Join us for this fun round of readings from picture and storybooks ... Go to the castle in the children's section ... and the stories begin!

Co-presented with the WASHINGTON CENTER FOR THE BOOK AT THE SEATTLE PUBLIC LIBRARY. One of the English language's foremost novelists and essayists at work today, Martin Amis makes this welcome Seattle return for his triumphant, trenchant, and exuberant new novel, Lionel Asbo: State of England (Knopf). This is not only a tale in which loutish, frequently imprisoned Lionel Asbo wins the lottery and a new realm, financially speaking, of existence, but also the parallel, moving story of how his nephew Desmond both relies upon his uncle, and tries to navigate around the many errors of his ways. Bravura storytelling is at work here. "The novel comes at you and comes at you and keeps on coming. It never flags ... It is a great big confidence trick of a novel—an attack that turns into an embrace—a book that looks at us, laughs at us, looks at us harder, closer, and laughs at us harder and still more savagely. It is every inch the novel we all deserve." - Nicola Barker, The Guardian. "Amis' phenomenal vim and versatility, anchoring roots in English literature, and gift for satire power this hilariously Dickensian, nerve-wracking, crafty, bull's-eye tale of a monster and a mensch ... This deliciously shivery, sly, and taunting page-turner provokes a fresh assessment of the poverty of place, mind, and spirit, and the wondrous blossoming of against-all-odds goodness." - Donna Seaman, Booklist. Free admission is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Seattle Public Library is at 1000 Fourth Avenue (between Madison & Spring). For more information, please see www.spl.org or call (206) 386-4636. Martin Amis will also be reading at the University Bookstore (www.ubookstore.com) on Monday, September 17.