Belles Lettres

Steve Almond, noted lover of sweets, has a couple of razor blades hiding in his new confection, Which Brings Me to You, co-authored with Julianna Baggot. Two sardonic post-moderners meet at a wedding, consummate the meeting in the coat room and then decide that perhaps they should attempt to retrofit a relationship to their sexual encounter. This relationship shall be built not on something as ephemeral as "trust," but through the almost-vanished art of epistolary seduction. Swapping letters back and forth, Jane and John reveal everything — failed affairs, broken hearts, quashed dreams — every niggling flaw and quirk that has thwarted each thus far. The exchange of letters is a revelation of naked soul, the likes of which cannot be found on MySpace no matter how high the resolution of your WebCam. Almond alone reads from Which Brings Me to You at 7 p.m. this evening at Left Bank Books (399 North Euclid Avenue; 314-367-6731 or www.left-bank.com). Admission is free, but you should buy a book.
Mon., June 26