Topical Fiction at Bryant Park

This week at the Bryant Park Reading Room, the subject was topical fiction with authors Tayari Jones and Lisa Ko discussing their books, An American Marriage and The Leavers, respectively.

Lisa Ko and Tayari Jones

I got a copy of Jones' An American Marriage at last year's Book Expo and devoured it when I got home. She has such a way with language and her characters, I think she is one of the best writers in America today.

Lisa Ko thinks so too; she introduced Tayari Jones by saying that as she read Jones' Silver Sparrow, she had a notebook by her side, decoding the structure of the novel to discover how Jones wrote it. (I agree with her, Silver Sparrow is brilliant.)

Tayari Jones introduced Lisa Ko by congratulating her on getting nominated for a National Book Award for her debut novel The Leavers. Ko also won the Bellwether Award before the book was even published. That is a lot to live up to!

Jones read a scene from her book, the one where Roy has just been sentenced to 12 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Listening to her words wash over the crowd was mesmerizing.

An American Marriage is about Roy and Celestial, married for just 18 months when he is sent to prison. Their marriage is not perfect, but what does a separation like that do to a marriage? Although the story deals with the issue of incarceration (Jones mentions that 1 in 6 women in this country have a loved one incarcerated- a husband, son, brother- and how that disrupts gender expectations).

But at it's heart, it's the story of a marriage and what happens when the husband is gone. Can a marriage survive that? Read An American Marriage to find out.

Jones also discussed getting a phone call from Oprah, hearing that her book had been chosen for Oprah's Book Club and what that meant to her. She also talked about trying to figure out how to write the story in the first person. Telling it from just Celestial's point of view wasn't the whole story, so she added Roy's story. When she included the point of view of Celestial's childhood Andre, it became an animated love story.

The Leavers couldn't be more topical. Polly, an undocumented Chinese immigrant, goes to work one day at a nail salon in New York City and never comes home. Her eleven-year-old son Deming is all alone until he is adopted by a white couple, moved upstate, and renamed David.

The story is told from the point of view of both Polly and Deming, and tells how they tried to find their way back to each other. Given the recent events this week on the US/Mexican border, this is a story that will resonate with anyone who watches the news.

The Leavers is about "finding a sense of belonging when it's taken away", according to Ko. She reads a piece to the audience about Polly's journey to the United States, and the $47,000 she has to repay the smugglers who got her out of China.

Both authors talked about people finding things in their books that they had not intended, and how different audiences react to their books. Jones says that some white people who have read her book ask her if Roy is guilty (and it is very clear in the book that he is not guilty). She said she thinks "You can't even trust a hypothetical black man?" when she hears that comment.

Ko said that people read from their own personal perspective, and she stated that some white adoptive parents have told her that they don't like how she wrote the adoptive parents in her book.

Jones said that it's not necessarily race, but proximity to the issue that affects how people react. She met white people in Tennessee who had loved ones incarcerated, and they could relate to her book very well. I found that to be very insightful.

When asked what books they enjoyed as children, Ko liked the Choose Your  Own Adventure series, and Jones loved Charlotte's Web because she felt unappreciated like Wilbur the pig.

An audience question about how the authors write was interesting. Jones writes on an old-fashioned typewriter. (Anyone who follows her on Twitter has seen her collection of typewriters). Ko keeps many notebooks, and never leaves home without one to jot down ideas. She writes in longhand in the park, uses her Notes app on her phone, and edits on her computer, printing it out and writing on the paper to edit.

An American Marriage is one of the best novels I read this year, I was pleased to buy Jones' first novel Leaving Atlanta, and have it autographed.  She was very excited to see the new edition of her book, it was the first time she had seen it. I also bought a copy of Ko's The Leavers as it has been on my radar for a long time.

Tayari Jones

It was such an interesting conversation, thanks to Bryant Park for hosting these terrific author events. More information about their events can be found here.

My review of An American Marriage is here.
My review of Silver Sparrow is here.

