Silver Jews is coming to town. On just the second tour of a 20-year career, DC Berman and his familial touring band will visit LA tonight behind its sixth recording, Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea. Berman answered a handful of questions from the road, via e-mail. How do you write songs? I build their walls and then lay siege to them for weeks. It's a dialectic between the artistic voice and the critical voice in......

AskaNinja.com creators Douglas Sarine and Kent Nichols online video has gone old media. The Ninja Handbook, is now out in paperback (read it if you dare) and is also available as an audio download (narrated by the Ninja and recommended in tandem with the illustrated handbook for all you Nonjas). No matter your Ninjaish inclinations, consider this fair warning: The Ninja will make a rare appearance tonight at Vroman's to sign your Handbook (and try......

Author Dave Freeman died at his home last week in Venice. The USC graduate and later advertising agency executive wrote in his co-authored book, "100 Things to Do Before You Die: Travel Events You Just Can't Miss," that "this life is a short journey. How can you make sure you fill it with the most fun and that you visit all the coolest places on earth before you pack those bags for the very last......

Photo by nailmaker via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr The "theme" of this week's PhiLAnthropist is giving back by donating goods. With so many organizations in LA in need of different items, it's hard to know where to go. The following is a brief list of some solid organizations that could use a few things. And even though they have not been specifically listed, many, if not all, of these organizations offer a variety......

Long Beach is facing a $16.9 million budget deficit and has proposed shutting down their downtown library. "Tell City Hall NO to the threatened closure! Long Beach residents and children deserve nothing less than access to a downtown library with ready access to books and programs to help them achieve their goals and aspirations," wrote author Ray Bradbury in a letter printed last week in the Press-Telegram. The LA Times takes a look at the......

If it wasn't enough for Long Beach to lose Acres of Books, the city is facing a $16.9 million budget deficit and one of the better-known victims of that may be their Main Library. To help ease that closure is "extending hours at 11 branch libraries and opening a downtown satellite location," says the Long Beach Press-Telegram. They report the closure will not go without a fight. However, in an earlier report, it was said......

Submitted and authored by Dan Collins Friday night at midnight (the witching hour), the final installment of Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight vampire novels, Breaking Dawn, was released to the waiting arms of teenaged girls everywhere. And Vroman’s Bookstore was there to cash in, with themed events more flush with girl power than anything the Spice Girls have done since 1995. I started off at the Pasadena Vroman’s “Breaking Dawn Prom Party,” which looked like the high......

On Wednesday, the city of Seattle found out that their SuperSonics would be packing their bags and leaving for Oklahoma City. Thanks to owner Clay Bennett, in 2008-09 there will be no pro basketball in Seattle for the first time in 41 years. "He drained the Sonics' joy out of Seattle," said Seattle Times' columnist Jerry Brewer of Bennett. Cheer up Seattle. It's not all gloom and doom. Some good news for the city arrived......

Tito Ortiz and Oscar De La Hoya are going head-to-head tonight...sort of. The arenas - bookstores. Tito is signing copies of his book at the Virgin Megastore in Hollywood while Oscar will be signing copies of his book at Barnes & Noble in The Grove. In the last five years, mixed martial arts has experienced a surge in popularity, thanks largely to the mainstream emergence of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. With MMA on the......

Coming up on Sunday, June 29 at UCLA is Jewish Geography: Place, Design, Memory, Imagination, a festival presented by Nextbook, an online magazine that also produces events showcasing Jewish culture. Details are available at Nextbook.org, as are $15 passes for the day (no reserved seats for panels, so get ready to stand in line). Among the many notable literary sorts appearing that day are graphic novelist Ben Katchor (Julius Knipl: Real Estate Photographer) and......

Publishers of all stripes are selling books of all types. Jules Asner signed Whacked (she is gorgeous in person), Alan Cheuse signed The Fires, and Garth Stein signed The Art of Racing in the Rain. From fiction and business books to green books and cookbooks (and wine guides -- a bonus for this Wine Novice), writers, publishers and booksellers are hob-knobbing and handing out invites to tonight's biggest book parties. On various panels throughout the......

Dark Downtown Tunnel | Photo by ericcastro via Flickr Tuesday Laura Dave presents and signs The Divorce Party 7pm @ Book Soup Garth Stein discusses and signs The Art of Racing in the Rain 7pm @ Vroman's Alix Strauss presents Have I Got a Guy for You 7pm @ Borders, Hollywood Preeta Samsarasan presents Evening is the Whole Day 7:30pm @ Borders, The Grove Gary Panter discusses Gary Panter with Matt Groening 7:30pm @......

A bookish extravaganza hits LA this week, as the book industry attends Book Expo America at the Los Angeles Convention Center this Thursday through Sunday. While the expo is for publishers, booksellers, educators, librarians, agents and other industry professionals, (it's not a public event like the LA Times Festival of Books), LA booklovers will benefit from the hundreds of authors that are scheduled to sign their books this week in venues all over town. From......

Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist Featured Photos Pool on Flickr BARGAIN BOOZE For those of us who would prefer to have cheap drinks at a happier hour than early evening, The Mint has the answer: Midnight Happy Hour. Finlandia drinks are only a $1. ART OPENING The work of 30 artists is presented in this brand new mixed-media show at the Santa Monica Museum of Art that is focused on puppetry. Participating artists include:......

Any Angeleno worth their salt knows this city can be both bright and happy or sinister and dark by quick turns or subtle steps or shameless spirals. There is much to celebrate about LA and much to shy away from - which makes it the ideal city-as-character in many a writer's novel. A few new books are out that feature LA and they're on our radar to check out this month. Latinos in Lotusland: An......

