AGAIN WITH THE LEMON CAKE?

in the now proud 'looking good in pants' tradition of writing principally on books that AREN'T on our published reading lists, i announce aimee bender's reading from the particular sadness of lemon cake. it's tonight at powell's downtown, 7:30 p.m. pacific.

summer is (fingers crossed, knock on something) finally here for almost sure, and that -- for me in my portland incarnation -- means* another series of readings and book signings. maybe i just don't pay as much attention when the weather's different, or maybe the harder hitters only get sent out when it's really warm. or maybe neither's the case, because i saw mary gaitskill -- and she signed my copy of veronica -- in the spring, which is not during summer. in any case, book tours are less and less profitable (i.e. more and more canceled or not scheduled at all), so i'm just happy i get the opportunity to maybe come up with questions to ask an author in person at all.

and the books they get signed. some of them i read, others sit on the shelf or in piles hoping that their resale values will rise enough to take them somewhere more interesting. total buyer's remorse has been extremely rare, but i haven't managed to avoid it completely.

i won't be at bender's reading. whether there are extra autographed (and still discounted) copies of her book still at powell's tomorrow will tell me once and for all if i should read it. fate, though, can definitely be persuaded by the purchase of a gift by anyone in attendance.

*in addition, summer means watching track races at alpenrose, berry picking rides to the beach at sauvie island, trips to the river. boys without shirts, in other words. be waiting.