Word For Word Series at Bryant Park

Bryant Park's outdoor Reading Room is one of the coolest places to hear about books in a beautiful setting, behind the main New York Public Library right in the middle of the city. On Wednesdays during the summer they host a Word for Word Series, with authors talking about their works.

Recently, Robin Kall, of the Reading With Robin podcast, moderated a discussion with five terrific authors, beginning with N. West Moss, author of the short story collection The Subway Stops at Bryant Park. This event was the perfect venue for her talk about her book, where all the stories have a Bryant Park connection.

Moss liked to visit the park and people watch, playing "Tourist/Not Tourist" with her mother. She has a real love for the park, especially the Gertrude Stein statue. She read a small piece from one of her stories, about a librarian named Tim who works at the NYPL. In her research for the book, West got a tour of the stacks of books underneath the Bryant Park lawn- lucky lady!

Courntney Maum's new novel Touch, tells the story of a trend forecaster who believes the next "big thing" will be human touch, not tech. She got the idea from watching a change in her friends. About three years ago, they suddenly became unable to make a decision without consulting their phones. From whom they be attracted to (Tinder) to where and what they should eat (Yelp), people seems to be losing their human intuition.

Maum read a dialogue from her novel between the protagonist and her driverless car, Anastasia; it was very funny and Touch intrigues me.

Daniel Riley, the lone male on the panel, presented his debut novel Fly Me, set in 1972 Southern California, about two young sisters, stewardesses who become involved in a cocaine drug-running scheme and become entangled in a skyjacking incident. As a person who came of age in the 1970s, I found this one fascinating.

J. Courtney Sullivan's novel Saints For All Occasions has been called "the year's best book about family" by Washington Post reviewer Ron Charles, and several other reviewers share his enthusiasm.

Sullivan joked that she would "talk fast" because she is "38 weeks pregnant and might not finish the program". Her story is about two sisters who emigrate from Ireland to Boston with a big secret. She got the idea from a family story, telling the audience that at every Irish funeral there is always someone who shows up, an uncle or aunt, whom no one knew existed. In her story, it is a cloistered nun. This one has been on my list for awhile, I can't wait to dig in, especially since I come from an Irish family.

Julia Fierro's The Gypsy Moth Summer has also garnered much critical praise, making many "Best of Summer" book lists. (Including mine- my review is here.)  Set in 1992, on an island much like Long Island, Fierro's novel has summer romance, family issues, corporate pollution, class and race issues all wrapped up in a fantastic story.

A three time veteran of the Word for Word series, Fierro was very comfortable with the audience, joking about, among other things, the fact that since she is half-Italian and half-Irish, there was a lot of holy water in her house.

Kall brought up that each book was set in different eras and asked why. Fierro's book is set in 1992 because she was 16 that year, like her character Maddie, and so could relate. She wanted her story to be pre-Internet, when teens hung out at the mall and beach.

Maum's novel obviously had to be set in the "present day-ish" because the book depends on the current technology being a big part of the story. She did go out of her way not to brand things; you won't find Iphones or Google in Touch.

Moss' story collection starts with the Bryant Park renovation in the 1980's, when the park was known as "Needle Park" because of all the needles that littered the ground when drug users were the only people who hung out there. She mentioned how much more beautiful the park is now, but progress has a double-edge, with a cup of coffee in the park "now costing $9".

Riley's Fly Me is set in 1972, a time of "transition and tumult in the culture and airline industry." Since the setting was 14 years before he was born, Riley depended on playlists, slideshows and his mom and aunt for help with his research.

Sullivan's Saints For All Occasions goes back and forth between 1957 and 2009 because she wanted to look at the characters over time, how they are shaped by the decades and the Catholic Church, particularly women and what they could and couldn't do.

Kall then asked about epigraphs in books, because each author used them in their books. An epigraph is a short saying or sentence, used as a quote in the beginnings of the book to suggest they theme. Fierro originally had six, and laughed that her editor told she had to choose only one. The authors have epigraphs  from Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, Joan Didion and David Foster Wallace in their books.

