Preeta Samarasan Evening is the Whole Day with V. V. Ganeshananthan, Love Marriage Today, 7pm, Harvard Book Store Conversation on political identity in literature to follow. The light goes down and the sky reddens, pain grows sharp, light dwindles. Then is evening when jasmine flowers open, the deluded say. But evening is the great brightening dawn when crested cocks crow all through the tall city and evening is the whole day for those without......

Fareed Zakaria’s new book, The Post-American World, deals with “the rise of the rest,” the great successes that traditionally poorer and less powerful nations (particularly India and China) have achieved in the past few decades. Harvard Bookstore brought Zakaria to First Parish Church last night to discuss his book and politics in general with Harvard history prof Niall Ferguson. Bostonist was there to get the Post-American scoop. The evening started with Ferguson asking some broad......

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......

Jorie Graham Sea Change Wednesday, April 2nd, 7:00 p.m., Harvard Book Store More Details Poet and Harvard prof Jorie Graham has just come out with a new book of poems, Sea Change, which she'll read from tonight at Harvard Book Store to help launch National Poetry Month. If you miss Graham's smart, refined verse this time around, be sure to catch the Pulitzer winner at Brookline Booksmith on April 28th instead.......

Books Sarah Boxer bravely prowled through the blogosphere to share its treasures with us in Ultimate Blogs. Of course, Go Fug Yourself makes the list. Brattle Theatre (via Harvard Book Store), 6:00 pm, $5. Edit: Event has been moved to Harvard Book Store --If you've been reading Bostonist for a while, you might know how we feel about the potential of wind power. A while ago, we read this barnburner of a book about......

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......

Short Cartoons You saw the nominees for the Live Action Short Film Academy Award last night; come back to the ICA for the contenders in the animated category. Formats include traditional 2D animation, CGI, and claymation. Check out the John Lennon interview film "I Met the Walrus." Institute of Contemporary Art, 100 Northern Avenue, South Boston, 7:00pm. $7/$9. Recover Heal a broken heart with laughter. Ben Karlin has assembled a collection of raucous breakup......

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.......

Music Atlas Sound, featuring Bradford Cox going solo during Deerhunter's hiatus, hits the Middle East tonight, riding a wave of praise for his new project. Cox's hometown weekly, Atlanta's Creative Loafing, raves, "Let the Blind contains Cox's most haunting and sad songs to date. It throbs with delirious depression, and is bursting with powerful, barely contained emotions." For those of you who can handle strong emotions in the bleak winter, Cox is your fella.......

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......

Dan Ariely Predictably Irrational Harvard Book Store Monday, February 25, 7:00pm Free Ariely's Official Site Dan Ariely is a MIT economist with big ideas. He has spent his 20 year academic career questioning the assumptions that make classical economics work. Classical economists believe that given the choice, most people behave rationally. That is, most people make decisions that give them pleasure and make their lives easier. But of course we don't actually behave that way.......

Movies The MFA calls Les Saignantes "the first science fiction film to come out of Africa," which should be reason enough to see it. But did we mention that it has won comparisons to Russ Meyer? And that it's about a group of women determined to rid their distopian future world of all men? Cameroon director Jean-Pierre Bekolo wins Bostonist's seal of approval. Remis Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts, 6:00pm (also screening Sunday). $8/$9......

Samantha Hunt Harvard Book Store Tomorrow, January 21, 7:00 pm Free Hunt's Official Site Samantha Hunt's latest novel, The Invention of Everything Else, weaves together the true-life story of inventor Nikola Tesla's last days with the fictional story of a chambermaid working at the Hotel New Yorker, where Tesla resides. Tesla's own real life is so absorbing that it might have been a novel. He had an idealistic vision of inventors that made it impossible......

