Over at The Millions today, Max gives me the chance to sing the praises of the best books I read this year. Top o’ the Heap: The Death of a Beekeeper, which I’ve surely mentioned in these pages before. You may also find a couple of surprises on the list, as Max allowed us to write about any book we read this year, not just those that were published in 2005.

Two gorgeous events to sum up today. On Monday night, I had the pleasure of joining Kate Braverman for her wild and wacky “literary talk show,” Fusion City, over at Edinburgh Castle. Other guests were Kim Addonizio, Katia Noyes, and Charlie Anders. San Fran’s much-beloved Daphne Gottlieb was the performance artist. Kate danced and played the tambourine and recited her poem Rushing, her husband Alan provided accoustics, Daphne performed a zesty mix of her own poems, and then the rest of us sat down to talk with Kate about the experience of publishing our first novel. The stage lights were bright, the audience was candle-lit, and the talk was unpredictable, which gave the whole thing a sort of surreal this-aint-the-today-show feeling.

Revelations of the evening: Kim Addonizio has taken up the trapeze arts! Plus, Katia and Charlie both made a Best 10 Queer Books of 2005 list, but I don’t know what list, so I’ll have to update you on that later.

Then, last night, I got to meet up with Don George again, this time at Book Passage, where seven contributors to his Lonely Planet anthology By the Seat of My Pants shared our travel stories. Among the offerings: snake karma with Linda Wantanabe McFerrin and a visit with the Prince of Licthtenstein by Kathie Kertesz. Book Passage’s Tim Pearson took great care of us, and I had the pleasure of meeting a woman who will be in my grad novel seminar at St. Mary’s next semester, novelist Camille Minichino.