Kall closed by asking the authors to suggest books to the audience. Maum chose Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash, Riley suggested Newton Thornburg's 1976 California-set Cutter and Bone, Sullivan loves anything by Irish author Anne Enright, particularly The Gathering,  and Fierro went non-fiction with her pick of Deborah Blum's true crime book The Poisoner's Handbook, about the birth of forensic medicine in the Jazz Age of New York City.

Kall did a terrific job, asking great questions and getting such an interesting conversation with five authors in just an hour's time. I'm looking forward to more wonderful bookish talks at Bryant Park.

Information on Bryant Park's events is here.
Reading With Robin's website is here.
N. West Moss' website is here.
Courtney Maum's website is here.
Daniel Riley's website is here.
J. Courtney Sullivan's website is here.
Julia Fierro's website is here.

Reading With Robin at Word For Word at Bryant Park

Bryant Park, located right behind the New York Public Library, hosts a fabulous literary series each summer. Word For Word features authors in conversation about their works on Wednesdays during the lunch hour, and a few weeks ago I saw a really terrific program.

Robin Kall, who hosts a radio program Reading With Robin, hosted four authors talking about Family Drama in Fiction.

Kall, Dubow, Genova, Hughes, Thomas

Charles Dubow, who wrote Indiscretion, a book I really liked, is back with Girl in the Moonlight, a love story about "a first love that lasts a bit too long." It has compelling characters, and he said "the moral of the story resonates with me, hopefully with you too."

Lisa Genova, whose novel Still Alice, was recently made into a heartbreaking movie that won the Oscar for Julianne Moore, is back with Inside the O'Briens about a family dealing with the diagnosis of Huntington's Disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disease that is passed on genetically. She says it is about "how to find hope in a hopeless situation." I read it and it is amazing. (My review is here.)

Mary Beth Hughes' The Loved Ones is "essentially a story about a marriage." Set in 1969-70, a couple who lost their son two years ago are trying to find their way back to each other amidst problems with their 13 year-old daughter, and a brother who is trying to involve them in an embezzlement scheme.

Matthew Thomas' We Are Not Ourselves was on my list of The Most Compelling Books of 2014, and as Robin stated "is destined to be a classic." His story is about a Irish immigrant's daughter born in the 1940's who aspires to become middle class and achieve the American dream. He says it's about "how to deal with life with grace." (My review here.)

Kall asked some great questions of the group, including asking what kind of eavesdropping they did as part of their writing. Genova is from a large Italian family (she is the 26th grandchild!), a group she called "loud and boisterous", so there were plenty of opportunities as a child to listen.

Thomas declared that he was "an inveterate eavesdropper", claiming that as a writer he is always listening to the story being told off to the side.

Hughes's father is one of 12 children and she has 72 first cousins, so she always was surrounded by people talking. Now that she is a writer, her aunt is always telling her that she "has a lot of stories."

Dubow comes from a small family, and he was born with a stutter, so always listened much more than he talked.

Kall then asked what determined the time period setting of their novels, which was a good question I hadn't heard much before.  Thomas said he told a "story of time and place." It needed context, and called it a historical novel, not one "shot through with cell phones."

Hughes said that setting was very important to her story, calling it "Mad Men-esque" in 1969-70 when women's consciousness groups were beginning, and what that meant to the teenage daughter.

Genova's novel had to be set after 1993, when the gene that causes Huntington's was isolated. The fact that genetic testing is available is a key plot point in Inside the O'Briens.

Dubow needed to set his novel at the beginning of the AIDS crisis, when AIDS shaming was prevalent, as that is important to his plot as well.

When Kall asked if any topics were off-limits, Genova burst out with "Hockey. I'm not writing about hockey", which elicited chuckles from the audience.

Thomas said "this sounds like a challenge", then said he would "stay away from something that was unnecessarily painful to others." Dubow said he would not write about something he knew nothing about, while Hughes would "find it difficult to write about dance."

