• There are some fightin’ words being spoken over the upkeep of the Alamo.
• AT&T spent over 13,000 smackeroos to give away 700 copies of Governor Rick Perry’s book.
• Legendary Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Don Meredith is dead. Here, his best lines are remembered.

Writer Amanda Hesser, Edible Austin and Farmhouse Delivery will host an evening of food and drinks to celebrate and launch Hesser's Essential New York Times Cookbook: Classic Recipes for a New Century this Saturday from 7-9 p.m. at Rain Lily Farm. Tickets to the event are $35 and proceeds will benefit the Sustainable Food Center. more ›

Luckily Karr has succeeded in making Lit just as readable for a secular audience as her previous volumes. In an interview with Terry Gross, Karr herself compares her earliest drafts as a recent convert to the rhetoric of late-night televangelists—an interesting comparison considering how readily she admits to doing it all for the money. But through great care and diligent editing, the final product is thankfully more Anne Lamott than Joel Osteen. more ›

• This is the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the event that signaled the end of the Cold War. The “Wall of Change” project at UT marks this historic moment.
• President Obama to attend a memorial service at Fort Hood on Tuesday.
• The New York Times has a detailed story about the background of the Fort Hood shooter. It’s part of their larger package on the tragedy.

Austin is a story town - but for every treasured encounter with the vitality and talent that surrounds us, there are a thousand voices we don't get to hear. What if a single book promised one-hundred glimpses into the thoughts, lives, and creative capacities of one-hundred Austinites? Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists want to make this possible, with the community based project, Austin Makes a Book. more ›

A couple months ago, we told you about God Says No, the stellar debut novel from erstwhile Austinite and Michener Center for Writers alumnus James Hannaham. If you haven't checked it out yet (you should), it's a funny and moving tale of boy-meets-boy, boy-meets-Jesus, Jesus-doesn't-approve-of-boy, boy-chases-Jesus-while-also-chasing-boys. As you can guess, things get complicated. more ›

In 2006, photographer and craft fair founder Faythe Levine traveled to fifteen cities to interview the crafty movers and shakers around the country. At the end of her trip, she had enough material for a movie and book. Levine's documentary, Handmade Nation, is premiering in Austin at the Alamo Drafthouse this Sunday. A weekend-long celebration of all things hand-crafted begins on Saturday with a book signing at Domy Books. Levine will be accompanied by a number of artists who are featured in Handmade Nation including the fabulous Whitney Lee, who has perfected the art of latch-hook porn (slightly NSFW). more ›