5

THURSDAY

The reason Anna Quindlen became a New York Times reporter at the wee age of 24 and went on to be the third woman Op-Ed columnist in the paper’s history is that she’s a crack journalist. That’s why she won a Pulitzer for her columns, and that’s probably how she managed to knock out two best-selling novels. Enough already. Her latest foray into fiction, Black and Blue—about a battered woman who flees her cop husband—is just as devoid of nuance as its title. Reading it, you get the feeling Quindlen has slipped out of her perfectly nice trench coat and is sitting before you unnecessarily naked. Cover your ears and beg her to come out of the cold and back into the newsroom when she reads tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Chapters, 1512 K St. NW. FREE. (202) 347-5495. (Amanda Ripley)