National Poetry Month may be over, but that doesn't mean it's time for you to put away the books. It's dreary out right now, but warmer weather should be just around the corner, enabling you to crack a book in the great outdoors. Our lovely local bookstores are bringing us bunches of great readings in May. Big names like Fareed Zakaria, Mike Gravel, and Howard Zinn will discuss politics, while Brookline native BabaWawa returns to......

Jhumpa Lahiri Unaccustomed Earth Thursday, April 3rd, 6:00 p.m. @ CCT Theatre Note: This reading is sold out, but there will be a standby line and open book signing after the reading. Pulitzer prize winner Lahiri brings us a new collection of short stories exploring immigrant identity, exile, and coming of age. Her elegant writing pairs perfectly with her elevated themes. Some stories in the collection explore repeat meetings of acquaintances across time and......

Amy Marcus Jerusalem 1913: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict 7:00 p.m., Brookline Booksmith Israel and Palestine have been in conflict for as long as most of us can remember, but Amy Marcus takes us back to a time before Israel's founding to reveal the roots of this bitter and enduring conflict. Former Wall Street Journal correspondent Marcus shows how Muslims and Jews moved from working together to battling one another, highlighting the roles of......

Books Is it possible to be saved by the Sex Pistols? The answer to that is a resounding yes. Michael Patrick MacDonald will be reading from Easter Rising, an account of his youth in the Boston punk scene, at Brookline Booksmith. Bostonist had the opportunity to hear him read from the book when he spoke at UMass-Boston, and we say with great emphasis that this is a must-see, not just for those who love......

Dance Party JD Samson and Johanna Fateman, of the terribly missed Le Tigre, are now working it as a DJ duo known MEN. The new stuff definitely riffs off the best of Le Tigre, which still owns the award for best prom photo/album cover ever. Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, $12, 9:00 pm. Movies When we started writing about this happening, we swore we wouldn't do this, but "ARE YOU TALKIN' TO ME?" Taxi......

Books --Charles Bock's Beautiful Children isn't as delicate as it sounds. A couple reels after their child vanishes in the Las Vegas desert--only it's so, so much more than that, and it's received a flood of attention. The Globe thought Bock threw too much into his debut, but everyone seems to agree that he's ambitious. Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm, free. Speaking of free, he's letting you download the book without dropping a single dime.......

Books Susan Choi draws on real-life, high-profile crimes for her literary works. Her last book was American Woman, based on the kidnapping of Patty Hearst, and now she's inspired by her father's real-life experience as a former colleague of the Unabomber in her latest, A Person of Interest. Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm, free. Movies Child of the Big City and Daydreams are two silent films from the vanguard of pre-revolution Russian cinema. The former......

Books Manil Suri's The Age of Shiva follows a woman as she tries to find a life outside male expectations. Meera, a young woman in India, marries the man she desires, only to discover he's Mr. Wrong. Eventually, she throws all her hopes on her son, and the intensity of her feelings prompted the San Francisco Chronicle to call the work "a steamy, hot-out-of-the-oven offering of mother love." Whoa, there! Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm,......

Music --The Willows bring to the Middle East Upstairs a brand of Americana country rock inspired by the seasonal carnival scene up in Salem. Alas, no salt water taffy is included in the price of admission. With The Vic Morrows, The Resonance, The Giant Melons. Middle East Upstairs, 472 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, doors 9:00, 18+, $8. --While the show has been sold out for weeks, if there's any way you can get in we......

Books --Self-described philosopher-comedians Tom Cathcart and Daniel Klein discuss Aristotle and an Aardvark Go to Washington. Imagine Jon Stewart after he stops shouting "Whaaaa??" takes some time off for a philosophy PhD, and returns to TV. Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm, free. --Find out why Drew Gilpin Faust is the president of Harvard, and you're not. Faust will discuss her book This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War at the Harvard Coop......

Super Tuesday Obama? Clinton? Romney? Huckabee? Are you getting them all mixed up right about now? Try to get untangled because today is Super Tuesday and the Massachusetts Presidential Primary. Vote so you can at least weed a few of these candidates out. Find out where your polling station is. Girl Scout Cookies Warning: Expensive event ahead. For $45, you can find out what local chefs can do with Girl Scout Cookies, and proceeds will......

