Skylight Books

At FIRST glance, Skylight Books 1814 in Los Feliz might not seem all that family-friendly. On a recent afternoon, the window display featured "There's a Riot Going On: Revolutionaries, Rock Stars and the Rise and Fall of '60s Counter-Culture" and "Richard Avedon: Photographs 1946-2004," among other adult-sounding titles. But it turns out that Skylight Books' new art-themed space benefits kids in more ways than one. Among its avant-garde selection, there are a few youth-oriented picks -- "The Complete Peanuts," for example.

Mark Z. Danielewski knows his way around a horror story - and in the case of his famous novel "House of Leaves" it's a labyrinthine, mind-melting way through a haunted house. After taking on the American road trip in "Only Revolutions" he revisits spookier fare in "The Fifty Year Sword," where a Pandora's box unleashes terror on a family of Texas orphans. Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., L.A. 7:30 p.m. Thu. http://www.skylightbooks.com.

Janelle Brown Book Readings Where: Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., L.A. When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday Also Where: Pages: A Bookstore, 904 Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach When: 7 p.m. Thursday

Armistead Maupin reads and signs his latest novel, "Mary Ann in Autumn. " When: Thursday, 7:30 p.m. Where: Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles. For more information: (323) 660-1175 or http://www.skylightbooks.com.

It would be easy to suspect Jon Klassen of having an obsession with hats. The author-illustrator of “I Want My Hat Back” is following up his No. 1 New York Times bestseller about a bear and a thieving rabbit with a second picture book about an animal robber -- this time a fish that's nabbed a small blue bowler cap in “This Is Not My Hat.” The Angeleno, by way of Canada, kicks off a 15-city tour for “This Is Not My Hat” at Skylight Books...

The native Angeleno Ry Cooder is known for his spare and beautiful guitar work, as well as his spearheading involvement with the Buena Vista Social Club. Now he's brought the same sensitive eye and underdog spirit to "Los Angeles Stories," a collection of loosely linked tales set in Bunker Hill, Chavez Ravine, Venice and Santa Monica. The musician will discuss his stories concerning the everyday people of his city with Los Angeles Times book critic David Ulin. Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave. 5 p.m. Sun. (323)

Former Los Angeles Times crime reporter Miles Corwin has turned his attention from gritty nonfiction ? his bestseller, "The Killing Season," tracked a summer of 400 murders from within the LAPD homicide division ? to noir fiction. His new book, "Kind of Blue," follows an obsessive detective who's trying to solve the murder of a legendary ex-cop. Be on the lookout for familiar locations; "Kind of Blue" is set in the City of Angels and near where Corwin was raised, at the Rosslyn Hotel downtown on the edge of skid row. Skylight Books, 1818 N. Vermont Ave., L.A. 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

In his new book, "When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison," formidable cultural critic Greil Marcus waxes reverential on the Celtic bluesman's initially ignored, now-iconic "Astral Weeks" yet dismisses 16 albums' worth of Morrison's music from 1980 to 1996 as "characterless" and forgettable. Fighting words, to be sure, for Van Morrison's legion of devotees; but the author of "Lipstick Traces" and "The Old, Weird America" is nothing if not willfully idiosyncratic when it comes to writing about legends of rock 'n' roll he adores.

One of the most beloved fabulist novelists working today, Jeanette Winterson tackles her own reality in her new memoir, "Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?" On a search for her biological mother, Winterson confronts the various paths her childhood took, from being raised by a religious zealot who kept a gun in the dresser to growing up in a rough industrial town in England. Pondering her sexuality and other core parts of her identity, the author studies what experiences formed her and who she might've become without her past.