Thursday, Oct. 5

Eve Ensler is one of those writer/performer types Brookline Booksmith likes to book across the street at the Coolidge Corner Theatre and then charge a couple of bucks for what is more a reading than a performance. But it's a performance by a (semi) famous person, so it shouldn't quite be a freebie. Ensler - who we met at a post "Vagina Monologues" performance party - is quite the character and we had a most convivial half-hour of badinage and, well a little, booze. Ensler brings humor to serious subjects and in "Insecure At Last,'' her first exclusive work for the printed page, she's writing about the post 9/11 anxiety that envelops us all and the women who have made sacrifices for freedom. Anything Ensler does is partially autobiographical, as is this, but its themes are far broader. However, you may expect her to be thoroughly entertaining at this 6 p.m. reading Oct. 5. Coming later in the month: Newsweek cover gal Annie Leibovitz. 

290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-566-6660 brooklinebooksmith.org