Kall said that some of her favorite family drama authors are Jonathan Tropper and Phillip Roth and asked the authors to name some of the favorites. Hughes loves Penelope Fitzgerald, saying that Blue Flower and Gate of Angels were favorites.

Thomas believes that everything is family drama, and called out Alice McDermott (one of my favorites) as well as the Russians, like Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky.

Genova liked All The Light We Cannot See, last year's Pulitzer Prize winner, and Dubow also cited the Russians, along with William Faulkner and James Salter's The Light Years.

Kall closed with a fantastic question- "What is the hope for your families in your book?" Hughes has great hope for her character Lily, " a beautiful spirit with great faith."  Thomas hopes that his character Eileen has grandchildren and learns to "feel the joy and forget the things that drove her and that she is more present in the moment."

Genova hops that her characters, who face chronic health issues can "be present to love, and the feel the gratitude of the joy of today.

Robin Kall was a wonderful moderator and this was one of the best Word For Word events I have attended. The rest of the summer schedule is here.

You can follow Robin Kall here.

Jean Zimmerman Brings a Slide Show

I've been to many book talks and signings, but a recent one by Jean Zimmerman for her debut novel, The Orphanmaster, added a unique dimension that enhanced the evening- she had a slide show featuring some of the things that inspired her historical novel.

Jean Zimmerman at Barnes & Noble on Broadway and 82nd St.

Zimmerman has written non-fiction books, including Love Fiercely: A Gilded Age Romance and The Women of the House: How a Colonial She-Merchant Build a Mansion, A Fortune and a Dynasty, so research has been a big part of writing life. It was fascinating to see some of her own research up on the screen and her enthusiasm was contagious to those of us in the audience.

She describes her novel as a "thriller horror romance, a love story wrapped around a mystery set in a small town of New Amsterdam in Lower Manhattan in 1663." The Orphanmaster follows Blandine van Couverling, a young female trying to make it as a trader and Edward Drummond, a British spy who fall in love while trying to discover who is killing young orphans in New Amsterdam.

Zimmerman showed us some maps from 1660 of Lower Manhattan that look eerily familiar to today's maps.

We could even pick out Broadway and Wall Street!

We also saw slides of some of the paintings of people who inspired Blandine's look, and objects that she may have traded, and it was utterly fascinating. Margaret Hardenbrook was the richest woman in New York, and she was one of the real women on whom Zimmeman based Blandine.

Zimmerman though that this photo of a female and male trader bartering was a good representation of how Blandine and Edward may have dressed.

I always enjoyed history class and Zimmerman gave us a quick lesson in her short talk about the Dutch who settled the colony. Women were educated in Holland and allowed to be merchants, so it was not unusual to see that the women who moved to New Amsterdam were intelligent and able to support themselves and their families as merchants and traders.

She also told us that eighteen languages were spoken in New Amsterdam,  about which I had no idea; I guess it's not to different from the Manhattan of today in that respect.  We saw lots of representations of beavers, the main source of fur and a huge basis of the economy.  (Beaver hats were the hot trend then.) The fur trade was centered in Albany, which was a more dangerous place than New Amsterdam.

Zimmerman liked writing this novel, "creating a real world grounded in details" that are historically accurate. I'm looking forward to reading The Orphanmaster, a historical novel written by someone who loves history and the role of women in society at this time. I'll post a review soon.

Zimmerman is also participating in Bryant Park's Word for Word Author Series on August 1st at 12:30pm in their Reading Room along with other debut novelists including Cristina Alger (The Darlings) Karen Walker Thompson (The Age of Miracles) and Karl Taro Greenfield (Triburbia), and I can't wait to hear more about this intriguing novel.

You can read more about Jean Zimmerman and The Orphanmaster on her blog.

Word for Word Author Series at Bryant Park

Sara Barron, Ali Wentworth, Justin Halpern at Bryant Park 

I love when the warmer weather is here because that means the return of Bryant Park's Word for Word Author Series on Wednesday afternoons. This year's kickoff was May 16th with author Sara Barron (People Are Unappealing: Even Me) interviewing author/actress Ali Wentworth (Ali in Wonderland and Other Tall Tales) and author Justin Halpern (S&*t My Dad Says and I Suck at Girls).


