Saturday's sun found Londonist in a local park with a well-thumbed paperback and a bottle of Scrumpy, relishing a summer's worth of idle weekends. Sunday's inclement weather dashed those dreams, but luckily there's a wealth of literary diversions to take our mind off things.
Tuesday: Joseph Kony stands as possibly the most ruthless individual in a region that is sadly no stranger to slaughter on a mass scale. The leader of the Lord's Rebel Army, which has waged a campaign against the Ugandan state for 20 years with an army of abducted child-soldiers, Kony is the subject of a new book by the FT's West African correspondent, Matthew Green. The Wizard Of The Nile sees Green on the trail of the elusive warlord, and he will be discussing his experiences at the Southbank Centre. 7.45pm, £7.50, 50% off concessions.
Also on Tuesday: Bookmarks, Bloomsbury's socialist bookshop, has the controversial yet tenacious war correspondent Alexander Cockburn in to speak about his new book on one of the most important and misunderstood, figures of post-war Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr. 6.30pm, free (a place can be reserved by calling 020 7637 1848).
Wednesday: Kev Reynolds has been moved by many a mountain, and has the snaps and the stories to prove it. The writer and photographer will be talking about his treks in the high Himalayas, and his passion - self described as the 'best job in the world' - for spending months at a time up in the mountains, researching and updating guidebooks. He will be sharing his memories at Stanfords. The talk begins at 7.30, tickets £2 and can be bought in-store or by calling 020 7836 1321.
Also on Wednesday: it is perhaps a sad indictment of poetry's current marginalisation that the question, "can it ever mix with politics?", should even need to be asked. Still, Adrian Mitchell dares to trouble that very topic, and the long-standing "thorn in the establishment's side" will be presenting selections from his half-century long ouevre at the Soho Theatre. Tickets are £8, and more information can be found here.
Thursday: As part of the Psychoanalysis Symposium of Winnicott with Lacan, PEN president Lisa Appignanesi, Catherine Vanier, and Darian Leader will discuss the legacy of Lacan and his influence in the history of psychoanalysis. Tickets are free, and the event begins at 8.30pm. It should be noted that this is listed as "in French and English", so it might be worth dusting off those old Linguaphone cassettes.
Friday: Travellers on the Underground - where his camel-riding figure appears is splashed over advertising hoardings - will already know that one-time Super Sized journalist Morgan Spurlock has a new book out. Entitled Where In The World Is Osama bin Laden, the book (and accompanying film) sees Spurlock attempt what the CIA, Pakistan's ISI and the weight of the US military failed to do: get a sniff of the eponymous Saudi terrorist. With ObL still sitting pretty at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted list, it seems the quest wasn't entirely successful, but Spurlock's engaging personality should make this Blackwells-sponsored talk at the Congress Centre an entertaining evening. 7pm, tickets £8, £6 concessions.
Image of Southbank book market from Luke Robinson's Flickrstream
