Each week, we offer a roundup of the best literary events in the city. All events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise noted. Want to submit an upcoming event for consideration? Go here.

Gabriel Roth (The Unknowns) and Lit Tease

Thursday, July 18, 7 pm, at the Hotel Rex (562 Sutter St.) 

Friday, July 19, 8 pm, at the Swedish American Hall (2174 Market St.)

Litquake is offering two back-to-back events this week to get fans excited for the festival in October. First up is a reading from former SF Bay Guardian writer Gabriel Roth, whose novel tells the story of a geeky Silicon Valley programmer who becomes a millionaire thanks to his talent-- but still can't figure out women, especially when he falls in love with one with an unresolved past. The following evening, the festival is offering Lit Tease, a preview of the Lit Crawl with fiction, poetry, music, comedy, and more, plus drinks. The Roth event has a $5-10 suggested donation at the door; tickets to the Lit Tease are $20.

Kim Deitch (The Amazing, Enlightening and Absolutely True Adventures of Katherine Whaley)

Wednesday, July 17, 7:30 pm, at the Booksmith (1644 Haight St.)

Underground comics legend Deitch has just put out a new full-length graphic novel about Katherine Whaley, a small-town girl born at the turn of the last century who gets the opportunity to star in a movie. But she soon learns that the director and his remarkably intelligent pet dog are more than a little strange. Deitch will show slides of his work, followed by a screening of the book's inspiration, Lois Webber's 1915 silent film The Hypocrites.

Chris Bohjalian (The Light in the Ruins)

Friday, July 19, 7 pm, at Books Inc. Palo Alto (74 Town and Country Village)

Bohjalian (Midwives, The Sandcastle Girls) journeys to World War II-era Italy in his latest novel, in which an aristocratic Italian family and their beautiful teenage daughter come under threat from German soldiers in the midst of the war. Simultaneously, he jumps ahead to ten years later, a mysterious killer begins murdering members of the same family, and Florence's only female homicide detective, who bears scars of her own from the war years, is recruited to investigate the killings. 

Julian Guthrie (The Billionaire and the Mechanic)

Saturday, July 20, 4 pm, at Book Passage Corte Madera (51 Tamal Vista Blvd.)

The America's Cup is on the lips of every San Franciscan at the moment, and Chronicle staff writer Guthrie captures the moment with the stirring tale of how Oracle's Larry Ellison, the driving force behind the event, teamed up with Norbert Bajurin, a former car radiator mechanic and commodore of a blue-collar yacht club, to engineer a winning boat. The book delves into the duo's rivalries, losses, and their eventual victory in 2010, and looks to the horizon for what might happen at this year's event.