Okay, so I started a new job this week. And let me tell you, it’s exhausting. So, to honor the fact that I’m both tired, super excited and generally distracted, here’s a trip down memory lane to tide you over before an all-new In The Ladies’ Room next week.

Dottie the Sock: How I Found My Pair by Christine Gayle is a children’s book about a lesbian sock. It is about Dottie the Sock not having a pair and going looking for them. It is a cute tale that is geared towards young children of love, tolerance, and acceptance.

The following was sent out via email from the management of Lambda Rising, DC’s primere GLBT bookstore on Friday December 4, 2009.

Philip Clark, The New Gay’s former columnist, will be releasing a book he co-edited with David Groff entitled Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS (Alyson) later this month. The four-year project collects the work of poets across genders, ethnicities and languages, all of whom succumbed to AIDS, from the first epidemic to present times. A number of promotional events are planned for the book’s release, including a reading at the DC Center on December 10. Clark took time from his hectic schedule to discuss book his work on the book with The New Gay, and his future research projects.

Written in the form of a diary, The Red Tree is set in Rhode Island, where the author Sarah Crowe has rented out a house, both to escape a recent tragedy—the suicide of her lover in Atlanta—and to work on a long overdue manuscript. The brunette nubile nymphet on the cover of the book bears little resemblance to the actual character Crowe in the book. Sarah Crowe is a chain-smoking, 44 year old bitter woman. In fact, she is downright unlikable at times, as she is full of negativity and armed with a variety of prickly self-defense mechanisms. Upon moving into the small house at the height of summer, she finds an old typewriter in the basement, and upon further exploration, a sub-basement that has an uncompleted manuscript by the former tenant of the house, Dr. Charles L. Harvey. Crowe begins using the typewriter, in spite of having a laptop, and Harvey’s reams of unused onionskin paper. She avoids working by writing a journal and reading Harvey’s manuscript. The manuscript concerns Harvey’s research on the legends surrounding the huge red oak that grows on the property.

TNG contributor Paul Morton brings us an interview with David Small, whose latest work, Stitches, was recently nominated for a National Book Award.

For your survey this week, riddle me this: In order, what are your top three favorite books and why? But you only get one sentence to explain each one! (Run-ons don’t count, but semi-colons definitely do!)

Busboys and Poets welcomes Dr. Cornel West on Thursday as he discusses and signs his works, including his latest: Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud, A Memoir. Cornel West has been a champion for racial justice since childhood. His writing, speaking, and teaching weave together the traditions of the black Baptist Church, progressive politics and jazz.

Lit-wits, Dead Boys, and freak rock– this weekend, you have the opportunity to flex your head in very different mediums, be it music, literature or live theater.

Busboys and Poets is hosting Cleve Jones and author Sherry Wolf this Saturday.