Bookish Events This Week!
Some people are made for the club scene. They enjoy the dressing up, taking shots at home, traveling with friends to an underground spot, and then dancing and sweating it out for the rest of the evening, letting go of all inhibitions while teasing and attracting other wild and sexy individuals who also have been drawn to the music, beats, and passion! Unfortunately, I have never been that type of person. I was the girl in high school who brought a Kazantzakis book to the parties with me, just in case I found myself feeling out of place. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the music and the dancing just as much as you do, however, the getting there and the getting home sometimes are just deal breakers for me. I enjoy curling up on the floor in the corner of a bookstore, finding the perfect book to pick up on my next trip to the Library just as much. So for those of you who are in the mood for some MORE literary entertainment (our collective broke-ass unconscious must be drawn to books and their associations with fall and back-to-school childhood memories right now… ), here are a few other evening events you should check out this week. (Remember, because typically there is not alcohol involved, people have their guards up a little more. Take the risk and talk to that sexy, awkward nerd across the room. Seriously that hot nerd is gonna love it.)
AWKWARD ONE RELEASE PARTY
This FREE party at Happy Ending is in celebration of Awkward Press’ release of their first fiction collection, Awkward One. Awkward Press is a new publishing house dedicated to imagination, playfulness, and defying readers’ expectations. The party will feature short, dramatic readings by Honor Rovai and Clay McLeod Chapman, musical performances by Kyle Jarrow and Jeffrey D., and special guests. As the evening progresses, a variety of surprises are planned, including an impromptu harp jam and a milk and cookie break. Who doesn’t love milk and cookies?! After the performances, a DJ will spin classic punk, new wave, indie rock and hip-hop.
Awkward Release Party
Tuesday, September 1st
Happy Ending – 302 Broome St. near Forsyth St. [LES/CHINATOWN]
7-10 pm, $FREE
MCNALLY JACKSON BOOKSTORE READINGS
The McJ Bookstore on Prince and Lafayette offers a full calendar of FREE events, including a Spanish Language Discussion Group, Fiction Club, Art and Beauty Book Club, and (the coolest one ever) the Graphic Novel Book Club. They also have featured author readings each week, including the one that Stuart did a few month sback.
On Wednesday, Benjamin Moser, the author of 'œWhy This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector,' will be there to discuss his 'œdeft and authoritative' new biography of Lispector. But who the hell is Lispector, you might ask? You are not alone. So far I have learned that Clarice Lispector was one of the most 'œpowerful, mysterious, and innovative novelists to come out of South America, or even out of the twentieth century.' Whoa! How could I have missed her? Evidently, she is still the talk of the literary world in her native Brazil, and liked by some poets even more than Jorge Luis Borges, an innovative Argentine writer and poet of the same era. You history and literary buffs will also love that Lispector was a wild and eccentric character, described to look like Marlene Dietrich and write like Virginia Woolf.
The Graphic Novel Book Club, led by Angela Williams and Evan Narcisse, meets on Thursday evenings once a month at 7pm downstairs in the bookstore. The next meeting will be a week from this Thursday '“ on September 10th '“ but I wanted to give you a heads up so you can get the book they will be discussing: All-Star Superman Vol.1 by Grant Morrison.
If you make it to a McJ event, don’t forget to stop by the Hampton Chutney Co. afterwards for delicious dosas and the city’s best cup of chai.
Benjamin Moser, Author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector
Wednesday, September 2
and
Graphic Novel Book Club, discussion of All-Star Superman Vol.1
Thursday, September 10
McNally Jackson Bookstore
52 Prince St. [SOHO]
7-8 pm, $FREE
Hampton Chutney Company
68 Prince St. [SOHO]
open 11am '“ 9pm