All three are funny people and Sara's questions were well crafted, (except for one that lost the audience and the authors). She asked the authors to describe themselves and Ali said "I'm a very elegant lady and I feel for the underdog. I can see I have my hands full with you two."

Justin said of himself, "I'm going for nebbishy Jew" to which Sara replied "Mission accomplished."

All three agreed with Sara's assertion that "writing is romanticized" as a profession, and if they are to  be believed, it's a lot of sitting around, fooling around on the internet and finally, at the end of the day, writing one good line. It must take them forever to finish a book.

Describing a "day in the life of a writer", Ali said that she gets up at 6 (her husband Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopolis wakes at 3am), gets her kids up and takes them to school, comes home and drinks lots of English tea, paces a lot, shops online, looks up plastic surgery websites, writes a line and then picks up her kids from school.

Justin says he just follows his dad around with a pencil. He "eats breakfast, farts around on the internet, writes a line, hates it, more internet" and the day is done. He wrote for sitcoms and said that "95% of the time in the writers room is wasted", so either way, he wastes a lot of time.

Sara asked what they would consider a good day of writing, and Ali said "if I don't fall asleep" it's a good day. Justin said if his wife laughs at his stuff, he knows it's good.

Sara asked about pet peeves, and Ali relates that her husband is the serious one, so when he reads something of hers and says "that's funny, but you know what would be funnier?", it makes her crazy. (She talks about that in her funny book.)

Both of their books are about their parents to great extent, and Sara asked how their parents felt about the books. Ali said that her mother "was on the brink of a breakdown" and was afraid that Ali was writing a Patti Davis or Mommy Dearest type book, and even enlisted Ali's siblings to contact anyone they knew at HarperCollins to stop the book. (It wasn't necessary, the book is really a love letter to her mother.)

Justin's dad made him sit next to him while he read the book, which was excruciating. His dad said "Page 86- when have I ever hopped into a car? I don't 'hop' into anything."

I like this series because instead of just a reading, the authors discuss their process and craft of writing. It's always an enlightening afternoon, plus it's outside and a sunny day, it's just beautiful.

The Word for Word series schedule can be found here.
I reviewed Ali's book Ali in Wonderland on the blog here.
Ali Wentworth has a web show, The Daily Shot, on yahoo that is very funny.
Sara Barron's website is here.
Justin Halpern, who owes everything to Twitter and his dad, can be found on Tumblr.

Ben Mezrich at Bryant Park

Authors AJ JAcobs and Ben Mezrich at Bryant Park

One of the most interesting things to do in summer in NYC is the Word for Word Author Series at Bryant Park. Every Wednesday from 12:30pm- 1:45, authors are interviewed and discuss their latest books. It's a beautiful setting, under shady trees, with people eating their lunches; it's just wonderful.

On July 13, AJ Jacobs, author of The Year of Living Biblically, interviewed Ben Mezrich, author of Accidental Billionaires, the book on which the smash movie The Social Network was based, and Bringing Down the House, the basis for the movie 21. 


Mezrich's newest book is Sex on the Moon which has been cleverly called "the Right Stuff Meets Catch Me if You Can". It's about a young man accepted into a NASA co-op program who ended up stealing a safe filled with moon rocks as a sign of love for his girlfriend. He was caught when he tried to sell them on the Internet, and spent seven and a half years in prison.

Jacobs said that Mezrich's genre is "the business thriller with a little bit of sex". Mezrich laughed as he recalled trying to talk Jacobs into helping him steal the C-Span bus. Mezrich talked about his somewhat checkered beginning: a movie script based on one of his earlier novels that ended up an Antonio Sabato Jr. movie on the SyFy network, a script for the X-Files TV series, and "a lot of trash".

Then he met the MIT students in a bar, who told him their story about how they could beat the house in blackjack. That became Bringing Down the House, and to this day, he still hangs out with those guys.

