Joseph O'Neill would be interesting enough even if he weren't a successful novelist: He was born in Ireland and raised in Mozambique, South Africa, Iran, Turkey and Holland. He went on to write Netherland, one of the few critically acclaimed novels centered around 9/11 and the first fiction book that President Obama read following his inauguration. Today, as part of the Inprint Margarett Root Brown Reading Series, he'll read from and discuss the book, which tells the emotionally charged story of a collection of immigrants in New York. Joining him will be Marilynne Robinson, author of the similarly weighty Home, the companion novel to her 2005 Pulitzer-winning Gilead, about a broken family trying to knit itself back together. Revel in the gorgeous language at 7:30 p.m. Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. For information, call 713-521-2026 or visit http://www.inprinthouston.org. $5.
Mon., Sept. 21, 7:30 p.m., 2009