There are many staple travel books to have on your shelf if you live in Los Angeles. There's 60 Hikes within 60 Miles for the outdoor adventure inclined. For those who want to stay a little closer to home, Erin Mahoney's Walking LA is a fun one (related, Mahoney owns Chill Out LA, a spa, beauty, yoga and pilates site and e-mail newsletter, which just relaunched with a new design last month). And today, from......

You can find former baseball player Jose Canseco signing copies of his latest book Vindicated today at Costco in Van Nuys Jose Canseco's first book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big was called "the worst sports book so far in three centuries" by the LA Times. Harsh words like this didn't stop Canseco's tell-all tome from opening at number three on USA Today's bestsellers list and impacting Major......

Some of our favorite independent bookstores in LA (Skylight Books, Vroman's, Diesel, Book Soup) have been targeted by scammers claiming to be some of our favorite writers. Here's how it works: a would-be writer calls a bookstore (impersonating a writer who has a scheduled store appearance in the next few hours or days), complains of car trouble, and asks to have cash wired to them immediately to avert their made-up crisis. These pranksters have impersonated......

Photo by sheilaellen via Flickr. The Los Angeles Public Library is under pressure from Mayor Villaraigosa and the City Council to cut spending and raise fees to help decrease LA's $400 million budget deficit. If the budget goes through unchanged on May 1, drastic cuts would force eight regional branch libraries to close their doors on Sundays, the book buying budget would be slashed by $2 million and library staff may be subject to......

The LA Times Festival of Books offered something for everyone this weekend. The many panels, author interviews and signing booths were exciting for bookish nerds like us. If you weren't into the bookish side of the book festival, however, there was plenty to whet your appetite. Literally. The food court was full of smoked meats and organic treats and live music could be enjoyed from many open plazas on the UCLA campus. There was even......

Yes, it's Monday and with an event like LACMA's upcoming Art Book Swap there is yet another reason to look forward to the weekend. Working in conjunction with Regency Arts Press Ltd. and the New Art Dealers Alliance, the museum has arranged for art books to be donated by stores, libraries, publishing houses, galleries and many others. The fun thing is you bring your old books in and trade for the gifted items or swap......

Celebrate your weekend. | Photo by ronnie44052 via Flickr Not everyone is going to Coachella this weekend. For those who choose to stay put in Los Angeles, the city is literally filled with events this weekend: AltBuild Expo at SaMo Civic Auditorium: an eco-friendy building & design expo LA Times Festival of Books at UCLA: a must see & do Fiesta Broadway at Downtown: party!......

Photo of inside Acres of Books by LWY via Flickr Ray Bradbury once called Long Beach's Acres of Books "a labyrinth, a tomb, a catacomb, a maze," and "a watering hole" of bookish treasures. The store, founded in 1934 by Bertrand Smith, has spanned over an acre of land at its Long Beach Boulevard storefront since 1960. But now "owners Phil and Jackie Smith have agreed to sell the 12,000-square-foot lot for about $2.8......

Because George Harrison was my favorite Beatle, I devoured Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me, a memoir by his first wife Pattie Boyd (of whom I confess I was, in my Beatle phase, horribly jealous) within days of its publication last year. Since recovering from her marriages, Pattie has become known as a photographer. This Sunday from 12 to 5 p.m., a show of her photographs opens at the Morrison Hotel Gallery......

The weekend of April 26 is more than a month out, but one of the coolest festivals in this city has recently launched their updated schedule for this year's literary fête -- the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. The event, which is the same weekend as Coachella, is full of panels, stage readings, booksellers, publishers and literary organizations. It costs to get into Tickets with a nominal fee of 75-cents are needed for the......

Photo by Clinton Steeds via Flickr While many mourn the loss of stalwart indie bookshops like Dutton's, many may want to celebrate the fact that LA (County, at least) is home to the nation's best bookstore, as deemed by Publisher's Weekly. Pasadena's 114-year-old Vroman's has been given the top spot, and is thriving in its Colorado Boulevard home, with no signs of falling prey to the big box bookstores and online buying. Now their staff......

The architecture of certain California homes reflect the golden optimism of the area's Edenic-period of growth and heightened romanticism. Sky-high ceilings take your breath away, while omnipresent beams of warm sunlight bathe tiled floors and stuccoed walls. Twenty homes in Southern California are photographed and honored in a coffee table book assembled and created by legendary actress Diane Keaton. California Romantica was released late last year from Rizzoli; the weighty tome features the photographs of......

Shadow & Light in Little Tokyo | Photo by pink_fish13 via LAist's Featured Photos pool on Flickr. Monday Jeremy D. Popkin presents Facing Racial Revolution 7pm @ Dutton's Tuesday Alan Corey presents A Million Bucks by 30 7pm @ Book Soup Christopher Rice presents Blind Fall 7pm @ Borders, West Hollywood Wednesday Milo Martin presents Poems for a Utopian Nihilist 7pm @ Book Soup Leslie Lehr presents Wife Goes On 7pm @ Dutton's Josh......

Sherman Oaks and South LA made national news yesterday when a Los Angeles native, now based in Oregon, became the latest decried author who penned a fraudulent memoir. Yes, Margaret Seltzer grew up in the Valley, no Margaret B. Jones (her non de plume) did not gangbang in South Central as her book said. Today, the fallout came in the form of experts giving quotes to the media about this reoccurring theme. What first comes......

A 33-year-old white woman from Sherman Oaks, now living in Eugene, Oregon, has made national headlines today as news comes that her memoir was largely fabricated. Last week, Margaret Seltzer who goes by the pen name Margaret B. Jones was featured in the New York Times' Home & Garden section in a fascinating story about her book, "Love and Consequences." One LAist reader explains her fascination about it in an e-mail: I read the home......