From that book, Eduardo Saverin emailed Mezrich because he was angry about Mark Zuckerberg cutting him out of Facebook, which he claimed they founded together. That discussion led to The Accidental Billionaires.


Mezrich called the Winklevoss brothers, (the brothers who sued Zuckerberg over Facebook, and whom Mezrich referred to as 'the Winklevii') "two of the greatest characters in history", and said that "when you meet them, you want hate them, but they are the nicest guys."

Saverin settled his suit against Zuckerberg, and one of the conditions of the settlement was that Saverin never speaks to Mezrich again. Saverin sent Mezrich a restraining order the next day. Mezrich said that he has never met Zuckerberg, but he would like to, and thinks that it may happen.

Mezrich also said that he thought the movie The Social Network was an accurate representation, and that screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (who won an Academy Award for his script) did "a wonderful job".

Onto his newest book, Mezrich calls Thad, the main character on the story, "charismatic, extremely smart, likable and very complex". He called him "the first geeky guy I wrote about who got laid", and "my most romantic character".

Thad saw The Social Network movie, and contacted Mezrich about his story. Mezrich said that he had a special dedicated phone line (like the Batphone?) installed so that people could contact him with their stories. He says that he gets 20 phone calls/emails a week; some legitimate, some not.

Mezrich said that Thad still wants to be the first man on Mars. He called Thad "a good kid who's gotta control his impulses." The girl Thad stole the rocks for didn't want to talk to Mezrich; she is a professor now and she did no jail time and dumped Thad while he was in prison. Mezrich was a bit conflicted about putting her in the book; he changed her name and said that he would "feel bad if it does something to her life, but the story needs to be told."

There is some controversy about the manner in which Mezrich writes his books. He recreates dialogue, but states that in a disclaimer in the beginning of the book. Jacobs was asked how he felt about that, and he started that he thought it was fine, as long as there is a disclaimer.

Jacobs said at the beginning that Mezrich talks very fast, and he certainly does. They got out a lot of information in the one hour talk, too much for me to write up here. I started reading the book, and it's good so far. Thad is a Mormon, and that may help, since Mormons are a hot topic, what with the HBO show, Big Love, and the Broadway smash hit The Book of Mormon.  It can't hurt.

I'll post a review when I finish.

There are a few more weeks left in the Word for Word Series; if you have the opportunity, check it out.

Friday Five- Volume 4

This week's Friday Five are five things that made me go WOW.

1. Broadway Boys-  Broadway Boys are six Broadway singers, all tenors, who sang  the most beautiful rendition of "Defying Gravity" from Wicked that it gave me goosebumps. I saw them at the Sirius XM Radio's Live on Broadway taping on Wednesday, and I just saw that they are going to be at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle on July 6th at 5pm. I will be there!

2. Million Dollar Quartet- the performers from Broadway's Million Dollar Quartet performed three songs at the CD signing at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle, and they had the audience almost out of their seats as they sang Jerry Lee Lewis' "Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On". I can't wait to see that show.

3. Skinny Cow's Chocolate Fudge Truffle Bar- I can't believe anything this rich and tasty is only 100 calories.  And it's Best Life Approved by Oprah's diet guru Bob Greene.

4. Emma Donoghue's upcoming novel Room- I got an advanced reader copy of Emma Donoghue's Room at BEA, and it took but a few hours to read this incredible, heartbreaking novel. Told from the point of  view of a five-year-old boy who is being held hostage in a room with his mother (who was kidnapped at the age of 19), it has drawn comparisons to The Lovely Bones, but I think it is even better.
The book comes out in September, and I will definitely be reviewing it before then. It is the best book I have read this year.

5. The lobster roll from Luke's Lobster- A new restaurant opened up a few blocks from my apartment, on 81st between 2nd & 3rd Ave., and Luke's Lobster has the most amazing lobster roll. Just a touch of mayonnaise, a little butter and seasoned just right, this is a special lunch treat. It's a little pricey at $14, but worth it.

