Get A Jump On Your Summer Reading

There isn't a single place on the planet where water isn't important, but here in the desert it's our lifeblood. Wetlands in our region of the country are cauldrons of fertility. In his new book, photographer and naturalist Lucian Niemeyer documents areas as diverse as Mexico's Cuatro Cienegas Basin, Arizona's San Pedro River, Utah's Escalante River, Texas' Big Bend National Park and New Mexico's own Bosque del Apache. In the process, Desert Wetlands celebrates the value and necessity of moisture in our dry-as-dust pocket of the world. Niemeyer will make an appearance on Thursday, June 23, at 7 p.m. at Page One Books (11018 Montgomery NE, 294-2026) to sign and discuss this fascinating book.

If you want to get a jump on the upcoming Santa Fe Opera season, you should come by Page One on Wednesday, June 8, at 7 p.m. to meet Desirée Mays. The 2005 edition of her popular Opera Unveiled series gives all the nitty-gritty, need-to-know details about the five operas being performed in our sister city starting at the end of this month. If you have a few questions that Mays' book doesn't answer, why not just ask her in person?

Everybody's favorite squeaky-voiced funny man, David Sedaris, comes to soon-to-be-defunct Bound To Be Read (6300 San Mateo NE, 828-3500) on Wednesday, June 15, at 7 p.m. He'll be promoting the paperback version of his mega-bestselling humor collection, Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim. Tickets to this event are available at the store with the purchase of one of Sedaris' hilarious books. Nab one now because, as the New York Times once put it, “Sedaris is the closest thing the literary world has these days to a rock star.” You don't want to be buying your tickets from a scalper out in front of the store, do you?

Michael Kun's best-selling novel, The Locklear Letters, was a satirical look at celebrity worship in our celebrity-obsessed society. It told the engaging story of a software engineer named Sid Straw and his ludicrous attempts to rekindle a relationship with his former classmate Heather Locklear, to whom he was never anything more than a distant acquaintance.

Kun's latest novel, You Poor Monster, is about a lawyer who befriends his soon-to-be-divorced client. An early version was serialized in Baltimore's City Paper over the course of 36 weeks back in the '90s. Kun will be at Bookworks (4022 Rio Grande NW, 344-8139) on Sunday, June 12, to promote the heavily revised new version.

These are a handful of some of the more interesting bookish events occurring during the month of June. For a complete roster, call your favorite local bookstore.