Jamie Lee Curtis, Bob Newhart, Peter Falk, and Tracey Ullman...

...will be making free book store appearances in the next few months, and details are in the Event Calendar. As you can see, the Tracey Ullman book is actually about knitting. But if you want it autographed, you have to buy it at the store, not from Amazon.

Book signings can be very entertaining. The author usually speaks for a half hour or so and then answers a few questions. The indie stores that host most of these events are Vroman's in Pasadena, Book Soup in West Hollywood and Costa Mesa, and Dutton's in Brentwood and Beverly Hills. Barnes & Noble and Borders have author appearances too, but they make it difficult to find events on their sites.

Around here, the mother of all book events is the L.A. Times Book Festival at UCLA every April.