Happening This Week in NYC- Vol. 3

This week is filled with lots of music, and I hope to get to most of them.

Tuesday, June, 22 Pop star Cyndi Lauper signs her new CD, Memphis Blues at J&R Music on Park Row at 12:30pm.

Tuesday, June 22 The cast of the Broadway show Million Dollar Quartet sing and sign copies of the cast recording at Lincoln Triangle's Barnes & Noble at 4pm.

Wednesday, June 23 Author Colson Whitehead discusses his latest book, Sag Harbor: A Novel at Bryant Park's Word for Word Series at 12:30pm.

Thursday, June 24 The cast of Broadway's Promises, Promises, including Sean Hayes, Kristin Chenoweth and Tony winner Katie Finneran sing and sign copies ofthe cast recording at Lincoln Triangle's Barnes & Noble at 5pm.

Friday, June 25 Singer Alicia Keys tapes her CBS Early Show concert at the 59th St. location near the Apple Store at 11am.

Friday, June 25 The cast and creators of Broadway's Next Fall speak at Lincoln Triangle's Barnes & Noble at 5pm.

Happening This Week in NYC- Vol. 2

This week's events in NYC include the following:

Monday, June 14th- 80s rock icon Pat Benatar signs copies of her autobiography at Barnes & Noble Fifth Ave. store at 12:30pm.

Tuesday, June 15th- Deadspin's Will Leitch signs copies of his book, Are We Winning? Fathers and Sons in the New Golden Age of Baseball, a humorous look at baseball that would make a good Father's Day gift, at Barnes & Noble 86th St. store at 7pm.

Wednesday, June 16th- Star if Bravo TV's Kell on Earth Kelly Cutrone talks about and signs copies of her book If You Have to Cry, Go Outside at Bryant Park's Word for Word Series at 12:30pm.

Wednesday, June 16th- Author Carolyn Parkhurst reads from and signs copies of her book Nobodies Album at Barnes & Noble 86th St. stores at 7pm. I really liked her books Dogs of Babel and Lost and Found.

Thursday, June 17th- The cast of the Tony nominated Lend Me a Tenor, including Tony Shahloub (TV's Monk), Justin Bartha (The Hangover) and the fabulous Jan Maxwell discuss and sign copies of the script at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle store at 5pm. I saw the show last week and it is hilarious.

Thursday, June 17th- Author Sara Waters discusses and signs copies of her Gothic mystery Little Stranger at Barnes & Noble Lincoln Triangle at 7:30pm.

Friday, June 18th- The cast of the Tony winning musical Fela! perform from and sign copies of the CD cast recording at Borders Columbus Circle store at 5pm.

Happening This Week in NYC

New York City is filled with lots of fun things to do, and every Sunday, I'll list some of the events I hope to get to each week.

Sunday, June 6th- The 3rd Avenue Community Benefit Festival- 10am-6pm from 66th St. to 86th St.

Monday, June 7th- Taste of Times Square- 5pm-8:30pm West 46th St. between Broadway and 9th Ave.-restaurant tastings and the cast of Broadway's Rock of Ages with Constantine Maroulis performs

Tuesday, June 8th Summer Stage 25th Anniversary Celebration at Central Park-8pm at Rumsey Playfield- various performers (Shawn Colvin, Aimee Mann, Paula Cole, Loudon Wainwright III and more) celebrate the music of Simon & Garfunkel.

Wednesday, June 9th 12:30pm-1:45pm Bryant Park's Word for Word Series Samantha Bee from Comedy Central's The Daily Show discusses her book, I Know I Am, But What Are You? at the Reading Room at Bryant Park 42nd St. & 6th Ave.

Friday, June 11th The highly buzzed about documentary, Joan Rivers- A Piece of Work opens at Cinema 1,2,3 on 60th St. and 3rd Ave.

Saturday & Sunday, June 12th & 13th Big Apple BBQ Block Party at Madison Square Park 11am- 6pm.