Apparently, she’s just too much of a tough talker for people to stand up to her, as she reveals in her new book, Talking Back: … To Presidents, Dictators, and Assorted Scoundrels. At the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Hammer Auditorium, 500 17th St. NW., at 7:30 p.m. $20. Call (202) 639-1770 for reservations.

THURSDAY
Veteran counterterrorism official and famed Bush administration critic Richard A. Clarke has turned all Tom Clancy on us with his new government thriller Breakpoint. Guess we can’t begrudge the guy from trying to make a living, but c’mon, Richard. A sci-fi story about computers taking over the world? We want more scary terrorism novels! Wait, you mean Against All Enemies is nonfiction? At the new Crystal City Olsson’s, 2200 Crystal Drive 7 p.m.

We normally scoff at ticket prices like this for literary readings, but you have to ask yourself: how much would you be willing to pay to see the King? The King of Art Criticism, that is. Robert Hughes himself, the man who has laughed in the face of both a near-fatal car crash and the world’s most highly paid contemporary artist, will set himself down for an evening to share passages from his memoir, Things I Didn’t Know. You’ll pay your $40 happily, and so will we. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Hammer Auditorium, 6:30 p.m. Call (202) 639-1770.

SATURDAY
Linda Lear has written a new biography about everyone’s favorite children’s book writer, and have a hard time imagining anything more charming that hearing about the life of Beatrix Potter. At Politics and Prose, 1 p.m.