Idiot girls and humor fans rejoice -- author Laurie Notaro is back in Phoenix for a few weeks and is hosting two events we'll slash your tires to get to first.

Notaro (who contributes to New Times) is releasing her latest collection of short stories this month, titled The Potty Mouth at the Table.

In May, she'll be visiting Changing Hands in Tempe to host a writing class and to read from her book.

This week, she's giving us a sneak preview of "Potty Mouth," which you can check out after the jump ...

See also:
- Laurie Notaro's Greatest Hits of 2012 on Jackalope Ranch
- Laurie Notaro's Dish of Death

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Native Arizonan Tom Leveen, who lives and works in Phoenix, is a YA fiction machine and the author of "Party" and "Zero." His third novel, "manicpixiedreamgirl," came out earlier this month, and he's already working on numbers four and five (and maybe even beyond) right this minute. Look out this October for "Sick," Leveen's first foray into the world of horror.

Tyler Darcy finds himself on the horns of a dilemma, high-school style. He's been crushing hard on mystery girl Rebecca Webb since freshman year, but he's also been going out with the eminently likable Sydney Barret (yes, that's Syd Barrett) for about the same amount of time -- someone who supports him and likes his writing and fools around with him.

See also:
- Phoenix Author Tom Leveen Returns with Young Adult Novel Zero
- Author Adam Johnson on Phoenix, North Korea, and His Latest Novel, The Orphan Master's Son

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Classes are ending, vacations are being planned, and whether or not you can afford to get the Hell out of Dodge, a good book can always serve as a nice mental escape. Here are our top five books to read this summer -- preferably by a pool. With a margarita.

5. Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler

Why it's on our reading list:

This book chronicling the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald couldn't have come at a better time, especially for those anticipating the film adaptation of the Great Gatsby, those who enjoyed the film, A Midnight in Paris, or those who just finished reading the Paris Wife, a novel by Paula Mclain chronicling the early Paris years of Hemingway's life as told from the perspective of his first wife, Hadley. This fictional account details the romance, glamour and drama of a woman whose own life was a story worth telling.

See also:
- David Sedaris to Read from Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls This Week at Gammage Auditorium
- "Sign Painters" is a Visual Portrait of an American Tradition

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No one sees the world quite like David Sedaris. The American best-selling author, humorist, and master of satire keeps a notebook on him at all times that holds observations from his travels and surroundings.

Sedaris draws from the everyday -- including his personal life and upbringing, things tourists say, and external catheters -- for series of short stories that he's shared on public radio, in magazines including Esquire and The New Yorker, and in his own books.

On Thursday, April 25, Sedaris will visit Gammage Auditorium to read from his latest works and sign copies of Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls, described as "a bizarre and stimulating world tour."

See also:
- "Sign Painters" is a Visual Portrait of an American Tradition
- Laurie Notaro: Toss the Book You Have in Your Purse and Read These Instead

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Frances Hearts Summer Vol. 1

Despite ongoing exclamations of the death of print, some of us, including the folks over at Frances Vintage, remain hopeful.

This summer, Frances owner Georganne Bryant is putting out a printed style guide: Frances Hearts Summer Vol. 1.

"It is kind of crazy making a magazine that will be in print when the trend is digital and much less expensive, but as everyone knows I am very old school," says Bryant.

See Also:
- EMMA Magazine: Phoenix's Sarah Hubbell Launches DIY Publication for Young Creatives
- Frances Vintage to Open a New Location at Biltmore Fashion Park

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"Sign Painters" -- Original artwork hand-painted by Ira Coyne

Faythe Levine and Sam Macon's "Sign Painters" is the kind of book you buy as a present for someone else because it looks cool and then can't part with yourself.

The photographs are what draw you in first, of old school sign painters and their work.

There's Ernie Gosnell's cartoonish devil head with a blue pompadour, floating over the words "No Drunks, No Assholes." (Gosnell himself is a spectacle -- he wears a plaid pork pie hat atop his long gray hair and his ringed hands are both illustrated with intricate tattoos.) And Roderick Laine Treece's luxurious gold-gilded glass signs, announcing "United Cigar Stores" and "Colt Firearms Company."

See also:
- Robin Sloan Stirs New and Old Literary Tech in Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore
- Should Artists Paint Murals for Free?
- Documentary Filmmaker Jill Morley Talks About Her New Film Fight Like a Girl Screening at Phoenix Film Festival

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Jodi Arias

We're admittedly a little obsessed with manifestos. Last year, we asked a number of local creatives to write their own manifestos, which we paired with local designers who created a series of posters . . .

But we doubt we'll be doing the same for Jodi Arias.

See also:
- Lifetime to Make Sex-Soaked Jodi Arias Movie Based on Ongoing Trial (Big Surprise)
- Jodi Arias trial news on Valley Fever

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Niki D'Andrea

Thom Butcher and Melanie Tighe opened Dog-Eared Pages Used Books in 2008 in a strip mall on 32nd Street just south of Bell Road.

The used, rare, and collectible book treasure trove is stocked with almost 50,000 copies across all genres. But according to a note Tighe sent out to customers, the store might not be around much longer.

See also:
- Disappearing Ink: What Will Happen to All the Books?
- Author Cory Doctorow Talks Tech, Trotsky, What He's Reading, and Why He's Giving Away His Books For Free
- Tempe's Changing Hands Bookstore Is One Step Closer to a Second Location in Phoenix

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photo by Claire Lawton

When was the last time you pitched a book? Not into a donate bin or a friend's purse -- we're talking into a recycle or garbage bin.

If you just winced at the thought, you're not alone. And if you can remember (with or without shame) tossing a hardback or paperback into a dumpster, you're not alone either. Far from it.

This week's cover story of Phoenix New Times, Disappearing Ink, began with a trip to a local used bookstore. The employee behind the buyback counter offered cash for a small percentage of the books we hauled in, and when asked what would happen to the books we really didn't want (and really didn't need) if we left them in the store, the employee said they'd go in the trash.

See also:
- Disappearing Ink: What Will Happen to All the Books? (slideshow)

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Heather Hoch

Blurring the lines between fine art, poetry and naughty comics, the Tempe Zine Con featured nearly 20 entries from local artists and writers.

Down at the Bayou, a house in the "Hipster Compton" section of Tempe just west of the ASU campus, a small crowd of fashionable, attractive young artists gathered in the brick shed to share their zines, drink some beer and take turns listening and reading their work.

See also:
- Aaron Johnson's Zine Collection
- Creators of Ziindi Zine Open 1Spot, a Native Contemporary Art Gallery on Roosevelt Row

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