Super Bowl --Looking for a good Super Bowl party? Bring your favorite beer mug to the Milky Way, where the big game will screen, and then you can celebrate with some candlepin bowling. Sponsored by the Mug Project, which wants people to use a mug instead of guzzling their way through disposable cups, and Neighbors for Neighbors. 6:00 pm. --MenuPages also provides listings of restaurants with promising Super Bowl parties, including 75 Chestnut, Big......

Art The exhibit Rhythms of Modern Life: British Prints 1914–1939 shows the sharp, mechanical-feeling prints that set the artistic tone for the future. Museum of Fine Arts. Read Bostonist's preview of the show. Runs through June 1. Fashion Put away your spindles. Fashionistas can flash forward to the 21st century at Seamless, which showcases "experimental works in computational apparel design." The dry-witted Steven Rosengard of Project Runway 4 will be hosting, and Red Sox......

Music The ICA has invited DJ Spooky (aka Paul D. Miller) to town for an entire weekend. Don't forget--Bostonist has the full scoop and will provide a review. The first event is the talk "Rhythm Science," a multimedia event in which he talks about the ever-changing media landscape and its impact on artists. ICA Boston, 6:30 pm., $12. Books Neil Shubin will read from Your Inner Fish: A Journey Into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the......

Movies John Sayles will read from the story behind his latest movie, The Honeydripper. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 6:00 pm. The Sayles reading is followed up by a special screening of Night of the Hunter, which is cosponsored by the New England Institute of Art. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 7:00 pm. Books Bostonist dug Charles Burns before we even knew who he was thanks to his covers for The Believer magazine. Burns will be reading from and......

Books Author Jami Attenberg, whom Bostonist had the pleasure of interviewing recently, is breaking out the big guns for her reading of her latest novel, The Kept Man. Kickass Cupcakes will provide food, and Ryan Walsh of Hallelujah the Hills will bring music. And it's free! Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm. Hot Dates SpeedDate.com is holding an online event tonight. Speed dating helped get a lot of dating crap out of the way, and it's even......

Jami Attenberg With Ryan Walsh of Hallelujah the Hills and food from Kickass Cupcakes Brookline Booksmith Tomorrow, January 10, 7:00 pm Free Attenberg's official site Set in the art world of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, Jami Attenberg's The Kept Man follows a woman whose relationship has been in limbo for six years. Jarvis Miller's husband, a successful painter, has been in a coma, and she almost becomes a ghost along with him, immersing herself in memories,......

Birthdays The King's birthday is today! All hail Elvis! Dick's Last Resort, where they tend to celebrate everything Elvis, will be hosting a birthday bash including an Elvis Impersonator contest and a jelly-donut eating contest. Faneuil Hall. 6:00 pm. And keep looking for a post on what to eat tonight in honor of the king … Politics If you see some lost-looking drunk people in suits, it's either campaign workers or reporters who have gotten......

Authorial Intent is Bostonist's wrapup of readings in the area. All events are free unless otherwise noted. Thursday, December 6 Greil Marcus, The Shape of Things to Come: Prophecy and the American Voice, Brookline Booksmith, 7:00 pm Greil Marcus goes in search of the American spirit and finds it in Philip Roth, David Lynch, David Thomas of Pere Ubu, and other unpredictable sources. The Village Voice writes that Marcus' latest "basks in the possibilities of......

Authorial Intent is Bostonist's wrap-up of local readings. All events are free unless otherwise noted. Wednesday, November 28 Helen Vendler, Our Secret Discipline: Yeats and the Lyric Form, Sacker Museum (via Harvard Book Store), 6:00 pm. More info. Vendler, the closest reader of all close readers, so says the New York Times, shines her spotlight on William Butler Yeats. Thursday, November 29 David Hosp, Innocence, 7:30 pm, Charlestown Branch Library Hosp will be reading from......

Wednesday, November 14 Jonah Lehrer, Harvard Book Store, Proust Was A Neuroscientist, 7:00 pm, Harvard Book Store Lehrer, a Rhodes scholar and writer/line cook/lab tech, dives into works of classic literature and art and finds out how each work beat neuroscientists at determining how the mind works. Check out Bostonist's interview with Lehrer. Thursday, November 15 David Michaelis, 7:00 pm, Brookline Booksmith Michaelis is the biographer of Charles Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts." Imagine our......

