Saturday October 25th, Modern Times Bookstore will have its 37th birthday party at 3:00 PM. Food and fun times for all. [via Mission Mission]

Then at 7:30 PM, the Booksmith on Haight will present Christian Lander, who is promoting Stuff White People Like; a category that presumably includes his book.

Monday the 27th, the Commonwealth Club, 6 PM: Frank Rich, Michael Tomasky, Thomas Powers, Martin Kettle & Bob Silvers will talk politics, live on stage. If you just can’t wean yourself from the New York Times Opinion Pages, you won’t want to miss this.

But if you’ve had enough opinion for the moment, go see David Sedaris read at the opera house instead, at 8:00 PM. Tickets here. His last book was more somber than usual, but still pretty damn funny.

Tuesday the 28th at 7:00 PM, Books Inc. in Opera Plaza (601 Van Ness) presents poet Mari L’Esperance, winner of the Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poetry, reading from her collection The Darkened Temple.

On Wednesday the 29th, go to Stacey’s on your lunch break at 12:30 PM, and hear Antonia Juhasz read from her book, The Tyranny of Oil: The World’s Most Powerful Industry, and What We Must Do to Stop It.

Finally, on Thursday the 30th, you might join me in North Beach and hear the world-famous DJ Spooky at City Lights at 7 PM. He’ll read from and discuss the book he edited, Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture. Said book includes a “groundbreaking mix CD,” according to the publisher’s description, which features “Nam Jun Paik, the Dada Movement, John Cage, Sonic Youth, and many other examples of avant-garde music. Most of the CD’s content comes from the archives of Sub Rosa, a legendary record label that has been the benchmark for archival sounds since the beginnings of electronic music.” The book also features an introduction by Steve Reich and a foreword by Cory Doctorow, which might give you an idea of the contents. (Awful pun intended!)

As for Friday October 31st — wait a minute! That’s Halloween! What the hell are you doing with a book in your lap? Go to a party already, you anti-social bookworm!

[Unless otherwise noted above, all events via Kemble Scott.]