| Have you ever been to Truck Gallery, downstairs in the Grain Exchange, and noticed it getting really hot in there? The arts and letters will have that effect from time to time. Filling Station throws fuel on those flames this Saturday, October 23 with a Sexy Party. The occasion is its 31st issue, the host is Jason Christie and the dress code is "your sexy finest." Cocktails – including Dorothy Parker’s favourite, the martini, of course – will be served from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Prose and verse will then be read by Larissa Lai, Chris Ewart, Aaron Giovannone, and Frances Kruk. Admission is by donation.
Still in art galleries, you can see Toronto’s Paul Dutton (yes, the Four Horsemen Paul Dutton, author of Several Women Dancing) read with poet Suzanne Zelazo on Sunday, October 24 at 7 p.m. The New Gallery is at 516D Ninth Ave. S.W.
Hillhurst United Church is the scene of two readings this week, starting with David Poulsen, whose new novel is about a 15-year-old street kid who moves into the Calgary Zoo. That’s on Saturday, October 23 at 3 p.m. in the church’s Heritage Room, at 1227 Bowness Road N.W. (Note: this is not in Bowness – it’s in Hillhurst.) As is a reading by Trevor Herriot, whose River in a Dry Land has garnered enthusiastic reviews and reader recommendations. He reads from his new book Jacob's Wound: The Search for the Spirit of Wilderness on Thursday, October 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Hillhurst United Church hall. The guest host is Pamela Banting.
Just down the street at Pages, Rex Weyler reads from his book Greenpeace: How a Group of Ecologists, Journalists and Visionaries Changed the World, on Monday, October 25. Next day, Tuesday, October 26, Patrick Watson steps out of the TV screen and into the bookstore to read from his memoir This Hour Has Seven Decades. Then on Wednesday, October 27, Calgary’s Garry Ryan launches his new mystery Queen’s Park, alongside none other than Kate Pullinger. She’ll read from her new novel A Little Stranger. All the Pages events are at 7:30 p.m.
This part is serious, so pay attention. The U.S. proclaims that it’s out to use its role as the only global superpower to spread democracy and freedom (George Bush said so in one of the recent presidential debates). How well does this claim sit with "its history of Indian fighting and empire building within North America?" Anthony J. Hall examines such questions in The American Empire and The Fourth World, a book praised by both Naomi Klein and Calgary reviewer Alexander Rettie. Hall, who teaches globalization studies at the University of Lethbridge, reads at McNally Robinson on Tuesday, October 26 at 7:30 p.m.
As if to prove that age does not bring wisdom, or at least prudence, Don Forest decided to climb up all the really high (i.e. 3,000-metre high) mountains in this part of the world, after first taking up alpinism at 43 years of age. Forest’s daughter Kathy Calvert tells his story in Don Forest: Quest for the Summits, from which she’ll read at the Alexander Calhoun Library on Wednesday, October 27 at 7 p.m. Call 221-2046 to register.
And speaking of libraries, it’s Alberta Library Week from October 24 to 30. The Calgary Public Library is marking the occasion with a multimedia presentation from author Paul Morin. Entitled A Gift of Story, the event is billed as a family-friendly "celebration of myth, culture and story." That’s Monday, October 25, from 7:30 to 9 p.m. at the W.R. Castell Central Library. For more details, call 260-2785.
Best-sellers
Best-selling books for the week of October 10 to 16 at Pages on Kensington
Fiction and Poetry
1. Fleshmarket Close
4. The Cripple and His Talismans
6. Red Land, Yellow River
8. A Complicated Kindness
Non-fiction
1. For Those About to Rock
3. Amazing Animal Adventures Around the World
5. Alberta Politics Uncovered
by Judy Larmour & Henry Saley
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