TONIGHT: OF MOUSE AND MAN
The choice is yours, friends.
British novelist MARTIN AMIS told the Guardian that he has “a god-like relationship with the world I’ve created.” — and he is indeed a literary deity when it comes to inspiring a troop of stylistic disciples (Will Self, Zadie Smith) and traitorous critics (John Updike). In House of Meetings, he returns to life during the gulag, with Soviet Russia as his setting and two half-brothers and the woman they adore as his main players. It’s a slim volume that Publisher’s Weekly decided has a “bullying tone”; one would hope Amis doesn’t throw any punches when he demonstrates his command of the English language (again) at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge | 6 pm | $3 | 800.542.READ.
Did that Radar exposé about the naughty behind-the-scenes antics among Mickeys and Minnies at Disney theme parks make you feel a bit funny? Well, Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination may not reinstill your faith in the Disney ideal. Fairy-tale prince he was not, but NEAL GABLER’s comprehensive biography (hailed as “the definitive Disney bio” by Newsweek) will tell you the good stuff, too — the astonishing innovations and creative breakthroughs that made Disney the Dream King. Wish upon a star at the First Unitarian Church, 3 Church St, Cambridge | 7:30 pm | $3 | 800.542.READ.