SFist Rita is out of town for work, so we are donning our tiara and gown for this weeks Swells analysis. Tra-la-la! Total number of people pictured in this week's Swells society column: 57. Total number of people pictured whom we recognize/know: 23. This high number is because of the SF Library event with lots of writers, including Amy Tan, Vendela Vida, Dave Eggers, Stephen Elliot, Ben Fong-Torres, Michael Lewis, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Sam Barry,......

Fill in your Wednesday so that every row, column, and 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9! Tonight: Local author ZZ Packer will be reading from her acclaimed short story collection, Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, at the SF Main Public Library. 6:30, in the lower level auditorium. After the reading, go hear another set of interconnected tales at the Make-Out Room as the band Deliver Me From Nowhere covers Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, in track order. That show starts at 9. Thursday: Has anyone else seen this Dance Dance Revolution-type game where instead of dancing, you drum? Help us try and remember the name of that game as you attend the SF Conservatory of Music percussion department student recitals! Student Jamie Drake is performing for free at 8 pm in Hellman Hall (19th Street and Ortega). and Friday: It's the Exploratorium's opening night event for its show "Reconsidered Materials," and Elizabeth Hickok will be displaying her awesome San Francisco in Jello (tm), for one night only. Hickok makes a scale model of city scenes, then casts the buildings in gelatin, and then paints and lights it up. (See above.) The gelatin then falls apart. Event starts at 7. Picture of Alamo Square from LizHickok.com...

Why is it that when people do readings, they get that weird This-American-Life tone in their voice? And what is it about the quality of polite clapping at bookreadings that makes it sound so poignant? Contemplate these thoughts as you hear your favorite local authors starting tomorrow and going all next week in San Francisco's local literary festival, Litquake. ...