Reston keeps the ‘Faith’ and so does Gotham City

I finally watched “Frost/Nixon” over the long Memorial Day weekend, and found one of the more intriguing characters to be passionate researcher James J. Reston Jr., played by Sam Rockwell. Well, it turns out the off-screen Reston is an expert on both Richard Nixon and ages-old religious battles. The Maryland resident stops by Politics and Prose downtown at 7 p.m. Wednesday to chat about “Defenders of the Faith,” his latest about the 16th-century throwdown between Turkish Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent and Charles V, ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. He might also talk some about those debates between David Frost and Nixon, so read up on the subject!

Also in the store this week is Uruguyan author Eduardo Galeano, who will be signing copies of “Mirrors” (looking at famous stories from different perspectives) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, and Michael Malone, in town at 7 p.m. Thursday to discuss “The Four Corners of the Sky,” about a Navy pilot who reconnects with her dying father to learn the name of her mother.

A little bit closer to home, Michael Connelly is coming to the Baileys Crossroads Borders at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday to talk about his new thriller, “The Scarecrow.” It seems even fictional literary characters are feeling the poor economy: Crime reporter Jack McEvoy (last seen in Connelly’s “The Poet”) has seen his newspaper gig get cut thanks to budget slashes and he wants to go down swinging, penning a story on a techno-savvy serial killer.

And who called Nightwing and Damian Wayne as the new Batman and Robin last week? Oh yeah, that was me. (Between that and me picking Kris Allen on “American Idol,” I may need to look into my burgeoning psychic skills.)

“Gotham Gazette: Batman Alive” follows a quartet of Gotham City regulars and their view of the new Caped Crusader. Animal Man has become a major player again in the DC Universe, and “The Last Days of Animal Man” flash-forwards 15 years to Buddy Baker’s dealings with his family and an arch-enemy. A title based on the computer game “Starcraft” debuts this week, as does “Dark Reign: The Hood,” an inside look at one of Norman Osborn’s Cabal. And “Saturday Night Live’s” Bill Hader and Seth Meyers have a go at comic book writing with “Spider-Man: The Short Halloween” (most likely a riff on “Batman: The Long Halloween”).

What are y’all reading these days? Sound off and give recommendations about what books are on your nightstand in the comments.

Tags: book signing, books, comics