Authorial Intent: More Cape Wind, Palin, Diaz

Now that it's fall and writers are stepping out for tours, we'll be offering a spotlight on the best of the week's readings. You'll still see book reviews and interviews with authors, but "Authorial Intent" will help you get the jump on tickets so you don't wind up out in the cold. Also, it's impossible to read everything, so please e-mail Bostonist if "Authorial Intent" misses anything.

Thursday, September 6, 7:00 pm, Robert Whitcomb and Wendy Williams, Brookline Booksmith
Robert Whitcomb and Wendy Williams will be on hand to discuss Cape Wind: Money, Celebrity, Class, Politics, and the Battle for our Energy Future on Nantucket Sound. Phew. That's a long title. But, having read the book, we can vouch that Cape Wind really does cover all that. Bostonist's review of the book is here, and you can watch author Wendy Williams taking the Daily Show's Jason Jones on a tour of the sound. Or, at least as close as they can get to it. For an opposing view on Cape Wind, you can read Bostonist's interview with Christy Mihos, co-chair of the Alliance to Protect Nantucket Sound.

Friday, September 7, 7:00 pm, Michael Palin, First Parish Church (via Harvard Book Store)
Update: This event is sold out as of today. Harvard Book Store said it will have a stand-by line.
Monty Python team member and adventurer Michael Palin is publishing Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years. Apparently he has a lot to say about those years as the book is 672 pages long. Attending his reading might be a good way to catch the condensed version. Harvard Book Store also let the masses know that, as of August 31, 100 tickets remain for the event. That sounds like a lot, but this is Michael Palin we're talking about, and somehow Monty Python fans strike us as procrastinators.

Wednesday, September 12, 6:00 pm, Junot Diaz, Brattle Theatre (via Harvard Book Store)
Junot Diaz will be discussing his first book in ages, the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. The overweight Oscar can't find love because of his size and his intense obsession with comic books and science fiction, but he pursues romance at any cost while trying to escape the family curse. The novel covers the history of Oscar's family, who suffered under the brutal Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic and eventually arrived in Paterson, New Jersey. If you have time for only one book this year, this is the one. Oscar and his family will reach out and either grab your heart, slap your face, or kick your ass with every turn of the page.

Image of Michael Palin's diaries from Tesco.com.