Our life as a reader isn't all about borrowing and buying books -- sometimes we like to go to literary events, as well. We interviewed Nic Harcourt a bit back. He's the music director at LA's KCRW and host of "Morning Becomes Eclectic". This Friday at 6 p.m. he's going to deejay from the Virgin Megastore DJ booth, and read from his new book, Music Lust: Recommended Listening for Every Mood, Moment and Reason. Hey, we even have some copies of his book to give away, so enter below to win one.

What's your fave 'Fister reading? Expand to find out!

Many of the western states are so vivid in their scenery and characters that being from them permanently etches certain landscapes and people on your mind. If you are from the west, or ever wondered what the western psyche is all about, SFist Emily recommends Letting Loose the Hounds a book of short stories by Brady Udall. Set in the small towns in the west, Udall manages to capture what it's like to actually be from, and love those places. His characters are amazingly vivid and memorable and you really start to identify with their heartache and frustrations. They are hilarious even at their most tragic points. Udall's stories have been published everywhere from Playboy to the Paris Review, and it's no wonder. If you need a literary break from magazines, and can't commit to a longer work, this collection of short stories is the ticket. If you don't suffer from commitment problems, Udall's first novel, The Miracle Life of Edgar Mint is something well worth picking up.

SFist Rain is half-way through Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself to Live and is finding it equal parts entertaining and irksome. Reading Klosterman is like having a long conversation with that guy friend you've had for years, the one you have so much in common with, but don't see that often. When you're apart, you often remember how awesome he is, and ponder why you two never actually hooked up. And then you do meet up again, and start to talking, and have a great time, until it's three hours later and you realize, "Oh, yeah. He's actually kind of annoying. And self-centered. And a bit of a snob. And I'll never understand that obsession he has with professional sports."

At least, that's what reading Klosterman is like to her.

SFist Jer is reading a book called Crucial Confrontations. It's categorized as a "business/self-help" book, which surely means that the bulk of the world would find it an excellent sleeping aid. About 70 pages in, Jer's finding some reasonable insights on human nature, but no solutions as of yet on how to "never walk way from anouther touchy, controversial, or complex issue," as is promised on the back cover. He'll keep reading.

SFist Derrick is eagerly reading Best American Essays of 2005 (though he feels duty-bound to mention that he works for a subdivision of the publisher). Each year when it comes out, he bumps it to the front of his queue. He's also vowing to at least skim through his massive backlog of food magazines, mostly because his wife Melissa is getting tired of a wobbly tower that periodically collapses.

SFist Mary-Lynn is reading Wacky Chicks by Simon Doonan (the Barney's window designer you probably know most for making that chick cry by saying she looked like a streetwalker on ANTM or from his bonmots on the never-ending "I Love the 80s" series or from his column in the Observer). It's, you know, funny and stuff. Plus, any book that opens with a quote from Auntie Mame is all right by her. She's also been reading premiere issues of new magazines like "Bee" (Crap!) and Rachel Ray Every Day (not a bad showing for a woman who is so unbelievably annoying in every other offering).