Daniel Handler (Lemony Snicket himself) will be appearing at the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium on Tuesday, October 2, at 8:00 p.m. Click here for ticket info. He recently took a moment to chat with us about some of our favorite topics.

What role have libraries played in your life?

My local library, the West Portal Branch in San Francisco, was my first taste of genuine freedom--my parents said I could take home any books I could carry.

What was your favorite childhood book?

Dino Buzzati's The Bears' Famous Invasion Of Sicily .

What made you think you could be a writer?

Other writers. Not other writers I met--I didn't really meet any until I was older--but other writers I read.

Who are the three authors you think everyone should be required to read--which books would you start with?

I don't think any books should be required of everyone, but anyone who hasn't read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, William Maxwell 's The Folded Leaf and Alice Munro's Open Secrets really shouldn't approach me and complain they have nothing to read.

If you couldn’t write, what other job would you like to have?

Crimefighting superhero.

Tags: Take Five

Started in 2001 (née "McSweeney's Festival") Philadelphia's own 215 Festival is back in its seventh year with a long weekend of (mostly) free events and "cross-pollinated performances" celebrating writing, books, book art, et al. Running from next Thursday, October 4, through Sunday, October 7, the Festival will kick off with an On the Road 50th Anniversary Celebration in the Central Library's Montgomery Auditorium. Other Festival highlights include Celluloid Literati: An Evening of Experimental Films at International House; Jon Naar (The Birth of Graffiti ) and Cry of the City at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts; "How to Start a Group: A Lecture" by Ian Svenonius and Lovingly Bound , both at the Latvian Society; and Kablam-O! A Show of Comic Book Art at the Padlock Gallery . Check out the 215 Festival website for a complete listing of events and the most up-to-date schedule and venue information.

It seems that Augusten Burroughs may have taken some liberties in his characterization of the Turcotte family (aka "the Finches") in his wildly popular Running with Scissors: A Memoir. But Running with Scissors: A Memoir isn't a memoir; it's a "book," at least that is according to a legal agreement reached last month between the Turcotte family and Burroughs (and his publisher, St. Martin's Press). In a 2003 interview for Bookslut, Litsa Dremousis--apparently without prescience--compares Burroughs to JT Leroy (whom she also interviewed that year), saying, "It surprises me that with so many writers, their default position is to compare you to David Sedaris . . . but your background sort of reminds me of JT LeRoy. . . . Stylistically, you guys are day and night, but the thing that you seem to have in common is that your early childhood stories are so similar, that your mothers were mentally ill, you were sexualized early . . . and clearly, you were both born to write. . . ." Apparently Burroughs was nodding along in agreement. Of course, JT Leroy was never born at all--he was a fictional persona, the elaborate figment of Laura Albert's imagination. Perhaps someday she'll publish a memoir about the whole experience. Or will it be a "book"?

Naomi Klein, bestselling author of No Logo , is back with another polemic, this time aiming to "[explode] the myth that the global free market triumphed democratically" and to expose "the puppet strings behind the world-changing crises and wars of the last four decades." The Shock Doctrine was released in the United States this past Tuesday, and while the book certainly compels attention in and of itself, it's getting that much more publicity thanks to a promotional film co-created by Klein and Oscar-nominated director Alfonso Cuarón . It seems that Cuarón volunteered for the project. Klein writes, "When I finished The Shock Doctrine, I sent it to Alfonso Cuarón because I adore his films and felt that the future he created for Children of Men was very close to the present I was seeing in disaster zones. I was hoping he would send me a quote for the book jacket and instead he pulled together this amazing team of artists . . . to make The Shock Doctrine short film. It was one of those blessed projects where everything felt fated." You can view the entire film here .