New York City, Literary Cornucopia

I've got my own plans for tonight--which you'll hear about in due course, but my goodness, the city's jumping: Roddy Doyle will be reading from his latest, Oh, Play That Thing! at the Union Square B&N, Chang-Rae Lee's just a few blocks away at the National Arts Club reading from Aloft (dress nice!), and Jonathan Ames will be down at Housing Works Café. To top things off, David Lehman and Douglas Crase are appearing together at KGB. Oh, and Jim Shepard's at the New School, reading and talking to Helen Schulman.

Also, tomorrow night you might want to check out "Airbrush This!", a panel of authors, journalists, and feminist scholars considering whether or not the "idealized, unrealistic images" of women permeating contemporary pop culture are undercutting women's opportunities for success and personal fulfillment. Perhaps ironically, considering the insidious influence of Sex and the City, they'll be on the 15th floor of the HBO building at 42nd and Sixth (6:30 p.m.)