Also this issue:

Land Locked
Warren Rohrer kept his work earthbound.
-Susan Hagen

artquicks
More Stuff Going On This Week...

Beauty and the Beast
-Debra Auspitz

Summer Invitational
-Lori Hill

Latin Jazz: La Combinación Perfecta
-Brian White

Mick Foley
-Maura Johnston

Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
Walter Isaacson insists Franklin’s prose is the standout among the man’s countless endeavors.
-John Freeman

bookquick
Dispatches from the Culture Wars: How the Left Lost Teen Spirit

July 17-23, 2003

artpicks

Karen E. Quinones Miller

Three-time Philly author Karen E. Quinones Miller is back again, this time with a story set in Harlem about an arrogant young girl, Tiara, who thinks she can use her womanly wiles to get everything she ever wanted. Tiara struggles to find her way into a happy ending, even though her current situation is not quite as tarnished as she thinks. In typical Miller style, Tiara gets an unpleasant surprise, and a lot more than she bargained for. But read Using What You Got (Simon & Schuster) for the roller-coaster ride, not the conclusion. This book's climax comes up on the reader almost as neatly as it does to Tiara; you'd never think that such an oblivious, bratty teenager would learn her lesson and still retain the spirit she had before taking a tour of hell, courtesy of the wrong guy.

Miller shares a publishing house with that other ex- Inquirer-reporter-turned-best-selling-novelist, Jennifer Weiner. So go to her reading not just to hear the characters and the drama, but to see what a successful writer looks like.

Karen E. Quinones Miller, Tue., July 22, 7 p.m., Robin’s Bookstore, 108 S. 13th St., 215-735-9600.

—Alex Richmond