Awkward Lectures Cory Arcangel's best known artwork Super Mario Clouds turns the world's first scrolling video game into a digital environment of placid repetition. It percolated on the internet and spilled into the Whitney's Biennial, making Arcangel a digital art superstar. But his true calling may have been as a lecturer. Whether the topic is hacking old electronics or copyright; his willful ignorance of art history or his place in it, Arcangel always entertains.......

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......

Music Few acts in hip-hop's young guard come more correct than Berkeley, CA crew The Pack. Roiling, minimalist beats, raps about partying and sneakers, and a whispered menace that keeps you off guard: it's like degree zero of the art form. Sounds great on record (or Myspace), but can they rock an audience? Harper's Ferry, 158 Brighton Ave., Allston, 7:00 pm, $12/$14. Could your music options for tonight be any different? "Lady rapper" Leslie......

Movies Catch a sneak preview of In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. The movie, which screened at Sundance, follows two hit men who are forced to vacation in the tourist hotspot. CNN dared to call the film "Tarantino-esque." Whether or not "Tarantino-esque" fits, the trailer is full of some sharp one-liners. Director Martin McDonagh will be there. Brattle Theatre, 7:00 pm. Doors open at 6:00, and getting there early is recommended. Check out......

Music --DJ Spooky's Boston domination wraps up tonight with "Subliminal Strings," in which a string ensemble plays while being sampled live. ICA Boston, 8:00 pm, $20. --For something completely different, rising alt-country act Sarah Borges and the Broken Singles, fresh off a homecoming at the Lizard Lounge, will be playing at Dante's in Marlborough at 9:30 pm. Comedy In case you haven't noticed, it is Bostonist's modus operandi to remind the world that women are......

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......

Books Jennifer Finney Boylan will read from I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted at Harvard Book Store, 7:00 pm, free. Boylan's last work was another memoir about her transition from male to female, and she described the connection between her childhood haunting and the transgender experience in an interview with Bay Windows: "Many trans people I know are kind of haunted by the ghosts of their younger selves, or, if you’re a young person,......

Books Jazz critic Bob Blumenthal reads from Jazz: An Introduction to the History and Legends Behind America's Music, and Branford Marsalis is going to join him. However, word is from Harvard Book Store that Marsalis will only talk about jazz, not perform it. The event will be at the Regattabar at the Charles Hotel (via Harvard Book Store), 7:00 pm. Free. Music The Von Bondies have been quiet as of late. What happened? A major......

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......

No indication as of yet that these events have been cancelled. Given the weather, double-check with the venue. Books Former secretary of state Madeline Albright has a few things to say in Memo to the President-Elect: How We Can Restore America's Reputation and Leadership. Now if only the pundits would shut the hell up and listen. First Parish Church Meetinghouse (via Harvard Book Store), 8:00 pm, $5. (Event is sold out, but, as always, the......

Everybody's making "best of" lists at this time of year, but who's in charge of making a list of these best of lists? Well, nobody really, so we've put ourselves in charge and assembled a list of the "best books" lists of 2007. Nobody really needs another list, but a compilation of lists--and determining what's best according to all lists--is something helpful that nobody else really does. Bostonist has checked out several "best of" book......

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......

A Tribute to David Halberstam Tuesday, November 27, 7:00 pm Brattle Theatre (via Harvard Book Store and Powell's Books), $10 More info. With the holiday, this week wasn't going to have heaps of readings, but a big one is taking place on Tuesday as great minds gather to discuss the work of the late journalist David Halberstam. Out of the Book, a documentary series sponsored by Powell's Books that follows authors, has turned its gaze......

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......

Jonah Lehrer Wednesday, November 14, 7:00 pm Harvard Book Store, Cambridge If you are inclined toward the sciences, the elegant volume Proust Was a Neuroscientist is a gateway drug to literature and the arts, and vice versa. Jonah Lehrer, who has worked as a prep cook, a lab tech, and a writer, pulls together what he's learned to show how creative types have anticipated neurological advances through their work. This book demonstrates that the humanities......