Honestly. Why aren't more book readings held in bars? Bookstores are antiseptic places where talking loudly is verboten--when an author does it at a reading, it feels impolite.

In a bar, though, attempts to command attention are commonplace and usually welcome. And let's not forget the fact that pretty much everything is better when you have a drink in your hand--and when you know that, worst case, you can head to the video poker machine.

You won't need an escape plan for Will Leitch Friday, because he'll be reading from his new essay collection God Save the Fan. The book is funny. Where it's not funny, it's thought-provoking. And where it's not funny or thought-provoking...dude, those are the end pages.

We won't be able to make the reading, though we'll be tantalizingly close at the Garfield/Franklin basketball game just down 45th at Old Lincoln High. But we hope someone could take the time to congratulate Leitch for making a small step toward erasing Super Bowl XL from our memory. Early in the book he references it as the "Super Bowl between the Steelers and Panthers." Uh, yeah, that's what it was...and, uh, we never cheered for Jerramy Stevens that day, not for a second.

Will Leitch reads // Presented by U Book Store at Murphy's Pub (45th and Meridian in Wallingford) // 7pm // Free