Thursday, November 8 Elaine Scarry, Jerald Walker, and Robert Atwan, The Best American Essays, 7:00 pm, Brookline Booksmith Three contributors to this year's The Best American Essays will discuss what went into the book this year--and maybe we'll hear a little about what got left out. Monday, November 12 Jennifer Ackerman, Sex, Sleep, Eat, Drink, Dream, 7:00 pm, Porter Square Books Science writer Ackerman takes a fantastic voyage through the body to see how it......

"Authorial Intent" is Bostonist's roundup of reading events in the area. All events are free unless otherwise noted. Thursday, November 1 Alice Medrich, 7:00 pm, Brookline Booksmith Not in the mood for candy corn but still craving something sweet? Alice Medrich, aka the "Queen of Chocolate," will inspire your palate in a discussion of her book Pure Dessert: True Flavors, Inspiring Ingredients, and Simple Recipes. Friday, November 2 Paula Kamen, 3:00 pm, Harvard Book Store.......

"Authorial Intent" wraps up book events for the week in the Boston area. Wednesday, October 24 Chris Matthews, 6:00 pm, Coolidge Corner (via Brookline Booksmith), $5 Recently, Jon Stewart sank his fangs into Matthews for pimping the concept that "Life's a Campaign," which is, admittedly, a little scary. Bostonist prefers the old saw that life is a bowl of cherries. Watch what Matthews has dubbed the "interview from hell," and you'll already be armed with......

John Fulton Reading With Joshua Henkin Brookline Booksmith Tonight, October 22, 7:00 pm Free Fulton's Official Site John Fulton doesn't go for sly pop-culture references or verbal pyrotechnics in his short-story collection The Animal Girl. Instead, he zooms in on the emotions of his older characters who are attempting to find love. With Match.com and eHarmony, dating and romance seem easy and ordinary topics, but Fulton throws obstacles in the paths of his characters, and......

Authorial Intent is Bostonist's wrap-up of readings around the city. Thursday, October 18 Joan Blades, 6:30 pm, Rabb Auditorium, Boston Public Library, Ford Hall Forum Series. Blades is the cofounder of moveon.org, and she's got a lot on her mind besides "General Betray-Us," which Congress gnawed on like they had nothing better to do. She'll be talking about momsrising.org, her organization that pushes for more rights for moms and families. Saturday, October 20 Frank, Mark,......

We're a day late on Authorial Intent, our wrap-up of the week's readings. That's largely because we were talking to two of the authors who will be in town tomorrow night, which seems to be the night that the stars aligned and all writers thought it would be a good idea to visit Boston. So, without further adieu … Thursday, October 11--Today, Super Thursday! Robert Reich, 6:00 pm, Swedenborg Chapel (via Harvard Book Store), 50......

Shalom Auslander Reading Thursday, October 11, 7:00 pm Brookline Booksmith Free More info From far away Shalom Auslander's memoir looks delicate and sweet, with lightly outlined white images traced on a red background. The title appears in a cursive font with looping letters. Then you look at the actual words on the cover--Foreskin's Lament. In this memoir, Auslander and his long departed foreskin have a lot to gripe about. Auslander was raised in an Orthodox......

Authorial Intent spotlights readings throughout the area. All events are free unless otherwise noted. Michelle Wildgen, You're Not You, Wednesday, October 3, 7:00 pm, Brookline Booksmith. In Wildgen's debut novel, which is enjoying glowing reviews, Bec, a drifting college student, takes care of Kate, an older, sophisticated woman dying from ALS. The two grow close, and soon Bec is taking care of business for Kate - such as carrying out a clever little way to......

Ann Patchett, Wednesday, September 26, 6:00 pm, Coolidge Corner (via Brookline Booksmith) The author of Bel Canto situates her latest book in Boston, and the plot should seem awfully familiar - the head of a political family tries to perpetuate a political dynasty. A Boston mayor steps down and tries to drive two of his adopted sons into politics. In the span of one day, events unfold that might change those plans. Vincent Lam, Wednesday,......