Mrs. Andy Richter, a/k/a actress and writer SARAH THYRE, was dubbed the “family liar” by her father almost as soon as she learned to talk. In her attempt to live up to this infamous nickname, high jinks and hilarity ensued, and she resurrects all her old raunchy anecdotal ghosts in the new memoir Dark at the Roots, which comes packaged with breathless plugs by the likes of David Sedaris and David Rakoff. Take an absurd trip down memory lane with Thyre at Brookline Booksmith, 279 Harvard St, Boston | March 26 at 7 pm | free | 617.566.6660 | or at the Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Ave, Cambridge | March 27 at 7 pm | free | 617.499.2000.

Emerson creative writing teacher and Post Road co-founder JAIME CLARK once went through a phase where he believed himself to be Ferris Bueller. He’s come full circle in editing Don’t You Forget About Me: Contemporary Writers on the Films of John Hughes, which includes essays by Elizabeth Searle and John McNally. Clarke appears at the Coolidge Corner Theatre for a signing event that includes a screening of FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF and a panel discussion with his Molly Ringwald–obsessed contributors | 290 Harvard St, Boston | 7 pm | $9 | 617.566.6660.

3/26/2007 12:37:57 PM by Sharon | Comments [1] |  

Right. First things first, here's your readings option for tomorrow:

Mrs. Dracula

ELIZABETH KOSTOVA was so obsessed with Dracula, she spent a decade researching the legend, originally inspired by “pleasantly creepy” tales her father told her about the vampire when she was a girl. Ten years later, the first-time novelist cashed into a publishing jackpot — a $2 million advance for The Historian, seven-figure rights to the film, dozens of rave reviews, and a #1 slot on bestseller lists. The big numbers surrounding The Historian are as much of a phenomenon among the literary set as the book itself. Or, one should say, books within a book — each of which involves meticulously intertwined mysteries set in three different time periods. The novel isn’t short on length (700-plus pages), or on horror (the narrative hinges on the story of a man called Vlad the Impaler), so get a double dose of goosebumps when she reads at Northeastern University, Snell Library, 360 Huntington Ave, Boston | noon | free | 617.373.5471 and then at the Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 7 pm | free | 617.499.2012.

Several people are all a-quiver about this:

You can smell the awkward and the Kibbles

The Globe's publishing guru David Mehegan reports that the Northampton family suing Augusten Burroughs, author of Running With Scissors, has reached a settlement with Sony Pictures. This somehow avoids a second lawsuit over the upcoming movie. Whatever, mega losers, we loved the book.

And finally, on an unrelated note:

Jeffrey Sebelia has our full endorsement. Good christ, the guy designed a perfectly wearable dress out of recycled newspaper.

Anything less, and we'll be assigning blame all over the place -- that includes you, Tim Gunn. Just keep those blindingly white feet of yours in check, mmkuh?

10/18/2006 3:49:42 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |  

The unspoken rule of “chicks before dicks” doesn’t seem to mean very much to Mattie and Jane, the two leading ladies in LISE HAINES’s second novel, Small Acts of Sex and Electricity. Both of them are in love with the same man, and in a bizarre, Wife Swap–esque switch, Jane takes a few weeks off from her family to indulge in some singleton adventures while unmarried college friend Mattie takes care of Jane’s two daughters and tries to rekindle an old relationship with Jane’s husband.

It sounds dramatic because it is, and perhaps Haines will tell you which girl got the guy when she reads tomorrow night at the Harvard Coop, 1400 Mass Ave, Cambridge | 7 pm | free | 617.499.2012.

10/9/2006 3:44:26 PM by Sharon | Comments [0] |