For several years the Grotto Nights events were an eclectic staple of SF literary life, culminating with massive parties atop the Dog and Cat Hospital building on Fell Street. After the Writers’ Grotto moved to a new space South of Market, the event went into hibernation. Last year Grotto Nights was resurrected for one show, and this year, Litquake is proud to bring the extravaganza back, this time in full plumage. On Saturday, October 4th, Litquake and the Grotto present “Intimacy,” a multimedia celebration of authors, films, art, and music, at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco. The lineup features readings from bestselling science writers like Mary Roach and David Ewing Duncan, paintings of intimate parts from cadavers, a veggie porn flick, an oration by a Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory hydrogeologist, and music from vocalist Faye Carol, who once sang backup for Marvin Gaye. The show starts at 8pm, followed by a reception for audience and performers. Tickets are going fast but still available (choose your own seats!).

The Bay Area celebrates Banned Books Week from September 27 through October 4 with several displays and events at San Francisco Center for the Book, Books, Inc. stores, and even Compass Books at Terminal 3 of SFO airport. On October 1, from 12 noon to 1:30 pm, a group of local writers will read from their favorite banned books on the steps of the San Francisco library’s main branch: Tamim Ansary, Justin Chin, Jane Ganahl, Leah Garchik, Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Jewelle Gomez, Jack Hirschman, Kemble Scott, April Sinclair, Kevin Smokler and K.M. Soehnlein. Governor Sarah Palin is unable to attend.

Think you have problems with spellcheck? Here’s a list of the world’s most expensive typos, including a 2006 blunder by the New York City Department of Education, which resulted in the city spending an additional $1.4 million for transportation. In an eerie foreshadowing of our current national financial crisis, the city had to make up the difference. Another little-known typo – the official name of the Google search engine is actually misspelled, because someone typed the word “googol” incorrectly while registering the domain name.