Go to the Texas Book Festival site to find out more information on this event that's held in Austin at the capitol building Saturday and Sunday.

Here's an Austin American-Statesman interview with Sherman Alexie.

Kids would also have a good time at the book festival as there will be a magician and kids' entertainment tents.

Author Gail Carson Levine, who retells the classic fairy tales, will be in the capitol Sunday on the Tough Girls panel. She wrote the 1997 novel Ella Enchanted that was made into a Disney movie.

Kinky Friedman will perform and talk about his latest book in the music tent on Sunday. His book You Can Lead a Politician to Water, But You Can't Make Him Think is full of humor as Friedman recalls his run for governor.

The Texas Book Festival is scheduled for Nov. 3 and 4 and will feature hundreds of authors and thousands of books.

This is a great place to find local authors or authors of the Southwest. Author Sherman Alexie plans to be there on Saturday. His new book The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has been well received as his first young adult novel telling a coming-of-age story in the context of culture.

I loved Alexie's Indian Killer, which shows cultural attacks of Native American culture through the mystery. Readers try to figure out who's making the attacks and killing the Indians. In the end, we might have to ask if it's us.

In the November issue of O, actor Hugh Jackman reveals which books mean the most to him.

He names Banker to the Poor by Muhammad Yunus, Cloudstreet by Tim Winton, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse and Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela.

At one time or another certain books resonate with our current or past experiences and may inspire us to search our souls or build a different future.

What are your favorite books?

While reading slate.com, I came across this article that explains why people can still get in trouble for producing their own liquor.

But brewing wine, beer and malt liquor is still allowed up to a certain amount. Check out the Brewers Association site: beertown.org and what's allowed in Texas.

Live in a dry area? Well then don't take up the homebrewing hobby. Rules on that, under Title 4: Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code.

As October is also Domestic Violence Awareness Month, I thought I would introduce you to a book that covers the subject well.

Carla Trujillo's What Night Brings tells the story of two sisters who struggle to get out of an abusive household. But every time they get the chance to leave, they cannot leave their mother behind.

Finally, the cold realization sets in that they cannot help their mother if she wants to stay with an abusive man more than she wants to help her daughters.

The story's protagonist Marci Cruz seems older than her 11 years as she struggles to find her identity and make sense of her homosexuality.

I just finished Stephen Colbert's I Am American (And So Can You!) after picking it off the sale table at the bookstore. If you enjoy Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, you'll definitely enjoy this appallingly ridiculous book.

Colbert's uber right-wing megalomaniac humor couldn't be held within the simple body text, but spills into the margins and footnotes. Oh, and two pages of stickers.

I have to say, I loved the satire but felt like I needed to take a break every once in a while. I can only take so much punditry.

When I did a story on obesity, I came across a local physician's, and author's, advice. RIchard Mabray, of Victoria, wrote a book on how to battle obesity through healthy living and eating based on the Bible.

While emphasizing exercise and self-encouragement, Mabray focuses on the basics of nutrition: getting adequate protein, selecting the best fats and restricting processed carbohydrates.

Check out Richard Mabray's The Genesis Strategy.

Mabray was also a guest of Oprah Winfrey and Regis Philbin.

As a newlywed, I've had to come to terms with the fact that I will have to spend an awfully long time with this man I call my husband.

I'm past the so-called honeymoon stage and struggle to keep myself from nagging him about his annoying habits.

The new Oprah.com article "8 Entirely New Ideas About Love" struck a note with me when it assured me that I can change my spouse. Sure, I can bring up when something bothers me, but there's a specific way to do it where my husband won't go into the defensive mode.

But either way, I still love Jill Conner Brown's humorous approach to relationships, found in her Sweet Potato Queens series:

We feel that in any area of life, it is highly desirable to get other people--men--to do things for you whenever possible. This includes, but is certainly not restricted to, performing all manner of personal services, as in cooking, cleaning, and errand-running, and especially rubbing, fawning, worshiping in word and deed, constantly, and of course, paying for things--as in everything, including, naturally, presents of all kinds, but especially the sparkly kind.
--The Sweet Potato Queens Book of Love


Also, don't forget to check out The Jane Austen Book Club movie based on the novel by Karen Joy Fowler.

I know I spent a fair amount of time reading Pride and Prejudice and watching the A&E version of the movie over and over with friends.