Last Chance At Love! (& More N.C. Events)

Today — Wednesday, September 16 — marks your last chance to catch N.C. readings by contributors to the great new anthology, Love Is A Four-Letter Word: True Stories Of Break-Ups, Bad Relationships, and Broken Hearts. Editor Michael Taeckens and contributors Margaret Sartor and Patty Van Norman will each read from their contributions to the book at two locations: 3:30 p.m. at the Bull’s Head Bookshop in Chapel Hill and 7:30 p.m. at Raleigh’s Quail Ridge Books. (And there’s a rumor at the book’s Facebook page that Peppermint Schnapps will be involved…. We make no promises, but encourage you to become a fan of the page anyway.)

If you’ve missed coverage of the book, check out my interview with Taeckens here. One of the latest reviews of the book is from the Oxford American‘s September “Books We Love” column, and a survey of other reviews can be found at the book’s own webpage here.

If you don’t have the book yet: Get it. If you have the chance to make the readings: Go.

Trust me on this. This anthology is love at first read.

MORE N.C. EVENTS

On Thursday, September 17, Bull’s Head Bookshop and Quail Ridge Books host a similar one-two combo, so to speak, when each store welcomes Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance, founders of of the indie record label Merge Records and popular pop-punk band Superchunk, with their new book, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label that Got Big and Stayed Small — same times as the readings above, but new day for all.

Also on Thursday evening, over at Durham’s Regulator Bookshop, Marianne Gingher (interviewed here) joins contributors Lawrence Naumoff, Joe Ashby Porter, Randall Kenan, Bland Simpson, and Elizabeth Spencer, for a reading from the terrific anthology Long Story Short: Flash Fiction by Sixty-five of North Carolinas Finest Writers. That event begins at 7 p.m.

And on Friday evening, September 18, Quail Ridge Books welcomes Adriana Trigiani for a 7:30 p.m. reading from her latest novel, Viola In Reel Life.

For a complete schedule of events in the Triangle and Eastern North Carolina, check out the MetroBooks Calendar here.

N.C. Events: Regulator Bookshop Hosts Local Launch for “Love Is A Four-Letter Word”

Since my interview with Michael Taeckens a few weeks back, he’s been making the rounds with a series of appearances throughout New York City, promoting the hot new anthology Love Is A Four-Letter Word: True Stories of Break-ups, Bad Relationships, and Broken Hearts. This Friday, however, Taeckens will be debuting the book on his own turf, with the first official tour stop in North Carolina. Contributors Wendy Brenner, Margaret Sartor, and Patty Van Norman will join Taeckens for a reading and signing on Friday, August 21, at 7 p.m. at Durham’s Regulator Bookshop.

This weekend also marks the start of the N.C. Literary Festival‘s “Authors on the Road” program, bringing some of the state’s leading writers to various venues in advance of the Sept. 10-13 festival. Charles F. Price, author of Nor the Battle to the Strong: A Novel of the American Revolution in the South, and Daniel Wallace, author most recently of Mr. Sebastian and the Negro Magician, will kick off the program on Saturday, August 22. Price appears at Pack Memorial Library at 2 p.m., and Wallace will cover the other end of the state with a 3 p.m. appearance at New Hanover County Public Library in Wilmington. For a complete list of participants, visit the NCLF “Authors on the Road” page here.

Also of note this weekend is an appearance by Mark L. Van Name with his new science fiction book, Overthrowing Heaven, the third book in his Jon and Lobo series (after One Jump Ahead and Slanted Jack). He’ll be at McIntyre’s Books in Fearrington Village on Sunday, August 23, at 2 p.m.

For more events, check out the MetroBooks Calendar at right!