Sunday, July 20th

“Part of me was disgusted that human beings could smell that bad and carry on their life right out in public the way they did,” writes Norris Church Mailer—though not, it seems, referring to her late great husband, Norman, but rather writing in the voice of the heroine of her 2007 novel, a country girl named Cherry who moves to the big city and encounters homeless people in the subway. Drats! Today the tall and glamorous Ms. Mailer reads from Cheap Diamonds at the Quogue Library. Bonus dirty excerpt! “I had sort of fallen in love for the first time in my life (and finally lost my virginity!) with a guy named Tripp Barlow...” Hijinks will surely ensue. …

[Norris Church Mailer at Quogue Library, 90 Quogue Street, 5 p.m., www.quoguelibrary.org]

mbryan@observer.com